WeddingWire Unveils Online Service that Transforms Personal Wedding Planning

WASHINGTON, D.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--WeddingWire, an online platform designed to simplify wedding planning for engaged couples and wedding vendors, announced its public launch today. In the $50 billion annual US wedding industry, WeddingWire is the only company that enables engaged couples and wedding vendors to work in concert to produce distinctive, heart-felt nuptials while alleviating the pain points felt by both parties. WeddingWire’s online offering is available immediately across the United States at www.weddingwire.com.

For engaged couples, WeddingWire offers unrivaled planning tools that enable pairs to save time and money planning their dream wedding, while working with vendors that share their vision of a distinctive celebration. These planning tools are free of charge to engaged couples and include:

• The industry’s first map-based vendor catalog that permits quick and easy vendor searches based on geography, category and customer ratings;
• The market’s only collaborative comparison shopping tool, SmartMatch, which provides couples a single-point for requesting and receiving vendor estimates. Instead of making appointments and driving across town, engaged couples can now receive multiple estimates for wedding services with the click of a button;
• The most complete and accurate vendor rating system in the industry. Newlywed-written vendor ratings and reviews empower engaged couples to select the best and brightest partners for planning their special days. WeddingWire’s vendor reviews cover the five most important areas for choosing a vendor, from quality of service to flexibility, and help ensure the best investment and end result for couples;

WeddingWire Transforms Personal Wedding Planning/page

• Best-of-breed project management tools for overseeing every aspect of the monumental planning process. In addition to traditional planning tools like guest list management and budget tracking, WeddingWire has introduced a number of innovative tools at no cost such as drag-and-drop seating charts and robust wedding websites; and
• Social networking that connects enthusiastic engaged couples so idea sharing and friendships can flourish over the shared excitement of their impending nuptials.

“Finding WeddingWire has been a saving grace for my fiancé and me,” said Stephanie Silverman of Arlington, Virginia. “For us, the excitement of getting married was being lost on the enormity of planning this single day. WeddingWire has helped us streamline the process, allowed us to find the perfect bridal vendors that can help us realize our dream wedding without breaking the bank, and has done so for no cost. Even sites that charge a fee don’t offer as many resources as WeddingWire.”

For vendors and for no charge, WeddingWire puts companies online where today’s savvy engaged couples are planning their nuptials. WeddingWire helps vendors meet and work with couples who appreciate their discriminating tastes and grow their business without the risk of high-costs or low return on investment; vendors pay nothing until they are successfully matched with a couple. WeddingWire offers vendors:

• A no cost Internet storefront that enables vendors to create an online presence complete with a business profile, portfolio images or videos and more. Businesses can use this profile as their corporate website or can link back to their own homepage;
• The wedding industry’s only opportunity for vendors to respond to newlywed-written ratings and reviews of their products and services. This ‘checks-and-balances’ measure ensures that wedding vendors are fairly represented in the platform’s full-bodied ratings and reviews section; and
• Peer networking opportunities so vendors can co-market services, recommend other companies, and even provide testimonials for companies they have worked with in the past.

“Until now, no solution has taken into consideration the needs of both engaged couples and bridal vendors during the wedding planning process,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire co-founder and CEO. “WeddingWire offers tangible value to both of these audiences with an innovative and technically advanced offering that ensures that engaged couples and wedding vendors connect with no risk to either party. Our goal is to take the pain out of wedding planning and to ensure the couples work with their ideal partners.”

WeddingWire is led by an experienced team of entrepreneurs, technologists, and marketers. The management's background includes founding members of Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB), a successful startup employing over 600 people with a market capitalization of over $900MM, technology talent that has implemented systems for Intel, Fannie Mae, and AT&T, sales and marketing veterans who have managed global sales forces and national consumer brands, and industry experts from within the wedding industry.

For more information on WeddingWire, please visit www.weddingwire.com.

About WeddingWire, Inc.

In the $50 billion annual wedding industry, WeddingWire is the only company that allows engaged couples and vendors to work in concert to produce distinctive, heart-felt nuptials while alleviating the pain points felt by both parties. For engaged couples, WeddingWire’s unrivaled planning efficiencies are a tremendous value, saving time and money, and online social networking satisfies an emotional need to connect with other couples also planning their big days. On the vendor side, WeddingWire enables business owners to market themselves over the internet for no cost and guaranteed ROI, and creates the only market opportunity that gives vendors control over their budget, service reviews, lead generation and performance. For both, WeddingWire creates a win/win opportunity – it allows couples and vendors alike to seek out the people they want to collaborate with in order to design a beautiful, original and moving day that is the start of a new life as one.