Bridal showers are funny things. The invitees all hem and haw about going, but it’s really just like pulling off a Band-aid. It’s never quite as bad as you anticipate.
Just add a mimosa and you can up the fun quotient on pretty much anything.
So this weekend I headed back home to Long Island for my best friend’s shower. As a member of the wedding party, I was charged with creating the centerpieces and favors for the blessed event. And as an editor at Promo Marketing magazine, I, of course, began thinking of whether or not promotional products could somehow find a niche in the wedding industry. Holy matrimony is pulling in what, like, $18 jillion at this point or something? Could we get a piece of the pie somehow? I dismissed the idea pretty much as soon as it came into my head, because it just seemed wrong, but then I heard …
Erstwhile lady of “The View” Star Jones and her (soon-to-be-ex?) husband Al Reynolds are reportedly getting a divorce. You’d think their $1 million, corporate-sponsored wedding would be enough to keep those two crazy kids together.
I had forgotten all about that extravaganza! And though they’re “celebs” (I guess), I wondered to myself if getting wedding sponsorship could work for regular folk. Color me intrigued.
I did a little Googling and this is what I came up with. Funnily (or unsurprisingly, depending on where you’re from) enough, a New York couple did the same thing a couple of years ago. They couldn’t afford the caliber of nuptials they wanted, so with the help of companies such as 1-800-Flowers, the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball team and Entenmann’s, they made their $100,000 dream wedding come true. Promotional activities ensued.
Although The New York Times article doesn’t give exact ad-specialty details, there were branded scorecards (did I mention the wedding took place at a baseball field, after a game?) and mini bouquets of roses tossed to the card, courtesy of 1-800-Flowers. A logo here, a logo there—there’s no better captive audience than wedding guests!
The only downside of all this hoopla is that your mom is unlikely to approve of you taking offers from the highest bidder for your special day. It just might be construed as tacky and I’m inclined to agree.
But imagine a world where, if you don’t want to pay for something, you just make the entire thing one, giant promotional product. If the corner bar offered to pony up for half of your daughter’s communion celebration/bat mitzvah/destination wedding, would you be willing to hand out promotional pint glasses?
