Elegant Weddings by Lisa In The Media
Lisa of Elegant Weddings by Lisa was quoted in The Florida Times Union last week. Take a look at this interesting article...
A deluge brought Kim and Mike Ireland together.
Last Tuesday, they declared that no disaster, natural or otherwise, would tear them apart.
Their marriage, touched off when they met during Tropical Storm Fay, was a low-key affair: Just the two of them and a Duval County notary.
For Kim (formerly Dengler), 40, and Mike, 44, whether to get married or not was never in doubt. So when he proposed to her in the produce aisle of the Food Lion where she works, she didn’t hesitate.
Many other couples are.
Some are waiting to tie the knot and others are never planning to, according to the state’s Office of Vital Statistics. The number of weddings in Duval County has steadily declined by 11 percent since 2002, and in 2008 it was off 20 percent from a high of 10 years ago.
Broad social forces and, potentially, the economy are pushing down the rate of couples getting married, both locally and nationwide. And those who do get married have been scaling back.
Lisa Burnett, co-director of the Association of Bridal Consultants’ Northeast Florida division, said the recession is taking a toll on couples’ (and their parents’) finances, forcing them to and rein in spending on lavish celebrations.
Burnett said that in her own business, Elegant Weddings by Lisa, about 80 percent of couples are choosing less expensive, more intimate affairs. Shrinking rehearsal dinners, slashing guest lists and choosing less expensive flowers are some of the steps brides are taking. She has seen vendors of all varieties — such as entertainment companies and wedding planners — go out of business or migrate away from the wedding business, she said.
Nationally, the average cost of a wedding sank to about $22,000 in 2008, about 24 percent lower than 2007, according to The Wedding Report, a company that tracks trends for wedding vendors. It also reported that 62 percent of couples are cutting their budgets by a third, and 24 percent are postponing weddings because of economic problems.
Burnett said she is seeing some uptick in bookings this year, now that the uncertainty of last fall is over. “They’re still getting married; they’re just scaling it down or putting it off,” she said.
The economy was on the minds of Jonas and Anamarie Houston, who married June 1. The courthouse ceremony marked their second anniversary together. But a big wedding? Not right now.
They figured their savings were best used to turn the recession into a financial advantage: “We just bought a house,” she said.
They still want the big party; so, like many of the couples Burnett sees, they’re saving up — for next year. In the meantime, Jonas, 28, and Anamarie, 25, returned to their new home on Monday as newlyweds. “I just said, why wait?” he said.
The economy might be delaying plans for big celebrations. But although researchers are fairly certain that job losses and financial problems are likely to split up couples, the economy’s impact on the number of people deciding to get hitched is less certain.
Wider forces are at work than just the current downturn. When you factor in for population growth and generational changes, marriage rates are declining — and have been for a while, said Adam Shapiro, chairman of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of North Florida.
That is explained largely by the rise in non-marital cohabitation, which has been on the rise, he said. And marriage has a very different meaning than in the past, with people now mostly marrying for companionship and personal fulfillment.
“The companionship model has really made for some rethinking of what marriage means and why we marry,” Shapiro said.
One thing the economy could affect, he said, is the number of couples who decide to live together. With job losses and economic problems prevalent, girlfriends and boyfriends might decide to live together to stay afloat financially. People who live with an unmarried partner tend to have lower incomes.
For those who do choose matrimony, research is indicating that there are some positives to the changes in marriage, such as more equality between men and women and less confinement in an unhappy marriage. Yet while married people enjoy higher rates of financial stability and happiness, single people are catching up. “Research still shows that in general that married people tend to be healthier and better off psychologically,” he said. “But the gap between the married and unmarried is growing smaller.”
And wedding planners say a scaled-back ceremony could be better in the long run, too.
“Now, you have to be on the A list to get invited,” Burnett said. “My honest opinion is, it’s making their weddings more intimate. They’re really inviting people who are important.”
Wedding bells chime a little softer in Duval
Number of weddings has declined by 11 percent since 2002
By Deirdre Conner
A deluge brought Kim and Mike Ireland together.
Last Tuesday, they declared that no disaster, natural or otherwise, would tear them apart.
Their marriage, touched off when they met during Tropical Storm Fay, was a low-key affair: Just the two of them and a Duval County notary.
For Kim (formerly Dengler), 40, and Mike, 44, whether to get married or not was never in doubt. So when he proposed to her in the produce aisle of the Food Lion where she works, she didn’t hesitate.
Many other couples are.
Some are waiting to tie the knot and others are never planning to, according to the state’s Office of Vital Statistics. The number of weddings in Duval County has steadily declined by 11 percent since 2002, and in 2008 it was off 20 percent from a high of 10 years ago.
Broad social forces and, potentially, the economy are pushing down the rate of couples getting married, both locally and nationwide. And those who do get married have been scaling back.
Lisa Burnett, co-director of the Association of Bridal Consultants’ Northeast Florida division, said the recession is taking a toll on couples’ (and their parents’) finances, forcing them to and rein in spending on lavish celebrations.
Burnett said that in her own business, Elegant Weddings by Lisa, about 80 percent of couples are choosing less expensive, more intimate affairs. Shrinking rehearsal dinners, slashing guest lists and choosing less expensive flowers are some of the steps brides are taking. She has seen vendors of all varieties — such as entertainment companies and wedding planners — go out of business or migrate away from the wedding business, she said.
Nationally, the average cost of a wedding sank to about $22,000 in 2008, about 24 percent lower than 2007, according to The Wedding Report, a company that tracks trends for wedding vendors. It also reported that 62 percent of couples are cutting their budgets by a third, and 24 percent are postponing weddings because of economic problems.
Burnett said she is seeing some uptick in bookings this year, now that the uncertainty of last fall is over. “They’re still getting married; they’re just scaling it down or putting it off,” she said.
The economy was on the minds of Jonas and Anamarie Houston, who married June 1. The courthouse ceremony marked their second anniversary together. But a big wedding? Not right now.
They figured their savings were best used to turn the recession into a financial advantage: “We just bought a house,” she said.
They still want the big party; so, like many of the couples Burnett sees, they’re saving up — for next year. In the meantime, Jonas, 28, and Anamarie, 25, returned to their new home on Monday as newlyweds. “I just said, why wait?” he said.
The economy might be delaying plans for big celebrations. But although researchers are fairly certain that job losses and financial problems are likely to split up couples, the economy’s impact on the number of people deciding to get hitched is less certain.
Wider forces are at work than just the current downturn. When you factor in for population growth and generational changes, marriage rates are declining — and have been for a while, said Adam Shapiro, chairman of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of North Florida.
That is explained largely by the rise in non-marital cohabitation, which has been on the rise, he said. And marriage has a very different meaning than in the past, with people now mostly marrying for companionship and personal fulfillment.
“The companionship model has really made for some rethinking of what marriage means and why we marry,” Shapiro said.
One thing the economy could affect, he said, is the number of couples who decide to live together. With job losses and economic problems prevalent, girlfriends and boyfriends might decide to live together to stay afloat financially. People who live with an unmarried partner tend to have lower incomes.
For those who do choose matrimony, research is indicating that there are some positives to the changes in marriage, such as more equality between men and women and less confinement in an unhappy marriage. Yet while married people enjoy higher rates of financial stability and happiness, single people are catching up. “Research still shows that in general that married people tend to be healthier and better off psychologically,” he said. “But the gap between the married and unmarried is growing smaller.”
And wedding planners say a scaled-back ceremony could be better in the long run, too.
“Now, you have to be on the A list to get invited,” Burnett said. “My honest opinion is, it’s making their weddings more intimate. They’re really inviting people who are important.”
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