Gay Weddings are Good for Business

In our groundbreaking 2010-2011 survey, we asked nearly 500 engaged and newlywed same-sex couples how they found the wedding professionals to hire for their wedding.  We gave them options like print ads in wedding magazines, mainstream wedding blogs, mainstream wedding directories (ie TheKnot, WeddingWire), wedding expos, and more.

The top three ways same-sex couples find vendors are: 

1) googled terms like “New York Gay wedding photographer” 

2) word of mouth; and 

3) gay wedding directories.

The use of gay-specific search terms, directories and word of mouth clearly indicates that same-sex couples prefer to work with businesses who reach out to them and come recommended.  The more you can do to proactively reach this market, the more success you will have.

We (and two of our clients/former clients) are in the New York Times about the wardrobe options for lesbian brides.

It's a great piece which offers insight into the unique challenges that our clients face.  Check it out!

85% of engaged and newlywed LGBT couples surveyed in 2010-2011 found it very or somewhat important to hire businesses with LGBT inclusive language.  Language focused on the "bride" (and only one!) can lose you business. This is exactly why you should update your materials to be inclusive!

Stay tuned as we release more data on the habits of engaged and newlywed same-sex couples!

Only 8% of same-sex couples surveyed in 2010-2011 responded that they married in a place of worship.  Very few churches and only some synagogues and other places of worship will allow same-sex marriages so those couples frequently choose to have their ceremony and reception in the same place.

Stay tuned as we release more data on the habits of engaged and newlywed same-sex couples!

There was a contest in Chicago recently giving away a free wedding to a deserving couple.  A same-sex couple participated and won.  This quote in the video below from that couple really moved me - even though I hear this type of quote all the time:  "We are the only same-sex couple a lot of our friends and family know so if they were to see us in a wedding scenario, it would just prove to them that our love is just like everyone else's."

That's what same-sex couples are looking for...keep in mind that most of the guests at their wedding will be straight...I urge you to urge them (the couple) to make the ceremony as impactful as possible so that those guests have tears in their eyes, love in their hearts and support of marriage equality on their minds.

One of the ways that can happen is if your clients hire a Celebrant to officiate their marriage ceremony, or someone else who can write a very powerful and meaningful ceremony script...

There's a real lack of data (even by us) on how much same-sex couples spend, on average, on their wedding.  In fact, the data that is available for straight couples seems to skip a MAJOR variable...the average number of guests.

Our last survey asked same-sex couples how much they were spending on average on their wedding but we decided not to include the data because it didn't represent the number of guests.  Our next survey will ask how much they are spending on average per guest.

Many same-sex couples who live in states which do not provide legal marriage rights choose to have two events - a very small legal ceremony in a state where they can; and a larger party in their home state.  

Data does not reflect this sum, nor does it take into account the number of guests...ie, a LGBT wedding with 100 guests is of course going to cost less than a straight wedding with 200.

We aim to provide accurate data on this often-asked question!

In 2010-2011, we surveyed nearly 500 engaged or newly married LGBT couples from around the U.S. and are now starting to release the data.

This question is, "What wedding blog do you read the most?" and the responses are:

• So You're EnGAYged 18.43%
• Offbeat Bride 10.27%
• Style Me Pretty 5.74%
• Wedding Bee 5.14%
• WeddingChicks 4.53%
• Snippet and Ink 3.63%
• IndieBride 3.32%
• Green Wedding Shoes 3.02%
• Junebug Weddings1.81%
• A Practical Wedding 1.21%
• 14 Stories 1.21%
• Other 3.02%
• Don't read 38.67%

Note: this survey was started before these great blogs launched:  Huffington Post Weddings, Equally Wed's blog, GayWedding.com's blog, A Bicycle Built for Two and For Real Equality Weddings

Today I participated in the Wedding Market Chat on Twitter and had some great questions!  You can follow along and check out the transcript here.  I shared some gay wedding data, some information on laws and policies and marketing tips. 

Thanks to Julie Albaugh from Wedding Market News for inviting me to participate!

In February I spoke at the Event Solutions Idea Factory conference and this new issue of their magazine has a great article on same-sex weddings.

You can read the Event Solutions magazine article here to see what my advice is for wedding professionals!

This past Tuesday I led the Gay Wedding Institute full day workshop in Denver, which was then followed by the launch party for Colorado Gay Weddings and A Vote and a Vow.  

It was so wonderful to be in such a great group of enthusiastic supporters of marriage equality.  Mark Paquette from Events Unwrapped organized the training and Kristy Rowe and Jessica Bergthold from A Vote and a Vow planned a fantastic, well attended party which featured great food and tastings from the area's finest distilleries!

Here are the 21 graduates of the course on Tuesday very enthusiastically participated and will be fantastic advocates for their LGBT clients.  The graduates are planners, officiants, photographers, florists, DJs, venues and even a linen company!