Poll: Brides Use Internet For Wedding Vendor Searches
Where do brides go to find a caterer, photographer or other wedding vendor? In the past they’ve used the Yellow Pages, visited brick & mortar stores, attended bridal extravaganzas or asked a friend. But today the answer is clearly “The Internet”!
Jeff Kear and the gang at My Wedding Workbook (an online resource for wedding planning) recently conducted a poll that surveyed over 800 brides. They discovered that when searching for wedding ideas and information, brides go online. In fact, the top three kinds of pages that brides visit when researching for their wedding are wedding websites, wedding blogs and search engines (like Google).
flowers captured at an Austin, Texas Wedding
Here’s some great information taken from the My Wedding Workbook article:
Generation Y and the Millennials have been using computers and the Internet practically their entire lives, so it only makes sense that these are the first resources they use when they start planning a wedding,” said Jeff Kear, owner of My Wedding Workbook.
In fact, when brides were asked what will be their main source of aid throughout the wedding planning process, the Internet (17.8%) ranked just behind brides’ fiances (28.4%) and their mothers (21.3%) – one of the more interesting statistics from the survey.
And what do brides specifically look for when they are surfing the Web? The top items are wedding advice and how to’s, planning tools, wedding attire, floral and decor, and photography/videography.“It’s no surprise that wedding guidance and shopping are definitely the two areas of most interest for online brides,” says Kear. “However, the recent recession has made brides even more reliant on the Internet for assistance in these two areas. Brides are more budget conscious than ever, so they are planning more events and details themselves and need more guidance. They are also spending more time comparison shopping and browsing for bargains, and the Internet has become the default venue for comparing prices and vendors.”
Likewise, it’s also critical for brides to do their homework in evaluating vendors they have discovered online. “Don’t just rely on the ratings on websites, as they might be unfairly weighted toward positive or negative reviews,” says Kear. “Instead, ask your friends who have planned weddings, pose questions in local online forums and even talk to vendors who you have already found and trust. I guarantee a caterer has already worked with a florist they admire, or an officiant knows of a great wedding coordinator who they would recommend. The Internet can be helpful, but there’s no substitute for word-of-mouth.”
The complete online system for planning a wedding, My Wedding Workbook offers a step-by-step process for planning and sharing your wedding, from the proposal all the way through the honeymoon. Included in the system are dozens of wedding planning tools, a wedding website, guest email communications center and dozens of tip sheets and checklists that walk you through the whole wedding planner process.
You can contact Jeff by email at jeff@myweddingworkbook.com or by phone at 1-877-266-3885.
Source: My Wedding Workbook
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