Originally published September 24, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified September 24, 2007 at 2:07 AM
Interface
Headed down the aisle? Plan the wedding online
A weekly column profiling companies and personalities. This week: mywedding.com...
What: mywedding.com, Bainbridge Island
Who: Rob Johnsen, 37, co-founder
Mission: To provide an online wedding-planning service that gives comprehensive choices.
Ticket to bride: The site features 43 discrete local wedding guides, each with small display ads from wedding vendors: facilities, caterers, florists, musicians and photographers, to name a few.
The site doesn't vet the advertisers, but it is assumed that any business that pays the minimum $500 yearly tariff is in for the count. Johnsen claims the site is an effective sales tool.
"Most photographers get about $2,500 to shoot a wedding," he said. "So they only need to get about four referrals a year from us to make it well worth the fee."
Employees: 20 (all but four on Bainbridge Island)
Financials: The private company has grown steadily since beginning in 2005, expecting to take in $3.5 million in sales this year.
Wed site: There's no fee to use the site. The happy couple can connect to vendors directly. They can also build a wedding Web site that the company will keep alive in what passes for perpetuity in the digital world.
Groom to move: The site provides a laboratory that determines whether the couple is suited for each other. "We give them all the options and they will have to make the choices." Johnsen said. "It will be a great steppingstone to the rest of their lives, where they will need to compromise and reach joint decisions."
A customer, too: Of the four co-founders, Johnsen is the only one still single. That will change soon, he said, as he is "this close to talking to a jeweler." Predictably, he plans to find that jeweler and other wedding services from his own site. He plans to make some service adjustments based on firsthand experience. "This will be a tremendous publicity stunt when the last bachelor founder finally takes the plunge," he said.
-- Charles Bermant
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
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