It’s no secret that Saturdays are the busiest day of the wedding calendar.
But what about the other days of the week? Where should you be optimising your pricing, packages and booking your other priority weddings?
Fridays and Sundays are growing as popular days to get married for many reasons, including for couples to be able to book their favourite venue or services that might already be booked out on a Saturday. So where does that leave you when it comes to pricing?
The stats
Did you know that 50% of all weddings in 2017 took place on just 32 days of the year? And those 32 days were all Saturdays?
While we know that 62% of weddings are on a Saturday, you might be surprised to hear that Fridays actually beat Sundays out for popularity. 14% of couples in Australia choose to get married on a Friday, while 10% are getting married on a Sunday.
For the rest of the week, you’ll see 3% on a Monday, 3% on a Tuesday, 3% on a Wednesday, and then 5% of weddings occurring on a Thursday.
This means that after Saturday, Friday and then Sunday weddings are the weddings you should be selling to any potential couples.
Most couples aren’t picking their wedding date for a particular reason, however, 21% of couples are choosing their date by season. Spring is the most popular season to be married, followed by Autumn, Summer and then Winter. 16% of couples are then picking a date because it is special to them, and good news for venues because 11% of couples are choosing their date based on the availability of their favourite venue.
So when it comes to maximising your wedding dates and prices, looking at how likely you are to sell those dates in which season is important.
Peak wedding season
You’ll likely have no trouble booking yourself up for Saturday weddings during the peak wedding season. If you find that you’re likely booking your Friday and Sunday weddings up during this time as well, then you shouldn’t lower your price.
If you are able to make bookings anyway, regardless of the price, then that means that couples are seeing the value of your services and are willing to pay for those services just to have you involved in their day. Particularly in Autumn and Spring, you may find that you are able to sell your Friday and Sunday weddings at the same price as you are able to sell a Saturday.
Another tip if you find your services booking out is to make sure that you are working with the right sort of demand. You want to make sure that your biggest weddings are going to be on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday during peak wedding periods.
If you do have smaller weddings then see whether you can guide the couples through to a weekday wedding, Monday to Thursday, which may come at a discounted price or with additional services thrown in to entice them. Having a few additional value-adds that don’t cost you much but can free up your weekend dates for prime weddings are a great way to maximise on the most popular days and dates of the year.
Off-peak wedding season
Generally speaking, most services will already offer a discount during off-peak season. They’ll also still cost the same on a Saturday and a Sunday, but with Friday weddings actually being more popular than Sunday ones you should also add Fridays into that same price.
You may find that during the off-peak season you have more trouble booking your Friday and Sunday weddings, and it’s only then that you should look at throwing in an extra value-add. If you do want to entice more couples to book a Friday or Sunday wedding with your business rather than going to someone else for a Saturday, then look at what else you can give them rather than simply lowering the price. If you’re a venue it could be a discount on additional wedding hire, photographers might add some extra shots in etc. If you are struggling to move couples to those days of the week then look at why, and see what you can do with your marketing before you consider lowering your price.
Like peak wedding periods, Monday to Thursday weddings should be offered at a discounted rate to your Friday to Sunday weddings during off-peak times. This will still help you book in a few of those smaller weddings during the week.
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