Pattie and Marshall, Turtle Bay, December 6, 2008

Hey everyone...well, first off, let me apologize for not updating my blog recently. I've been rather busy lately trying to make sense of to where this economy is heading, and what to do next with my company. The state of the economy in Hawaii, has not been well. Hotel occupancy is at all time low. From what I heard and read, it's lower that great depression levels, and staying there. This is a lot worse than what post-9/11 tourism levels were. Back then, tourism hit an all-time low, but then it bounced back within a few months. Right now, there just are not a lot of tourist traveling to Hawaii....and tourism is droping slowly every single month.

How will this affecting the wedding industry?

Well, not good at all. Bookings for me are not down, but I have noticed that couples are spending less and less. More so, the number of cancellations have gone up. This month alone, I have had up to 10 cancellations so far! That is as much as last year all together. 2 years ago, I only had 1 or 2 cancellations in 2 years! The reason...people are just losing their jobs left and right. The economy is just that bad. People are losing their jobs, losing their retirement, losing their homes. The big question is when will it end? How will it end? And more so, is this economic stimulus plan the answer?

Now I know you're probably shaking your head and yelling "STEVE, WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH MY WEDDING!!!" Truth is...everything.

The average wedding used to cost around $32,000, with the majority of that cost going toward the reception. That's 32k, spent in one day. Two or three years ago, that really don't pose to much of a problem for most. Couples usally had that in savings, or took out a credit line to pay for their huge wedding. But now, you, me, hey, we all can't afford to spend that much for anything. So the big question is, what to do now? Here's my two cents:

OPTION#1: Don't get married now, wait a couple years until the economy recovers, and then throw your big wedding when the economy is kicking again. The problem with that is, I really don't think a bad economy is a good enough to reason to put off a commitment. Money is money, love is love, they are not interconnected.

OPTION#2: Don't put love and commitment on the back burner. Get married no matter what...just do it cheap. Elope, get married by the judge, or scale back TREMENDOUSLY on your wedding plans. Even if you have job security, go cheap as WE ARE ALL IN SURVIVAL MODE. Cheap doesn't mean you don't love each other less, it just means you're being more realistic. Hey, think about it logically....maybe it's a good idea to invest that 30K, rather than to blow it in one day. Especially right now..there are great investment opportunities out there at the moment.

Should you travel to Hawaii to get married? I don't know... yes, if your budget allows. The cheapest package I have right now is $295. Travel, for the most part will be around $1400 for two, for the cheapest air/hotel/car package. Stay for 6 nights, sending 150 per day, that's $900. So, traveling to Hawaii to get married, will probably run you at least $2600.00 with air/hotel/car/food/and wedding....that's not bad. If you can afford it, I would say go for it...but make sure you can afford it...especially in this economy. On the high end, you may spend $5,000 for everything, and over the course of 7 days... still a far cry from $32,000 in one day.

And as always, it's always been a lot cheaper to runaway to get married because you wouldn't spend the big dollars on a huge reception.

So what are my predictions on this economy. It's not good. If this stimulus package passes, our U.S. dollar will weaken tremendously as our treasury will simply, print more money.. Obama has basically put a 500K salary cap on all executives which companies receive bailout money. I realize this will make a handful of people happy, but these top executives, if they are top teir talent, need to get paid. I fear we will be losing our best executive talent to overseas companies which will not be shy about paying them their worth. With that being said, I see the nationalization of banks, cars manufactures, insurance companies, etc..etc... and a step toward anti-capitalism, and socialism. I believe we will be headed for depression times, and will not recover from this economy in the next 6 years....sad to say. It's going to get worse guys and gals, so hold on...this is the good times.

As for my company. I'm going to keep chugging along and surviving the best I can :)