The Wedding Report

What The Wedding Report does

The Wedding Report, Inc. is a private, founder-owned market research company founded in 2005 by Shane McMurray and headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The company collects, analyzes, and forecasts wedding statistics for the U.S. wedding industry, tracking a market it sizes at $66 billion in total economic impact for 2025 across 2,011,044 weddings. Its core technology is a proprietary methodology that aggregates data from federal sources (CDC, Census Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Labor, the Council for Community and Economic Research) with proprietary survey responses, applying a Weighted Demand Average (WDA) calculation to produce cost estimates that account for both purchased and non-purchased categories. The company has accumulated over 2 million survey responses since inception, with 18,611 samples feeding its 2025 dataset, covering 114 products and services across 15 categories at zip-code granularity for every U.S. county and every price tier, with 20+ years of historical data spanning 2008-2028.

The company's product portfolio includes the Wedding Cost Estimator (free, no sign-up required), zip-code level market data covering states, metros, counties, and zip codes, $50 per-market one-time report purchases across 15 vendor categories, a free-tier membership providing unlimited market summaries and the weekly Wedding Market Minute newsletter, and a Venue Exit Readiness Assessment tool for venue owners evaluating M&A readiness. The company positions itself explicitly against advertiser-funded wedding platforms, asserting that most published industry averages are inflated because they measure advertiser customers rather than the full market. Customer segments span wedding vendors (venues, planners, photographers), financial institutions and lenders, universities, government agencies, and consumer couples, with distribution handled through a self-serve website and direct sales to enterprise and institutional buyers.

The business operates with a small team (1-10 employees) and a bootstrapped, founder-controlled ownership structure with no external venture or private equity investment disclosed. Revenue is generated through three primary streams: one-time market report purchases ($50 per market per category), recurring membership subscriptions with annual billing, and freemium lead generation via the cost estimator that funnels users into paid reports and memberships. Distribution is digital-first with downloadable PDF delivery, and the company has accumulated credibility through recurring features in The New York Times, Forbes, and NPR and through data usage by government, investors, and academic researchers.

Name

The Wedding Report

Legal name

The Wedding Report, Inc.

Website

https://wedding.report

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Wedding Report is a founder-owned, independent market research firm that collects and forecasts U.S. wedding industry data, providing zip-code level market statistics, $50 market reports, and a freemium cost estimator to wedding vendors, financial institutions, universities, and government agencies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Tucson

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Market Report Sales: One-time purchases of market reports for specific geographic areas (metro, county, state) at $50 per report. Reports include demand, average/median spending, total sales, historical trends, forecasts, spending ranges, and market tiers.
2. Category-Specific Reports: Purchase of detailed reports for specific product/service categories (Attire, Beauty, Entertainment, Flowers, Gifts, Invitations, Jewelry, Photography, Planner, Bakery, Officiant, Venue, Transportation) for specific markets.
3. Membership Subscriptions: Recurring membership providing unlimited access to national, state, and metro market summaries plus the weekly Wedding Market Minute newsletter and access to complete newsletter archive.
4. Free Tools Lead Generation: Free wedding cost estimator and planning timeline tool drive user acquisition; users can create estimates without sign-up. Revenue is generated through upsells to paid reports and memberships.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Wedding Report collects, analyzes, and sells wedding market research data covering every U.S. county and zip code with 20+ years of historical data. It offers a free Wedding Cost Estimator tool for couples, paid Category Market Reports (PDFs at $50 per market), and a Membership subscription providing unlimited national, state, and metro market summaries plus the weekly Wedding Market Minute newsletter. Core products are powered by a proprietary Weighted Demand Average (WDA) methodology built from 2+ million survey responses combined with government data sources (CDC, Census Bureau, BEA, Department of Labor).

Product overview

The Wedding Report offers a suite of wedding market data products consisting of a free Wedding Cost Estimator tool for couples, comprehensive Wedding Market Data covering every U.S. geography with 20+ years of history, Category Market Reports (purchasable PDF reports for specific vendor categories), a Wedding Planning Timeline, and a Venue Exit Readiness Assessment for venue sellers. The core offering is market intelligence data that differentiates itself from inflated industry averages by using actual couple-reported spending data aggregated from surveys and behavioral data.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Wedding Cost Estimator A free online tool that lets couples estimate wedding costs based on zip code, guest count, wedding style, and location preferences. It provides category-by-category budget breakdowns and an integrated planning timeline with vendor booking deadlines. No sign-up or email is required to use it.
• Wedding Market Data Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• US wedding market tracked at $66 billion total economic impact for 2025
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Coresight Research: Coresight Research produces retail and consumer industry research with a subscription product and data visualizations. Its model of selling recurring research to enterprise and financial audiences overlaps with how The Wedding Report serves financial institutions and government.
• Sageworks (now Abrigo): Sageworks/Abrigo provides financial benchmarking and analytics data to banks and SMBs, including industry-specific data used in lending. It is comparable as a provider of third-party market data that supports loan applications and business plans, which is a core use case The Wedding Report serves for financial institutions.

Broad incumbents

• Mintel: Mintel is a consumer market research firm producing reports and data on consumer categories including weddings and related life events. It maps to The Wedding Report's functionality of paid research reports for enterprise buyers, but at a broader consumer-goods focus.
• The Knot Worldwide: The Knot (formerly XO Group, now part of The Knot Worldwide alongside WeddingWire) is the dominant wedding vendor marketplace and media platform in the U.S. It serves the same wedding vendors and couples but distributes vendor-software and marketplace services rather than independent market data.
• WeddingWire: WeddingWire is a major wedding vendor marketplace serving venues, planners, photographers, and couples, overlapping the same customer base as The Wedding Report. Its scale gives it first-party vendor and couple data, making it a potential long-term competitor in wedding market analytics.
• IBISWorld: IBISWorld produces industry research reports for hundreds of verticals, including weddings and events. It is comparable as a paid subscription-based industry research provider serving financial institutions, consultancies, and corporate customers, though at a much more generalist level.
• Euromonitor International: Euromonitor provides global market research on consumer industries including travel, hospitality, and celebrations. It is comparable as a subscription-based market intelligence provider for corporate strategy, financial, and academic users, though it is much larger and more diversified.
• Statista: Statista is a large generalist market and consumer data platform that aggregates industry statistics including wedding-related data. It is comparable as a paid data subscription product serving enterprise research, financial, and academic buyers, but with much broader coverage and less wedding-specific depth.

Others

• Pew Research Center: Pew Research is a nonpartisan research institution producing survey-based data on social and demographic trends including marriage and family. It is comparable as a survey-driven research organization whose methodology and institutional credibility The Wedding Report emulates for its own wedding-focused dataset.

Direct peers

• Here Comes The Guide: Here Comes The Guide is a wedding venue and vendor directory with editorial content and market data for couples and vendors. It overlaps with The Wedding Report as a wedding-specific data and editorial resource for both consumers and the wedding vendor industry.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/weddingreport
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-wedding-report-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Wedding Report