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Low-tech edition (About) Home > Search Print this story BUSINESS OF BLISS: IN Published on © 2005- The Press Democrat BYLINE: ERIN ALLDAY THE PRESS DEMOCRAT PAGE: A1 When So the couple, both native Midwesterners
working toward their MBAs at the ``Our families, they're not snobby people,
but they love good food and wine. And the winery setting was just a fantastic
backdrop,'' said Peak, 29. At their wedding last weekend, Peak and Seimer treated 60 guests to some of the best Wine Country
has to offer -- a three-course meal with wines paired to each serving at
Chateau Souverain, sunset in the vineyards and a
cake made by the Napa chef who bakes for Oprah Winfrey. All for about $65,000. That price tag illustrates the economic
influence of the business of bliss in The wedding industry generates up to $75
million a year -- more than the annual revenues of many of the county's
largest businesses -- and is one of the mainstays of the $1 billion tourism
and hospitality market. Weddings have been a key component of Wine
Country's rise in popularity with tourists over the past 10 years, with
bridal magazines and tourism publications heralding the manicured vineyards
and world-famous food and wine as ideal for wedding celebrations. And they have become a bellwether for the
tourism industry at large, said Judith Rivers-Moore, whose Santa Rosa-based
JR Publications Inc. tracks Wine Country weddings and publishes
regional wedding guides. ``Every wedding party is a tourist party,''
Rivers-Moore said. Nationwide, weddings are moving beyond the
traditional backyard buffet or country club supper to become the social event
of a bride and groom's lifetime -- with very nontraditional price tags. Winery and resort weddings cost on average
about $35,000 in While tourism and economic experts do not
compile statistics on the business of weddings, local wedding planners and
service businesses provided overall cost estimates. The out-of-town brides and grooms are part
of a growing segment of the industry known as ``destination weddings,'' where
couples and their guests travel to beautiful and exotic locales for
vacation-style weddings. For destination brides and grooms, the
expenses can climb quickly as couples face pressure to impress guests
traveling thousands of miles for the wedding. ``These guests are spending $1,000-a-couple
minimum to fly and stay in a hotel and eat out,'' said wedding planner Amy Thumhart. ``The bride and groom feel a responsibility to
give them everything they can.'' Peak and Seimer
paid $7,000 to Chateau Souverain for the venue. In
addition to the costs for photographers, florists and caterers, they splurged
on premium linens and bronze candelabras at every table, a port and cigar bar
after dinner and buses to shuttle guests to and from the wedding. ``It's really stunning,'' said Robbin Montero, Peak and Seimer's
wedding planner. ``They wanted to do it small so they could do everything on
the high end. They wanted all the little touches.'' For every Wine Country wedding, first there
are the basics. Wineries and other exclusive locations, such as resorts or
high-end hotels, charge $5,000 to more than $10,000 just for using the site.
Cakes cost $5 to $15 per guest, food $50 to $70, wine $20 to $30. There are
photographers ($5,000), videographers ($3,000),
wedding planners ($4,000) and florists ($2,500). And then there are the extra bits of luxury:
cappuccino and latte service for $400, dessert bars for $500, port and cigar
bars for $200. Custom lighting -- where specialists light up trees and
flowers and create dazzling light patterns on the dance floor -- can cost
$500 to $5,000. There's even wedding insurance: For about
$200, couples can cover caterers that don't show up, cancellations due to
weather and damaged photos -- pretty much everything but cold feet, according
to the Insurance Information Network of California. And that's just for the wedding day. Those
costs don't include extra expenses before and after the wedding, such as
wine-tasting tours, rehearsal dinners and overnight accommodations. ``The money they're spending is
astronomical,'' said Montero, who charges nearly $100 an hour to help plan
high-end destination weddings. ``The guests are eating out breakfast, lunch
and dinner. There are trips to spas, you need hair and makeup. Just about
everything you deal with everyday is making money off a wedding.'' Nationwide, the wedding industry generated
about $125 billion in revenues in 2004. The average cost of a wedding has
been steadily rising, jumping 73 percent over the last 15 years to $26,327 in
2004, according to a survey by Fairchild Bridal Group, which publishes several
bridal magazines. No one keeps annual statistics on Destination weddings have become
increasingly popular nationwide, making up 9 percent of all weddings in 2004,
up from less than 3 percent in 1994, according to the Fairchild survey. It's a booming, and sometimes controversial,
business for the county. Local residents have complained of the
traffic and noise that come with large wedding parties. They warn that it's
easy for wedding receptions to rage out of control, and that they put too
many drunk drivers on the roads. As a result, the county maintains strict
control over wedding permits, and only about 20 wineries are allowed to hold
weddings. The wineries allowed to host weddings say they prefer corporate
events to social engagements -- the parties are less of a hassle, and they
are able to better promote their wines. ``The corporate is win-win. It's financially
great for us, but it also exposes us to ongoing business,'' said Anne Seeley,
special events manager at Chateau St. Jean. ``The weddings have a pretty big
impact on the winery. It's a great cash revenue for us, but they cause such a
commotion.'' The winery hosts only about five weddings a
year, Seeley said, in part because the site fee is so high: $12,000 for a
five-hour wedding, and that doesn't include food or
wine. But some couples aren't deterred: ``People fall in love with the site
and have the budget to do something nice,'' Seeley said. Between winery restrictions and the high
cost of destination weddings, Wine Country weddings are often limited in size
and duration -- the average winery wedding has about 120 guests, and it
generally lasts about five hours and must be over by Couples choose Wine Country for a variety of
reasons, but usually the focus is twofold: They are food and wine
enthusiasts, and they want the fantasy vineyard wedding. Bride Sarah Farrell of Chicago, who was
married in Sonoma County three weeks ago, said she and her now-husband, Rod Scheele, are food and wine fans who ``wanted to give
guests a real experience.'' It was a second wedding for both of them,
and this time around they rejected tradition for the most part, Farrell said.
They hired Corte Madera celebrity chef Richard Visconte to cater both
the rehearsal and the reception dinners. The wedding dinner included five
different wines.
``It just means more to get married out
there,'' Farrell said. ``It's more fun for us. We waited four years to get
married, so we definitely wanted to give the relationship the wedding it
deserves.'' Peak and her husband felt similarly drawn to
Wine Country. They had first visited the area about five years ago, just
after they started dating. ``And ever since then we've had this romantic
attachment to Peak and Seimer
had been planning to pay for at least part of their wedding, but between
graduating from business school and starting new careers -- the couple moved
to ``Both our families are based in the And, she added with a laugh, ``It put a lot
of pressure on me to put on a good show.'' You can reach Staff Writer Erin Allday at 521-5494 or eallday@pressdemocrat.com. Photo: 4 by CHRISTOPHER CHUNG / The Press
Democrat 1. A cigar and port bar at the $65,000 Peak-Seimer wedding at Chateau Souverain. 2. 3. 4. Mauria Finley
and Greg Yap of Infobox: Average destination wedding Average cost: $35,000 National average: $26,000 Winery site fees: $5,000 to $12,000 Catering: $6,000 to $8,500 Wine, other alcohol: $2,400 to $3,000 Wedding planner: $5,000 Custom lighting: $1,000 to $5,000 Cappuccino/latte bar: $400 Keywords: MARRIAGE TOURISM
COST Chef Visconte
Catering Chef De Cuisine |