What has happened to June being the traditional month to get married in the wedding industry? When I was working early on in my career, the month of June was always synonymous with weddings. When you heard about a new bride getting engaged, she was probably a June bride. This is why so many people have birthdays in the early spring. At least those who have parents that were willing to jump right into starting a family immediately after the wedding. For instance, I was born nine months and three days after my parent’s wedding. Interesting, huh?? June is right there in the beginning of summer after the rainy spring and after the flowers are all in bloom. What a beautiful time of year to have such an important day in one’s life. But, somewhere along the way that changed. I don’t know about your business, but my June business has drastically softened while other times of the year have exploded! I now generally do have a weekend off in June which, a few years ago, was unheard of in our industry. We all knew that weddings, much like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Christmas to floral designers, could pretty much be counted on to be booming during this time of year. Now all that has changed.
What is the cause? DFW, like other areas of the country, has seen changes largely due to the bride’s required outdoor ceremony under the clear skies stigma. That, along with escalating temperatures high enough to burn you but good and in short order, and guests are less likely to RSVP yes to that lovely invitation. They have clearly been left out in the sun for a happy hour or two before and have no intention of learning that lesson again. I have actually seen guests running to an air conditioned door with their small children hanging limp in their arms having passed out from heat exhaustion before the procession music began. That is not a pretty sight, I assure you. I have seen mascara running down a bride’s face when she said “I Do” because the temperatures caused a clear “I Don’t”. An even uglier sight! And, those are not always tears of joy! I often have brides that say, “It is only a twenty-minute ceremony. They can surely survive for twenty minutes” Well, that is not always the case and don’t call me Shirley. :-D
Dallas heat can be an offensive element to what could otherwise be a wonderful event. Further, twenty minutes is a good estimate for the ceremony. That doesn’t count the hour of time it took to arrive and be seated and then suffer through the extensive opening music ensemble. The time allotted for your guests to be outside is also based upon the wedding party’s ability to walk down the aisle on time. I once had a bride that decided to tour a world famous building that was on the property while she left her guests in the Labor Day heat with no tent for an extra thirty minutes of fun in the sun! After the excruciating sauna of a ceremony, they will most assuredly move into the reception venue. Ahhh!!, there is nothing quite like the sweet smell of sweat mixed with shrimp cocktail in a ballroom at the beginning of the reception. Welcome to hotel hell!
Another reason for June to be a month that is spiraling downward is that facilities got on the band wagon and began raising their minimums and other miscellaneous charges because that was the thing to do when dates were so sought after. After all, these are business people in business to make a profit and that is the basis of commerce. Brides did not necessarily take kindly to that and so they started looking at other dates beyond the traditional June.
At first it was May and July, then April and October (August and September are still a wedding wasteland). December and January have not traditionally been big months but that is changing. The onset of so many celebrity winter weddings that are being broadcast in every magazine and television show from coast to coast has created a surplus of brides following along in those footsteps and working the winter months as well. This leaves us re-creating the same stale concepts that those ‘full-of-themselves’ Hollywood wedding planners worked up just to annoy us down the road. Now, please don’t think that I am bashing wedding television shows or celebrity weddings. That would be absurd, if you get my drift!
The next step in the process to divert from traditional dates is to schedule Fridays and Sundays. Brides have figured out that they can often get a discount from many wedding professionals if they book a non-traditional day that is open for so many in the industry. That is until these dates become more heavily scheduled and then this will change too.
I think that it all comes down to the fact that this is an industry of growth and constant change. The evolution process is moving forward and much like dates, pricing and celebrity driven trends are becoming the recipe of the future. Won’t it be fun when we are doing a wedding for a lovely couple on a Wednesday at 2 pm. I guess that I will have to remember to TIVO “The West Wing”!
One thing to note; Our association is and will always be called JWI for June Wedding, Inc. whether we are busy in June or not. We will carry on the long-standing June wedding tradition even if the clients choose not to in the end! Who knows, perhaps we will come full circle back to June being the big month for weddings again. Food for thought!!
by W. Donnie Brown, JWIC
As published in JWI bi-monthly publication nationwide June, 2005
© copyright W. Donnie Brown, JWIC Allrights reserved