Wedding Packages Reconsidered and Reimagined

Whilst there are various changing customer needs that I’d like to explore in depth, today I’m focusing on the shift towards venues and businesses creating and embracing ‘packages’ to meet the needs of today’s couples, who are feeling overloaded, overwhelmed, and time-short. Couples need more hand-holding, reassurance, and clearer, more transparent, and inclusive packages. Venues that deliver this are smoothing out and speeding up what is often a slow, lengthy sales process, with couples reluctant to sign on the dotted line and wavering.

Now, before you look away and say ‘packages are not our vibe’ – I hear you. With a background of 15 years as an independent wedding planner, designing bespoke, high-end weddings often in unique venues, the term ‘package’ never resonated, largely because of what the term had tended to mean and how that package was presented.  Gold, silver, bronze, anyone?  Shudder.

When I set up my wedding planning business in 2003, that was very much the norm, and the wedding industry has come a very long way in customisation and choice since then, thankfully.

One of the great myths that still persists is that packages are cheap – this is not true; it’s about how they are put together.

The benefits of a package are age-old. They are a way of setting a framework of what a customer gets, of what’s included. They provide certainty to both the business and the customer. And in the turbulent world of 2025, couples (increasingly Gen Z) are in some cases seeking certainty on the costs of their wedding, as people are ever mindful of the constantly increasing costs of living.

Others are time-constrained and feel overwhelmed and overloaded by the demands of pulling together their vision and sourcing individual elements, such as catering, bar, and key suppliers, especially when planning from a distance. As wedding aspirations continue to rise, the pressure on couples to work out every aspect for themselves has reached a tipping point, where a more pared-down, curated vision is welcomed. They also expect to rely more on their potential host venue, especially if they don’t have the support of an external wedding planner.  Every venue client I work with privately reports that, over the past two years, the levels of expectation for in-house venue team planning, detail, and coordination have reached levels never known before.

So, the smart business is looking at how we can make this easier for everyone by reducing some of the choices and cutting out some of the noisy and time-consuming steps to streamline the decision-making process for the couple and the planning process for the venue.

Huntsham Court in Devon are one such example and were happy to share with me that:

So, how do you package, and do you not package?

This will be highly variable on your venue’s business model and a number of factors, but here are some tips and considerations;

The major parts of a wedding spend are venue hire, food, and drink, which make up at least 50% of a couple’s overall wedding budget. Focusing on how you package these areas and make this easier for couples from the start (this is particularly relevant for the venue that partners with external caterers or a range of caterers) is a key starting point. Can you curate a package for a specific style of wedding and couple, paired with a catering style that suits their preferences?

What other elements of the wedding are popular and can be curated into an appealing package without detracting from a couple’s ability to introduce personal touches and their own unique style? Music, flowers, cake?

It’s vital for any packages to be successful with today’s couples to have plenty of wriggle room for customisation and choice within – so if you decide to include a selection of florals within the package then great, but it’s working with your supplier or suppliers to have a range and options within that package whether that’s the individual component pieces, the colour or style and to be open to upgrades and add-ons. The point of the package is to provide a strong starting point that’s reassuring to the couple at the point of purchase, but it’s not necessarily the end of the conversation or opportunity, far from it. It’s especially relevant in these challenging economic times to secure the booking and consider additional elements later in the planning, perhaps a year in, when an additional budget, such as parental contribution, a pay rise, or the like, may become available.

Even if you decide not to ‘package’ as such, how can you provide vital information on key venue, food, and drink costs to your couples early in the journey? I’m a big fan of an online pricing calculator tool that puts the power of choice and customisation in the hands of the couple, allowing them to play around and arrive at what resonates with them, from guest numbers to the time of year and day of the week.

And how have Huntsham Court interpreted their packages?

I’m excited to see how packages evolve and better meet the changing needs of weddings.