• by Seana Mulcahy , December 1, 2003

Welcome back from what I hope was a great holiday. If you are like me, you ate too much, watched a fair share of football, caught up on sleep, and kicked into high gear for the months to come.

Well dear readers, you know I tend to be autobiographical in my weekly writings to you, so here's one for ya.

I was stupid enough to walk into a local mall to do "errands." Clearly I live in an online world. After walking about a ½ mile from my most coveted parking spot, I made my way through the crowd to none other than... a tuxedo store. No I'm not planning on buying one as a present for the holidays. No, it's not because it was pretty much the only store without much foot traffic. I'm err... getting married. Gulp. For this girl who works to much, writes because it's cathartic, spends too much time on planes, trains, automobiles, and other forms of public transportation, it still seems funny to say.

In my many years of advertising and digital marketing, I've learned a lot about brides, brides-to-be, grooms, their friends and families. The one thing I didn't learn was how to be one.

I began by putting my advertising cap back on and thought about all I had discovered. I often paid upwards of $200+ (USD) CPMs for email lists targeting brides and gift givers. I'd set up online bridal registries and viral campaigns for wedding parties. Suddenly as I searched the Web as a consumer, my advertising cap grew a veil.

Sure, there were a couple of great sites out there including but not limited to theknot.com and theweddingchannel.com. Each was chock full of links, helpful tips, robust content filled with current trends and proper etiquette, planning tools, and localized resources. However, I couldn't help looking at sponsored advertisers, affiliate marketers, and content aggregation deals. After a while everything looked the same.

The common thread is... people spend a boat load of money on weddings and advertisers know it. Hell I knew it. The wedding invite list was my prized vehicle for viral marketing campaigns. It gave me an opportunity to display my client's wares by giving the friend (aka gift-giver) the ability to click and buy. A while after the wedding we sent out thank you emails with online coupons so the gift-giver had the "opportunity" to buy product(s) for themselves and even refer friends.

I was talking to a friend of mine recently at a conference in New York. I was telling her my big personal news and this story. I told her I was torn because we are paying for it ourselves. We want everything to be "perfect" in a simple yet elegant way. However, it's a TON of money to spend on a party. She laughed and told me about her friend who got married at a museum. He cut a deal with a liquor company (who shall remain nameless) to "sponsor" the reception. How cool, I thought! She then went on to tell me that a videographer asked to film her wedding for free so he could use it in his sales efforts.

As my wheels spun I ran the story by some friends. They all laughed and found it fitting. Could it be done without being tacky? Its not like Hood milk actually has to fly that balloon right over the ceremony. However, there has got to be a way to do it. Maybe a small discreet logo and URL on napkins sponsoring beer or wine? Perhaps a customized sponsorship targeting women between the ages of 28 to 54 that will be attending the bridal shower? Or how about a paper company sponsoring the invitations or save the date cards? A restaurant could provide coupons and affinity cards to the girls planning and attending the bachelorette company. Maybe an airline would sponsor the honeymoon? Or a resort? Or a clothing outfitter?

You are probably laughing out loud by now or think I am utterly absurd. The point I wanted to make is this market is big and has the potential to spend a lot. If you want to target brides/grooms/partners and gift-givers think about the following:

With more than 2.4 million weddings occurring each year in the United States, the bridal industry continues to grow. Below are some of the most noteworthy facts about the wedding industry:

$72 billion/year is spent on weddings in the U.S.

$20,000 is the average wedding budget in the U.S.

June is the most popular month for weddings, then August, followed by September and October.

99% of newly married couples will plan and take a honeymoon.

$8 billion is spent on honeymoons each year.

$19 billion is spent on wedding gift registries each year.

Couples are waiting longer to get married.

The average age of the first time bride is 26, the first time groom, 28.

The average household income of a newly married couple is $55,000/annually.

More than 115,000 weddings are performed in Las Vegas every year.

More than 20,000 weddings are performed in Hawaii every year.

The average wedding has 175 guests (invited).

Sources: Sellmoreweddings.com, Theweddingchannel.com, and Theknot.com.

So I hope these stats do some of the heavy lifting if you are considering targeting this audience. For those of you who have successfully marketed to them, I'd love to hear your tips and tricks, so email me seana.mulcahy@adelphia.net.

And for my shameless plug: Want a unique sponsorship opportunity targeting a bride, a groom, their families and a guest list of 200 people? You know how to find us.