Weddings are Big Business in the Golden Isles.

A wedding is a magical time and when it comes to nuptial celebrations, the Golden Isles are a spectacular location for the perfect wedding. With majestic live oaks draped with Spanish moss, picturesque beach and marsh locations, and a wide variety of amenities and available activities, there’s something here for every bride’s dream and the enjoyment of her wedding guests.

Brooke Roberts of Brooke Roberts Photography says, “We are extremely lucky that the charm of our community is making us a destination wedding hot spot. So much so that the national wedding industry, blogs and influencers are also starting to take notice.” And we are indeed a destination wedding hotspot; last year, there were 1717 weddings in the South Georgia Coast* region and Glynn County accounted for 716 of those weddings. Our welcoming community and local wedding industry professionals play a big part in making the occasion and the time spent in the Golden Isles special for the happy couple and their guests. Brooke continues, “In the 12 years we have been photographing weddings, it's an absolute regular occurrence to hear guests at weddings talking about how they have never visited the Golden Isles before and have instantly fallen in love with the area. They mention that now that they have discovered it they can't wait to come back again and have more time to explore.”

Stacy Bass of Straton Hall Events agrees, telling us, “Once people come to the gorgeous Golden Isles for their destination weddings, they’re in love! It becomes their new go-to vacation spot. They come back year after year.” Not only does that mean money is brought in to the community through the wedding, but from the other activities they participate in and future visits. Stacy stresses that the impact of that is far-reaching, “Of course it makes a huge impact on the bars, restaurants and tourist specific businesses, but gas stations, grocery stores, the gambling boat, the trolleys, fishing charters, nail and hair salons, the pharmacies, convenience stores, golf courses, cart & bicycle rentals, horse stables … EVERYONE is positively affected.”

To take a closer look at the effects on the area, the Golden Isles Wedding Association and the College of Coastal Georgia (CCGA) partnered up to create a study of the size and economic impact of the wedding industry on the South Georgia Coast, with a specific focus on Glynn County. Dr. Don Mathews the Director of the Reg Murphy Center for Economic and Policy Studies at CCGA conducted the studies using estimates from input-output models constructed from local and regional industry data for 2017 and impact multipliers estimated with IMPLAN economic modeling software. IMPLAN is an economic impact assessment software system that combines a set of extensive databases concerning economic factors, multipliers and demographic statistics with a highly refined and detailed system of modeling software.

Justin Henshaw, President of the Golden Isles Wedding Association, and Dr. Mathews shared their findings with Elegant Island Living and the results are impressive. The study calculated that the average wedding cost for a wedding in the United States is $26,720, and that’s not including the honeymoon. Notably below the national average, $22,649 is the average cost for a wedding in the state of Georgia. In Glynn County, the average amount spent on a wedding was $26,483. That’s a remarkable number when you consider that the Georgia number includes the Atlanta metropolitan area, and our little island paradise ranks higher on that national scale. It’s even more impressive when you consider that the revenue directly generated by the wedding industry in the South Georgia Coast region exceeds $46,000,000. That’s 46 MILLION dollars on weddings alone. Incredible!

Discussing the outcome of the study, Dr. Mathews said, “Weddings in the Golden Isles are a big deal compared to other areas in the U.S. Within our region, the wedding industry is essentially comprised of small entrepreneurs and, since we are a smaller community without a lot of large corporations and industry, that means it brings big business to the area and has a more significant impact on the economy than it does in other locations and larger metropolitan areas.”

Dr. Mathews also says the $46,000,000 is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, as it only takes into consideration the core wedding expenses. He explains, “The economic impact listed is the impact of expenditures on the wedding only. It does not include hotel stays and meals, shopping, etc. of wedding guests or even the wedding party. So the full economic impact of weddings is larger than the $46 million.”

This got us thinking about just how far-reaching the effects of being a destination wedding location is for the Golden Isles. It’s amazing the number and variety of vendors that provide products and services for weddings and comprise what we call the wedding industry. We all know about professions like caterers, wedding planners, florists and entertainment at weddings. The economic impact study states in Glynn County alone, there are 395 people employed directly because of weddings. In the entire South Georgia Coast, that number goes up to 665 people. But the total number of people employed locally who are directly impacted by the wedding industry is much higher than that.

The $46,000,000 figure mentioned earlier is just the direct amount of what is spent on weddings in the area and injected into the economy of the South Georgia Coast. Not only does it not take into account all the related expenses like accommodations for the wedding party and guests or any shopping and activities that they’re doing while they’re here, it also doesn’t address the ripple effect beyond the wedding industry.

When you see a family out to eat and you know the husband is a hotel landscaper and his wife is a hair stylist, you can be sure that their household income is impacted by the wedding industry. And now so is the server they tip and the employees who made their meal! Even in businesses that are not typically connected with the wedding industry, on weekends when weddings are occurring, they may become busier and need to add staff during those times to handle additional workload based on the increased “traffic” generated by the weddings. Think of it like a grocery store having to open an additional check-out lane, and having to bring an another employee to man that lane. So you can see, the effects are much farther-reaching than just your bridal shops, florists, photographers, and wedding vendors and venues – although it all starts with them.

