Gay marriage? Ca-ching!

[DonViejo]

The wedding industry is beginning to court same-sex dollars -- with caution

BY TRACY CLARK-FLORY

The very same day that the Supreme Court handed down rulings in favor of marriage equality, popular wedding site The Knot premiered its digital magazine for LGBT brides- and grooms-to-be. It was a powerful reminder: There’s a lot of money to be made on gay marriage. Same-sex weddings will bring California businesses $492 million in the next three years, according to one recent estimate. In 2004, Forbes predicted that if legalized in all states, same-sex weddings could generate $16.8 billion from LGBT couples who decided to get hitched. It’s already an estimated $55 to $70 billion industry. Major brands have begun to take note.

This year, Nordstrom launched a commercial for its “wedding suite” starring both straight and gay couples. Last year saw a spate of LGBT-friendly ads. Target began selling same-sex wedding cards and promoting a gender-neutral registry with a print ad featuring two men holding hands. (The company’s record on LGBT rights is hardly pristine, though: Target courted controversy in 2010 by donating $150,000 to a conservative, anti-gay marriage gubernatorial candidate.) Macy’s ran a subtle print ad featuring a multi-layer cake with a barely noticeable groom-and-groom cake-topper. (The subtlety didn’t stop the American Family Association from freaking the hell out — which makes total sense, the American Family Association protesting the promotion of … families.) Tiffany & Co., which more than a decade ago made its registry gender-neutral, launched the website What Makes Love True, which features stories about real people; its homepage currently features one gay couple, out of two-dozen couples (to that, I offer a one-handed clap.) J.Crew featured its first photo shoot of a gay wedding.

Hotels, including the Marriott and W chains, have made the greatest effort to court same-sex couples, with everything from special wedding and honeymoon packages to “marriage equality” discounts. “They see the dollars and cents,” says Bernadette Coveney Smith, founder of 14 Stories, the first same-sex wedding planning company in the U.S. “Hotels control the food and beverage, and food and beverage is the biggest wedding line item. So it’s just business.”

Bridal magazines have slowly incorporated same-sex couples as well. In 2010, Martha Stewart Weddings featured its first same-sex ceremony (one of the grooms is Martha’s nephew). Condé Nast’s Brides ran a piece on same-sex weddings back in 2003 and has gradually begun to include gay weddings in its coverage of real — as opposed to staged — weddings. Executive Editor Lauren Iannotti wrote me in an email, “We’re so happy to see that the Court is in line with the rest of the country and has struck down these discriminatory measures.” She says that “if this ruling changes anything for us,” she hopes it’s that they will get more submissions from LGBT couples.

full article:
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/29/gay_marriage_ca_ching/

[avaross09]

1. The wedding industry is beginning to court same-sex dollars -- with caution

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