Majority Of Guests Still Shower Couples With Gifts, Despite Economy Downturn
Generational Differences Come Into Play
Cost Not A Factor In Accepting Wedding Invitations
Other Findings:
Wedding Guests Adore The ‘I Do’s’
Dislike Receiving Lines & The Bunny Hop
Prefer Wine & Chicken Over Champagne & Caviar
New York, NY – June 15, 2009: With the June wedding season in full bloom, Brides.com (www.brides.com/), Condé Nast's premier bridal destination, recently partnered with The Associated Press (www.ap.org/) to poll American wedding guests on whether or not the recession is impacting how much they spend to join in “I do” festivities. The survey revealed some counterintuitive trends, including that, despite a downturn in the economy, wedding guests are still showering newlyweds with gifts—and that cost is not a deterrent for Americans to attend weddings.
The Guest & The Gift:
An overwhelming majority of wedding attendees are still giving gifts to brides and grooms; 90 percent of respondents who had attended a wedding recently gave a gift to the happy couple. According to the survey, the most popular price point for a wedding gift is $100 -199 dollars, trailed by the more frugal range of $50 - 75 dollars.
Still, there seems to be a disconnect on whether or not giving gifts is obligatory. Most respondents (70%) thought that the bride and groom should not expect a gift from all their wedding guests. In contrast, nearly the same number (63%) also said they would feel obligated to send a gift, even if they weren’t attending the wedding.
In addition, celebrations leading up to the “walk down the aisle” inspired less frequent gift-giving, with only 10 percent purchasing something for the engagement party and 37 percent for the bridal shower.
Generational differences play a part in whether or not a gift is deemed necessary. Older people are much more likely to say the couple should expect a gift than younger people (35% of those age 65 and older vs. 24% of those under 30). In addition, almost three quarters (72%) of seniors say they would feel obligated to send a gift even if they didn’t attend the wedding, compared with just half (53%) of those under 30.
When posed with a hypothetical scenario where someone was invited to a wedding but couldn’t afford to buy the kind of gift they felt the couple would expect, the most popular solution among respondents would be to attend the wedding but buy a less expensive gift – 42 percent said they were very likely to do that. Relatively few said they would attend the wedding but not give any gift at all, and even fewer said they would make up an excuse to avoid attending the wedding. People were slightly more likely to say they would buy the more expensive gift even if they couldn’t really afford it than were likely to decline the wedding invitation and tell the couple reason why.
Another finding reveals that money is not a factor when invited guests are deciding if they will attend the wedding. A mere 3 percent of respondents said they had declined a wedding invitation in the past 2 years, because of the cost factor. And perhaps more surprisingly, lower-income respondents were not more likely than higher-income respondents to say they had declined a wedding invitation for financial reasons.
Among those who had attended a wedding recently, the median cost of attending a wedding clocked in at approximately $200, including gifts, travel, lodging, clothing and other expenses. And, more than a third (38%) traveled to attend a wedding, with the majority (77%) venturing over 100 miles away from their home to be a part of the celebration.
Wedding Guests Hate Receiving Lines & Like Chicken:
The poll also asked Americans what they liked and disliked about weddings. The ceremony was the clear favorite, with 60% saying they enjoyed watching the ceremony a lot followed by the music and dancing (56%) and the food at the reception (52%). That said, although music and dancing was a front-runner, just a third (30%) said they enjoyed traditional group dances such as the “Bunny Hop” and “Electric Slide.” At the bottom of the list was the traditional receiving line (23%).
Looking at gender differences, women said that the “I do’s” and seeing the bride’s gown were tops in terms of their wedding attendance (73% and 72% respectively). In comparison, men said the food at the reception was the big draw (55%).
As far as reception food goes among all respondents, the luxurious option of champagne and caviar had few fans (15%). A middle of the road menu was the clear favorite, with the combination of wine and chicken breasts garnering 57 percent. Beer and pigs in a blanket came in second, with 20 percent of the vote, in great part due to the male contingency. Men were twice as likely as women to choose it as their preference. In addition, no class differences were uncovered in meal preferences. High and low-income respondents were similar in their fondness for the classic wine and chicken wedding.
For more information, log onto www.brides.com/weddingguests
Methodology:
GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media conducted The AP-Brides.com Poll May 28 to June 1, 2009. The poll involved landline telephone and cell phone interviews with 1,000 randomly selected adults nationwide, and has a margin of sampling error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.
About Brides.com
Brides.com (http://www.brides.com/), Condé Nast's premier bridal destination Web site, features daily news and trend updates, in addition to expert tips and advice, all designed to empower brides-to-be in preparing for their big day. Showcasing interactive tools, an array of beautiful imagery and video, as well as content from three national magazines -- Brides, Modern Bride, Elegant Bride -- and 16 local bridal magazines, Brides.com offers information on every aspect of wedding planning. Part of Condé Nast Digital, the Internet unit of Condé Nast, the site is visited by more than 1.5 million unique users every month.
About The AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the world's population sees news from AP.
On the Net: http://www.ap.org/
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Press Contacts:
Laura Goldberg
Brides.com
lauragoldberg@gmail.com
347-683-1859
Jack Stokes
The Associated Press
jstokes@ap.org
212-621-1720
