As the Internet has matured over the past decade, more and more consumers, including your prospective bridal clients, are utilizing social networking, ecommerce, and application websites to research, compare, and share information on all manner of goods and services. What was unthinkable just a few years ago is now commonplace: brides and grooms are making wedding planning decisions and hiring wedding vendors based solely on information they received from cyberspace.

Highlighting this trend was the news last week that The Knot, the top-rated wedding-related website for 2008, has purchased WedSnap, a site aiming to be the future of weddings by engaging web-savvy brides. In addition to a web-based wedding budget planning application and a wedding website search feature, the acquisition also includes the most popular Facebook wedding application, Weddingbook.

An example of a regional social network geared toward the wedding market is Seattle-based Avant Bride. Featuring a directory of over 1,000 local wedding businesses, this website encourages brides to read and write vendor reviews, share their experiences through blogging and forums, and attend events to meet vendors and each other.

The Wedding Report, a research company that tracks and forecasts wedding industry trends, estimates the 2008 online wedding market was worth over $16 billion and accounted for approximately 13% of the total ecommerce retail market. Future projections indicate that online wedding sales will experience growth rates between 7% and 10%, reaching almost $23 billion over the next four years.

For the Certified Wedding Planner, it is vital to understand that eight out of ten engaged couples use the Internet for some or all of their wedding planning needs. The following table details the top ten reasons brides and grooms go online:

With the majority of newlyweds under the age of 27, it is natural that the percentage of the wedding market business conducted online will continue to increase. Each subsequent generation of brides- and grooms-to-be are more comfortable and more adept at finding solutions on the net. To continue to succeed in this evolving marketplace, or to successfully learn how to become a wedding planner, today’s CWP must not only be aware of the trends, but incorporate the technology of those trends.

According to recent surveys conducted by The Wedding Report, one out of three couples today use a social network site to communicate wedding information to their friends and family. That percentage will rise to more than half participating over the next few years. It is predicted that within ten years, nearly three out of four engaged couples will use social networks to replace traditional methods of sharing wedding details.

Today’s Internet is called Web 2.0: the trend toward technology and design aimed to enhance creativity, communications, secure information sharing, collaboration, and functionality of the web that includes social networking, video sharing, wikis, and blogs.

Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media and creator of the Web 2.0 term and concept, defines it as “the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.”

Even as we seek to understand and incorporate the advances and opportunities of the integrated and interactive web, technology continues to march forward. Internet experts are currently debating the definition and structure of Web 3.0, sometimes called the Semantic Web. Most agree that the next generation of the web will center on a pervasive, dynamic usage of Web 2.0 designs across newly invented technologies.

If you are asking what this means for your business, Shane McMurray of The Wedding Report has an answer:

· If you are not sure what social networking is, learn it. Read articles, books, or take a class, it should be a vital part of your business model going forward.

· Figure out how you can use or integrate social networking into your business model.

· Look at ways to integrate technology with your business processes. Think about the communication gadgets the younger generation is using. How will they communicate with you? How will they buy your products or services?

· Get connected. Set up profiles on social networks, connect with others, and promote your business.

How will you incorporate Internet interactivity and engagement into your wedding planning business?

Tags: brides, Internet, planning, wedding

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