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> Average U.S. wedding cost $30k in 2014 Averages are mostly useless for this kind of things where some people can go crazy on prices. What is the median? Are

by arkh 8y ago

> Average U.S. wedding cost $30k in 2014 Averages are mostly useless for this kind of things where some people can go crazy on prices. What is the median? Are other deciles available to check? But I think the most important would be with the cost of a wedding / current capital owned and cost of wedding / revenues ratios.

dionidium 8y ago
>"In 2012, when the average wedding cost was $27,427, the median was $18,086. In 2011, when the average was $27,021, the median was $16,886. In Manhattan, where the widely reported average is $76,687, the median is $55,104. And in Alaska, where the average is $15,504, the median is a mere $8,440." http://www.slate.com/articles/life/weddings/2013/06/average_wedding_cost_published_numbers_on_the_price_of_a_wedding_are_totally.html http://www.slate.com/articles/life/weddings/2013/06/average_... I grew up exclusively attending weddings from the (bottom of the) bottom half of that median and I now routinely interact with people who (seemingly) have only been to weddings from the top half; the disconnect is enormous.
asr 8y ago
Average or median, the more fundamental problem is that this number is just wrong. Wedding industry statistics are spin from wedding-industry-affiliated companies, who have a tremendous incentive to convince you that it's normal to spend this kind of money on your wedding (as an average U.S. household--make sure you spend more if you are above-average!). The source here, valuepenguin.com (which is trying to sell you wedding insurance), cites three data sources. Once source is no longer online. The other two sources (TheKnot and Costofwedding.com) claim to have conducted surveys. But The Knot just surveys people on its own website (not representative). Anyone want to venture a guess as to whether a representative number of courthouse-ceremony-and-lunch-buffet-afterwards weddings are counted in these figures?[1] Meanwhile, Cost of Wedding is "owned and operated by The Wedding Report, Inc." and reports the results of a survey The Wedding Report did. And The Wedding Report has this gem in its methodology description: We take a bottom up approach to "Average Wedding Cost." The total "Average Cost" is calculated using "Weighted Demand Average (WDA)," which is; average spent times demand equals the weighted demand average. Sum of weighted demand average for all items equals the average wedding cost. Using WDA instead of a summed average gives a better calculation, because it takes into account all items that couples may or may not purchase.[2] As far as I can tell, this means the average cost is calculated by first determining average costs for each item you might possibly purchase, and then adding them all up as if every couple purchases every item! Umm... no. That's not how you do math. [1] "Respondents were recruited throughout the year from TheKnot.com membership." https://xogroupinc.com/press-releases/the-knot-2017-real-weddings-study-wedding-spend/ https://xogroupinc.com/press-releases/the-knot-2017-real-wed... [2] https://www.theweddingreport.com/index.cfm/action/home/view/methodology/ https://www.theweddingreport.com/index.cfm/action/home/view/...

by arkh 8y ago

dionidium 8y ago

>"In 2012, when the average wedding cost was $27,427, the median was $18,086. In 2011, when the average was $27,021, the median was $16,886. In Manhattan, where the widely reported average is $76,687, the median is $55,104. And in Alaska, where the average is $15,504, the median is a mere $8,440." http://www.slate.com/articles/life/weddings/2013/06/average_wedding_cost_published_numbers_on_the_price_of_a_wedding_are_totally.html http://www.slate.com/articles/life/weddings/2013/06/average_... I grew up exclusively attending weddings from the (bottom of the) bottom half of that median and I now routinely interact with people who (seemingly) have only been to weddings from the top half; the disconnect is enormous.

asr 8y ago

Average or median, the more fundamental problem is that this number is just wrong. Wedding industry statistics are spin from wedding-industry-affiliated companies, who have a tremendous incentive to convince you that it's normal to spend this kind of money on your wedding (as an average U.S. household--make sure you spend more if you are above-average!). The source here, valuepenguin.com (which is trying to sell you wedding insurance), cites three data sources. Once source is no longer online. The other two sources (TheKnot and Costofwedding.com) claim to have conducted surveys. But The Knot just surveys people on its own website (not representative). Anyone want to venture a guess as to whether a representative number of courthouse-ceremony-and-lunch-buffet-afterwards weddings are counted in these figures?[1] Meanwhile, Cost of Wedding is "owned and operated by The Wedding Report, Inc." and reports the results of a survey The Wedding Report did. And The Wedding Report has this gem in its methodology description: We take a bottom up approach to "Average Wedding Cost." The total "Average Cost" is calculated using "Weighted Demand Average (WDA)," which is; average spent times demand equals the weighted demand average. Sum of weighted demand average for all items equals the average wedding cost. Using WDA instead of a summed average gives a better calculation, because it takes into account all items that couples may or may not purchase.[2] As far as I can tell, this means the average cost is calculated by first determining average costs for each item you might possibly purchase, and then adding them all up as if every couple purchases every item! Umm... no. That's not how you do math. [1] "Respondents were recruited throughout the year from TheKnot.com membership." https://xogroupinc.com/press-releases/the-knot-2017-real-weddings-study-wedding-spend/ https://xogroupinc.com/press-releases/the-knot-2017-real-wed... [2] https://www.theweddingreport.com/index.cfm/action/home/view/methodology/ https://www.theweddingreport.com/index.cfm/action/home/view/...