Overturning Ban on Gay Marriage Boosts Sales for Small Businesses within Wedding Industry

Added: (Thu Aug 20 2009)

Pressbox (Press Release) - The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a ban on gay marriages that occurred May 15th of 2008 gave a boost in business for hotels, bakers, and photographers in the wedding industry as gay couples prepared to legally wed. The vendors of the wedding industry were booming with business and bringing in millions of dollars. One media and entertainment company, PlanetOut, conducted a survey about gays and lesbian consumers and found that on average, gay couples spend about 10% more on their nuptials. A study taken at UCLA projected that gay couple unions would be able to provide a $370-million boost in the state economy throughout the next three years.
Couples who had been waiting decades to legally marry began to splurge on all kinds of wedding accessories including cakes, flowers, rings, dresses, tuxedos, sculptures, gay/lesbian cake toppers, etc. Those couples who already had commitment ceremonies planned decided to throw a bigger bash and get married after the overturn.
The court ruling of 2008 brought good news for small wedding-related businesses considering their traditional customers are spending less on weddings because of the economy. This ruling has also brought about new ideas for companies to adopt and manufacture in order to cater to the gay and lesbian wedding market. One company, WeddingCollectibles.com, has created a line of gay and lesbian cake toppers and is the only company to carry these kinds of toppers. These cake toppers are the first of their kind. Before most companies were just using cake toppers that were made as separates or interracial couples instead of actually making a cake topper where a gay or lesbian couple were paired together showing emotion.
Despite the recent proposition 8 that past in November of 2008 to once again place a ban on gay marriages, businesses within the wedding industry are still catering to the gay and lesbian community with its products and services.