Wed& Insider Newsletter
What's happening in weddings around the world | Issue #5 | 5 October 2025
This Week’s Focus: The wedding planning process itself has become the product, and that’s creating service opportunities for vendors who understand content creation.
TRENDS THIS WEEK
Documentation Becomes the Experience: RichTok’s Wedding Blueprint
What’s happening: We came across coverage from SF Standard and The Knot about influencer Becca Bloom’s $3-5 million Lake Como wedding, which wasn’t just lavish, it was meticulously documented from venue tours to gift unboxing across eight months of content for 6 million followers. The wedding weekend itself became secondary to the documented journey, with exclusive Vogue coverage and brand partnerships woven throughout.
Why this caught our attention: Couples are no longer just planning weddings. They’re producing content series about planning weddings, and this shift fundamentally changes what vendors need to offer beyond the day itself.
Intimate Luxury Resets Expectations: Celebrity Weddings Go Casual
What’s happening: Yahoo News covered Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco’s 170-guest wedding at Sea Crest Nursery near Santa Barbara, where the couple prioritised comfort over convention. Guests danced barefoot, dinner was served at casual Nobu-style cocktail tables rather than formal seating, and the couple themselves went shoeless for their first dance. The “very eclectic” décor reflected their Beverly Hills home rather than traditional wedding aesthetics.
Why this matters: High-profile couples are publicly rejecting wedding formality, which permits to mainstream couples to do the same. However, the execution still requires significant investment and professional coordination to achieve “effortless luxury.”
Bridal Boudoir Moves Mainstream: Photography’s New Revenue Stream
What’s happening: Stemming from this LA Times article, we found that multiple photography sources report that the boudoir photography market is growing at an annual rate of 11.2% through 2026, with 78% of brides wanting wedding planning moments that make them feel confident and special. What was once a niche service is becoming standard, with photographers offering bridal-specific sessions as wedding morning gifts and confidence-building experiences.
Why this is significant: This represents a genuine service expansion opportunity, not just an add-on, but a separate revenue stream that extends vendor relationships beyond the wedding day timeline.
Heritage Sites Compete for Romance: Angkor Wat’s Proposal Boom
What’s happening: The Khmer Times has just featured data from Booking.com, showing that nearly 70% of Siem Reap bookings in Q4 2024 were made by couples, with social media flooded by proposal clips at the UNESCO World Heritage site. Cambodia Tourism Board confirms Angkor Wat is positioning itself alongside Santorini, Paris, and Bali in the global destination wedding market.
Why this caught our attention: Southeast Asian cultural heritage sites are actively competing for wedding and proposal tourism, creating regional opportunities for vendors who understand how to position cultural authenticity as a premium romantic experience.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU
Content Creation Services = Your Next Premium Package
Becca Bloom’s wedding documentation strategy reveals what high-value couples now expect: professional content capture throughout the planning process, not just on the day. The financial reality is striking, with her wedding content generating months of engagement before the event, and brand partnerships that likely offset substantial costs. For Asian vendors, this isn’t about becoming influencers yourselves; it’s about offering “content coordination” as a premium service: behind-the-scenes planning footage packages, vendor tour documentation, styling session content, and social media-ready deliverables at every milestone.
The opportunity: Vendors who can deliver both the service and the documented proof of the experience can command significant premiums, especially for couples planning destination or multi-day celebrations where the journey matters as much as the destination.
“Effortless Luxury” Requires More Expertise, Not Less
Selena Gomez’s barefoot, casual-dining wedding might look simple, but the execution with catered Nobu, eclectic décor that felt personal rather than generic, and accommodation at $3,500-per-night hotels required sophisticated coordination to achieve that “relaxed” aesthetic. This trend towards intimate luxury rather than formal grandeur doesn’t reduce budgets; it shifts where money goes and requires vendors who can deliver highly customised experiences.
The reality check: Can you articulate to couples how “effortlessly casual” actually costs more in planning expertise and bespoke styling than following traditional formats? The vendors who win these bookings understand how to position customisation as premium rather than complicated.
Boudoir Photography Is Your Service Extension Opportunity
With 11.2% annual market growth and brides actively seeking confidence-building experiences during wedding planning, bridal boudoir represents a genuine business development opportunity. This isn’t about photographers adding boudoir as an afterthought. It’s about positioning it as part of a comprehensive bridal experience, with dedicated styling, professional hair and makeup partnerships, and album products designed explicitly as wedding morning gifts. The revenue potential is compelling: separate session fees, print product sales, and extended client relationships that begin months before the wedding.
The opportunity: For photographers, this is a service that can be marketed to existing wedding clients with minimal additional overhead. For planners and stylists, it’s a partnership where connecting brides with qualified boudoir photographers adds value to your coordination services while supporting your vendor network.
Regional Heritage Tourism Needs Local Expertise
Angkor Wat’s emergence as a proposal destination, alongside existing wedding tourism in places like Bali, Phuket, and increasingly Vietnam, signals that couples want cultural authenticity, not just pretty backdrops. However, the 70% couple booking rate in Siem Reap also reveals the challenge: how do vendors differentiate when everyone’s chasing the same trend? The answer lies in genuine cultural knowledge, relationships with site administrators, and the ability to create experiences that respect heritage whilst delivering romance.
The opportunity: Vendors who can offer cultural consultation alongside logistics coordination, understanding auspicious timing, respectful styling, and authentic integration rather than appropriation, will separate themselves from generic destination planners.
WHAT TO DO/ASK YOURSELF
This Week’s Action Steps
Audit your documentation capabilities: Review your current service packages to identify areas where you can offer content deliverables. Not just final products, but process documentation that couples can share during planning. This might mean styled vendor meetings, planning session photography, or social media-ready milestone content.
Assess your “casual luxury” positioning: Look at your portfolio and marketing materials. Can you clearly demonstrate how you deliver highly customised, intimate celebrations that feel effortless? Do your case studies show personality and authenticity, or do they all follow the same formal template?
Research partnership expansion opportunities: Identify qualified boudoir photographers, hair and makeup artists, and stylists in your area who could support expanded service offerings. For photographers considering boudoir, investigate training programmes and insurance requirements specific to this type of session.
Questions Worth Asking Yourself
About content and documentation:
Do I currently deliver any content that couples can use during the planning process, or only final products after the wedding?
If a couple asked me to coordinate “content moments” throughout their planning journey, would I know which planning activities are worth documenting and how to style them?
About service positioning:
When couples tell me they want something “relaxed” or “casual” do I understand they likely mean “expensive but doesn’t look expensive” or do I accidentally steer them towards budget options?
Can I clearly articulate the expertise required to make “effortless” happen, in a way that justifies premium pricing?
About service expansion:
Is there genuine demand in my market for bridal boudoir, or am I chasing a trend that doesn’t match my client base?
For any new service I’m considering, do I have the professional training, insurance coverage, and portfolio to deliver it properly, or would I be learning on paying clients?
Skills Worth Developing
Content strategy consultation: Understanding which planning moments are worth documenting, how to style them for social media, and how to coordinate timing and logistics for content capture alongside actual planning activities.
Customisation vs. complication management: The ability to deliver highly personalised experiences whilst maintaining profitability and managing client expectations about timelines and logistics.
Cultural heritage consultation: For destination vendors, developing genuine expertise in cultural traditions, site relationships, and authentic experience design that goes beyond surface-level aesthetics.
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