“Sensible Splurging” Mindset in Australia Results in Average Wedding Costs Increase

8 December 2011 – Seeing weddings as a “sensible splurging” occasion has led to an increase in average wedding costs in Australia, with as much as a 6.5% increase from November of 2011 alone, and a noted 73% increase in the last decade.

All this is in spite of ongoing economic troubles for many parts of Australia. Retailers are the first to note this rationale of sensible expenditure, and observes that the prevalent mindset is that while many of the things in life are harder to pay for, such occasions as weddings are those events where spending a lot matters little.

Couples to be simply don’t hold back when it comes to their big day, it appears. Dream weddings rarely go below $36,200 nowadays in Australia, and that’s probably when the couple, friends and family, and the wedding planner had pulled some strings to make all the expenses go down. Analysts have speculated that this “sensible splurging” is not directly in contrast with how everyone deals with everything else in life.

The economic slowdown and financial uncertainty has led people to look for value in their spending. The more value they see in exchange for their hard-earned money, the more likely they will agree to pay for the price tag. This is the same for weddings. Since the big day is of such literal and symbolic value, most won’t mind spending what would otherwise seem like a fortune compared to how frugal they can get to other issues. Weddings, seen as consumer goods, are simply high priority purchases.

It helps that when couples decide to tie the knot, they are often in a more advantageous financial position than their predecessors, as there are increases in disposable incomes and expected financial assistance from both sides of the family.

In the end, it all boils down to purchase decision. If the quality of the goods you want to buy seems to justify its price tag, you purchase it because it’s good value for your money. Weddings are intrinsically valuable, and are thus priority buys for many would be couples, as most retailers and celebrants Sydney would attest to.