|
Charleston says ‘I do’ to a growing trend
Charleston weddings trend lures out-of-town dollars
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
Her hometown is Myrtle Beach, his is Los Angeles. They met in Atlanta, where they both live.
When wedding bells began to ring for Michele Karetas and Demetrios Rizopoulos, they had to decide where to hold their memorable affair.
Destination: Charleston.
The Karetas-Rizopoulos wedding took place Dec. 9 at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity, followed by a reception at the Charleston Place hotel. The couple entertained 165 guests from out of town, each of whom undoubtedly made a contribution to the local economy.
From the wedding cake and floral displays to the music and food, a single wedding affects a multitude of businesses, and tying the knot in Charleston has become the dream of many non-local brides.
“Destination weddings are becoming more and more the thing to do, and that’s not a local phenomenon,” said Marilyn Buist, sales manager at the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We know it’s happening, we just don’t know to what capacity.”
Karetas said she chose Charleston because of its history and charm.
“Myrtle Beach is always home to me and always will be, and I’m proud to be from there, but Myrtle Beach has just become so geared to tourists, meetings and conventions, and I didn’t want to have my wedding at the same four places everyone else does,” Karetas said. “I wanted something a little different, but I wanted to hold true to the South.”
Freelance photographer Chris Massarotto said he has noticed the influx of out-of-town wedding couples and isn’t surprised.
“Charleston has a lot to offer in terms of wedding set-ups,” Massarotto said. “There are a lot of spots around the downtown Charleston area that are very picturesque, and the other thing is the fact that our climate is pretty temperate throughout the year.”
About 16% of U.S. couples plan destination weddings, Conde Nast Bridal Media reported in its 2006 American Wedding Study. The organization, which publishes Conde Nast Traveler, Bride’s and Modern Bride magazines, reported that wedding spending has nearly doubled in the past 15 years to more than $27,000 on average in 2005.
Megan Morgan, an event planner at Lowndes Grove Plantation, said Charleston offers wedding couples and their guests a variety of things to do.
“They can go golfing or to the beach, and shopping is huge,” Morgan said.
The area’s popularity as a wedding destination means many venues are booked well in advance.
“The chances of booking a Saturday evening wedding in the spring are slim to none,” Morgan said. “Probably in January of 2007 I’ll be booking spring of 2008.”
An increasing number of weddings are being scheduled on Fridays and Sundays, said David Rister, owner of A Charleston Wedding, which offers photography, videography and other wedding services.
“For those who don’t get the first booking on the Saturday they want, they can go to that Friday or Sunday, and they tend to negotiate prices with the vendors,” Rister said. “We are doing just as many Friday and Sunday weddings together as we do on Saturdays.
“The amount of business that’s here in Charleston versus the Upstate is amazing. Every wedding I booked today, the brides were from out of town.”
John Edwards, general manager of the Mills House Hotel, said destination weddings make up about 70% of the hotel’s wedding business. Many who come to get married in Charleston have a local connection, he said.
“It’s typically those who have visited, or those who have gone to school here or have had some exposure to what a great city we have,” Edwards said. “Those individuals that are coming from out of town are staying overnight, and they’re eating at local restaurants. A lot of money is coming into the local economy due to destination weddings.”
The cash flow riding on the wedding tide has not gone unnoticed by entrepreneurs.
Laura Kirkman opened a designer bridal boutique here in September after observing the local wedding activity and the lack of full-service bridal shops in downtown Charleston.
“Charleston is a shopping destination for the state.” Kirkman said. “I noticed that, and there wasn’t a bridal store downtown. I put numbers together and did a lot of research going to other bridal stores. That’s when I learned that girls who don’t live here, but are getting married here, will buy their dress here.”
Kirkman, a native of Hickory, N.C., earned her degree in business marketing from the University of South Carolina and spent four years in New York working for Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. She loved the fashion industry but decided to move closer to home.
Maddison Row, Kirkman’s 780-square-foot shop on Hasell Street, stocks gowns by Carolina Herrera and Emé di Emé by Atelier Aimee, among others.
“I learned, in just talking to wedding planners, that weddings here are starting with budgets of $50,000 and up,” Kirkman said.
The city’s accolades, which include being named one of the top North American travel destinations by Conde Nast Traveler for the 17th consecutive year, have helped attract wedding couples to the Holy City and its neighboring resort islands.
Calder Clark, owner of Blue Moon Events, launched her event-planning business in April and has booked 42 weddings through December 2007. She spent four years working as an event planner in Washington, D.C., and three years as an event planner at Charleston Place before opening her own business.
“I did minimal research. I basically went on a gut instinct,” Clark said. “The wedding industry here is so strong and it doesn’t look like it’s going to let up soon. I think it’s one of those ghost economies that hasn’t really been charted.”
Let the charting begin. The Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau has teamed with the College of Charleston to compile a report based on surveys of local event planners as well as people who have contacted the CACVB for information on planning weddings in Charleston.
The CACVB’s deputy director, Perrin Lawson, said the organization is constantly getting inquiries about the scope of the wedding market in Charleston. The CACVB began publishing an annual wedding guide four years ago because of the demand from those planning weddings here.
The wedding business is extremely important to the local economy, Lawson said.
“It’s a niche market within the hospitality industry, but it is an extremely lucrative market and one that is growing,” Lawson said. “I’ve talked with wedding planners who have literally said they’ve got a certain number of weddings for the rest of the year and can’t take any more business. I’ve talked with people who have planned weddings for people who have spent $200,000 on their wedding. There are people who are coming here and spending considerable amounts.”
Manny Gonzales, owner of Tiger Lily Florist on Spring Street, said the economic impact ripples through the economy.
“When you think about all the people that (this business) employs on Saturday nights—the waiters, the waitresses, the bartenders, the limo drivers, the people setting up tents—they’re basically being paid by money coming from other cities,” Gonzales said. “It’s like a little sub-culture here. I would think that almost a million dollars goes down here every Saturday night. More than that. There are some incredible weddings that take place here in town.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.
|
E-Mail This Article
Printer-Friendly Version