The grass is always greener, right? And then sometimes, you wonder if it might be made of gold. I’ve worked with all kinds of wedding suppliers in my 16 years writing English Wedding, from florists just starting out through to luxury planners and photographers with a worldwide reputation.

The luxury wedding market is a common goal.

Luxury looks a little different to every wedding supplier: for some, it’s the chance to work at incredible-looking stately home wedding venues. Perhaps the chance of booking a celebrity client, or scaling back to a select few high-end weddings per year.

Most often, I think, it’s a lifestyle ambition: because the hustle when you’re starting out in weddings is hard.

Working 50 hour weeks to promote your new business, missing out on family time and skipping self care isn’t sustainable in the long term.

And as a business owner, financial security matters. I think wedding suppliers all look forward to a time where we’re financially comfortable, with savings for retirement or a little put away ‘just in case’ we need to take a few months out.

So aiming for the luxury wedding market makes sense: it means clients with larger budgets, and a personal income to safely support your family (with holidays and school trips abroad and university and deposits for houses and all the things other skilled professionals take for granted. Plus a pension.)

For wedding suppliers, setting your sights on the luxury wedding market is wise. Defining what that actually means is an interesting little puzzle.

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Luxury feels different for everyone: engaged couples and wedding suppliers alike.

I’ve seen great comparisons on instagram showing expensive designer brands: Nike, Rolex, Michelin-star dining.

The same tiers exist in weddings: think of luxury wedding venues: Birdsall House and Chatsworth, Langley Castle or Hampton Manor, and all of the charming and beautiful barn wedding venues. Every one is magical, but they’re not equal in perceived status. Within every industry, there are levels of luxury, and each one is valid: each one has its own target market.

The trick for wedding suppliers is finding where your dream customer is, and where your brand will fit over time. Often, it might not be where you first thought.

Some personal context: I drive a 2 door Mini Cooper and I’ve loved that little car for a long time. For me, luxury would be a brand new 4 door Mini. I know for some couples, it’s a brand new Landrover. And for others, it’s their helicopter.

This article isn’t about judgement, or defining what luxury means to anyone, because we’re all looking at this from different perspectives.

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A luxury wedding… unhelpfully defined by AI

Gemini reckons “high-end celebrations are those costing between £80,000 and £150,000, while ultra-luxury, celebrity-style weddings frequently exceed £200,000 to £500,000+”.

I disagree with this. I don’t think luxury is a price tag, or even a brand. It’s a perception, that’s all.

We picture luxury as things that ‘look expensive’ – but what even is that? Pristine tailoring, craftsmanship, opulence: floral arrangements in every corner, or bespoke stationery on luxury stock with embossing and literally all the frills. It’s a part of it, but it’s not quite a match with what the term ‘luxury wedding’ brings to mind.

To attract luxury wedding clients on the basis of a brand that looks expensive means creating visual content to match – which isn’t easy until you have the right bookings and a portfolio to prove it.

There’s a better alternative.

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A new view of luxury in weddings

So when luxury isn’t about expensive ‘stuff’ or pure aesthetics, what exactly is it?

Luxury is, above all else, quality of care:

• Communication, pitched perfectly for every individual client
• Providing a level of service – perhaps bespoke – going beyond other suppliers
• Cultivating a feeling of reassurance, of being looked after and hands held (if that’s what your client needs)
• Your entire service packaged beautifully with little extras woven into your workflow: well-timed gifts or advice calls
• Transparency to build trust – this is more important than ever

Much of this evolves naturally as your wedding business gains experience – the ability to read a situation or pre-empt a couple’s worries so you can solve a problem before it happens, for example.

Modern luxury in weddings is all about a couple’s experience of working with you. It’s also about their guests, and how welcomed, at ease or enchanted they were by their experience of the wedding services you provided.

So when you’re evolving your brand into luxury weddings, putting yourself in your couples’ shoes is crucial to understanding what luxury actually means for your business.

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Design, aesthetics and messaging in luxury weddings

A luxury look does matter, but it cuts across styles and is more about refinement.

Photography’s a great example: luxury fine art and film photography lands differently to editorial or reportage – but all are valid in the luxury wedding market.

In floristry, strikingly beautiful, structured floral installations are one version of luxury, but equally, a vibrant display of local-grown, organic and seasonal flowers can be super high end and a perfect style for a different couple.

Luxury is individual, and that’s so important to remember.

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Luxury weddings aren’t about a particular aesthetic: they’re about feeling.

Mark Niemierko is the UK’s leading luxury wedding planner. This quote defines his approach to luxury beautifully:

“My signature style is experience-led above everything else. Design matters deeply, but service, flow, and how guests feel will always come first. I want guests to feel looked after without ever noticing the machinery behind it.”

From A Master of Moments: Mark Niemierko on Designing Meaningful Luxury | DWP Insider

This is luxury, as explained by the genuinely lovely human at the heart of London’s most exclusive celebrations. Not a signature aesthetic, not with a focus on setting visual trends – but something deeper. A Niemierko wedding is always exquisitely designed for each couple, but the style itself focuses on their personalities.

Luxury happens behind the scenes, and that’s something to incorporate into your wedding business gradually as you gain experience and expertise.

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It was an email conversation with Derbyshire documentary photographer Simon Dewey that got me thinking about luxury weddings. (Do read Simon’s blog What Is Luxury Wedding Photography, Anyway? – it’s a gem and he’s a compelling, thoughtful writer.)

Simon’s own approach is to provide the best possible service to his couples: stunning quality photography of course, but a level of genuine care, focusing on his clients feeling looked after, rather than how the rest of us will perceive their images. Luxury lies in the relationship between wedding photographer and clients, and has nothing to do with the outside world’s perception of what ‘luxury’ means.

“I want to make photographs that take you back to the feeling of the day, the atmosphere, the people, the things that happened that you nearly forgot. Not photographs that perform well on a grid. Not a name you can drop at dinner. Just images that mean something to the people in them. I  see that as a luxury. To have someone who wants to do that for you.” ~ Simon Dewey, documentary wedding photographer

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Luxury should never just be a price tag.

The luxury wedding market is evolving with a new generation of couples, into something far more experiential than ever before.

For suppliers, this means offering services that go above and beyond your clients’ expectations. If you can deliver an experience which feels luxurious: smooth, empathetic and guided – your brand can evolve into the luxury wedding market.

By communicating the depth of your services, and cultivating recognition of the high end customer service you provide, you’ll be in a position to increase your prices and book more luxury clients.

As a wedding blogger and editor of English Wedding I’m drawn to suppliers who care about providing that extra spark. Because every wedding is a luxury for the couple involved: no one’s wedding is just a standard day in their lives and every celebration of love should feel special beyond words.

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