BY KIM MOORE
The wedding business is a $165 billion industry, with more than 2.4 million weddings every year in the U.S., according to the Association of Bridal Consultants.
BY KIM MOORE
The wedding business is a $165 billion industry, with more than 2.4 million weddings every year in the U.S., according to the Association of Bridal Consultants. The average cost of a wedding in Oregon was $25,597 in 2012, per The Wedding Report. Summer remains the most popular time for nuptials, with 35% of couples tying the knot during the sunshine-filled months in 2013, according to TheKnot.com. Couples are spending more on their big day as the economy improves. Wedding budgets have increased steadily since the economic downturn of 2008. Couples spent a record high national average of $29,858 in 2013, a 5% increase compared with the 2012 national average, according to TheKnot.com.
Despite couples spending more money to tie the knot, the number of marriages in Oregon is on the decline. It reached a six-year low in 2013, according to preliminary figures from the Oregon Health Authority. The recent lifting of a ban on same-sex marriage in Oregon is a boon for wedding businesses and will likely boost the state’s marriage rate. Same-sex weddings could potentially add $47.3 million to Oregon’s economy in the three years following the lifting of the ban, with $30.3 million spent in the first year alone, according to The Williams Institute. The think tank, part of the University of California School of Law, estimated the economic boost of same-sex marriage in Oregon in April this year before the ban was lifted on May 19, 2014. Direct spending by resident same-sex couples on their weddings would add $37.7 million to the state and local economy in the first three years following the nixing of the ban.
