Weddings are on the mend after the pandemic forced massive nuptial postponements, according to Timothy Chi, CEO of wedding-planning website The Knot Worldwide, who spoke to CNBC on Friday. “On average, around 2 million weddings take place in the United States each year. “We saw roughly half of those happen, which essentially means there are another million marriages that were pushed forward, and we’re starting to see it come to fruition here,” Chi said on “Squawk on the Street.” “”Road.” As a result, he predicts a 20 percent to 25 percent increase in marriages this year and in 2022, compared to pre-pandemic numbers, according to Chi. According to a report from market research firm IBIS World, the wedding sector witnessed a 34 percent drop in income last year as the Covid crisis caused many weddings to be postponed or at least curtailed. Couples are “ready to go all out again” now that most pandemic limitations have been gone, according to Chi, as indicated by their spending preferences. According to The Knot, the average wedding reception expenditure this year is at $22,500, which is more than $3,000 higher than in 2020 and around the same as in 2019. Furthermore, according to a recent study by The Knot, around 66 percent of respondents plan to increase their budget for factors that will make the day “more special,” such as adding a second photographer, more exotic flowers, an expanded guest count, and continuous health and safety precautions. Increased expenditures, Chi believes, can serve as a “leading signal” of consumer spending in specific sections of the economy, adding that travel and hotel stays are frequently associated with weddings. “There’s no better way to reenter post-Covid times than with a massive party,” he remarked./n
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