For example, Lindsey Maroney from Beachview Event Rentals & Design, explains, “Beachview Event Rentals & Design is a family business that currently employs 84 individuals that represent families in our community. Families that are buying houses, sending children to daycare, picking up groceries on their way home and attending local sporting events. We take our responsibility to these individuals and their families very seriously and as such aim to provide an exemplary service to our clients so that the wedding and event industry will continue to grow in this area.” The wedding industry is clearly a vital component of the economies of Glynn County and the South Georgia Coast and has a wide-reaching effect that touches all of us here in this destination wedding community.

Lindsey also talked about how social media and the internet has impacted and expanded the growth of the industry here. “Beachview Event Rentals & Design will celebrate its twentieth anniversary next year, and to say a lot has changed in the last two decades is an understatement. We still rely heavily on word of mouth advertising, but we now have a much broader reach due to the pervasiveness of social media. When Beachview first started out, the majority of our clients were locals or individuals who had vacationed here since they were children. Brides are now able to share images and inspiration via Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram inadvertently inviting betrothed couples the world over to our corner of the globe, and THEY COME! Once here, wedding expenses are just a small fraction of the financial impact when it comes to benefitting our community. Our clients are always asking for recommendations for accommodations, restaurants, entertainment and transportation. Informing the guests of our recommendations is a business in and of itself as welcome packets and baskets are typically prepared to disseminate this information. This community and industry have given so much to us, so we will continue to do our part to provide an exemplary service to clients so they will tell others to come and experience the Golden Isles.”

Looking at the actual weddings themselves, we reached out to Jessica Smith, a locally-based account executive at The Knot to help us find out more about an average destination wedding here. The Knot is considered one of the world's leading wedding media and services companies, providing today's to-be-weds with comprehensive wedding planning information, interactive tools, and resources. Jessica informed us that here in the South Georgia Coast, the average wedding has a wedding party of 10 people and 131 guests in attendance. The weddings usually consist of three days of celebrations and 73% of the weddings take place during the spring and the fall.

We turned to Scarlett Starr, the Wedding Catering Manager at The King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort to get a better understanding of what an average destination wedding entails when you look beyond just the ceremony. She described a recent large wedding that was fairly typical for the resort. The happy occasion had 260 guests, with half of those guests hailing from northern states, so they wanted to get out and enjoy our beautiful location. After securing 75 rooms at the resort, additional room blocks were arranged for guests at The Inn at Sea Island, Hampton Inn, Village Inn and Pub, Sea Gate Inn, and The Inn by the Lighthouse. ECHO, the restaurant at The King and Prince, served countless meals to in-house guests while other local restaurants took care of the guests at the other hotels.

Following the rehearsal dinner and reception, younger guests continued the party at local restaurants and drinking establishments in the Village, Redfern Village, and Longview Shopping Center, with these guests also using paid third party transportation services to take them safely back to their hotels. Groomsmen’s activities included a visit to the Sea Island shooting school, and golf at The Hampton Club and the Brunswick Country Club. Bridesmaids’ activities included a spa day, a champagne luncheon at an island restaurant, and a fashion show on Jekyll Island. Activities to entertain the children included visits to Summer Waves and the Sea Island stables. The rehearsal dinner was hosted at a local rental home and was catered by Southern Soul Barbeque.

Scarlett said, “Every day while the bride’s and groom’s families and guests enjoy their stay at The King and Prince, they will call or visit the office to ask where they may find services and items for last minute tasks such as printing, signage, guest bag contents, picture frames, groceries, apparel, and more. The King and Prince concierge worked with wedding guests to arrange activities that included fishing tours, dolphin tours, trolley tours, sailing charters, golf outings and bike excursions.” And that was just for the guests at The King and Prince. Now imagine all those activities for the wedding guests booked at the additional hotels mentioned!

We know the dolphin and trolley tours here have plenty of business! Bunny Marshall of St. Simons Trolley told us her trolley transports an average of two wedding parties every weekend. As part of the wedding transportations the trolleys are often rented to go on shopping expeditions to the various boutiques and plazas on the island. Pier Village, Redfern Village, Shops at Sea Island and Shops on Market Street are all destinations where they visit and shop (and spend money, of course).

Debbie Peacock of Peacock Photo Video also shared her thoughts about how the impact stretches far beyond the time-frame of the actual wedding. “My brides are a lot of Atlanta girls, and when I was at Tibi over July 4th, I saw seven past brides, so I know they are definitely still shopping and spending money in the Golden Isles. What I see so many times is that my brides come to the Golden Isles to attend a wedding and fall in love with the area, so they come back for their own wedding. Now I am frequently being asked to photograph the new families of my brides who return for yearly vacations with their babies. Their love for the islands and the friendliness of the people that they encounter is what brings them back every year. I am constantly running into brides to be and former brides at every restaurant and shop on the island.”

Justin Henshaw thinks that the information provided by this study is invaluable for those in the wedding industry, and everyone here affected by it – and as Stacy Bass said above, that really is EVERYONE! Justin says, “We are grateful for Dr. Mathews and his team’s work on this study, which serves as proof of the impact weddings have in the Golden Isles. The results are truly astounding! We’ve always speculated and were able to ‘guesstimate,’ but this hard data confirms our speculations. Weddings are significant to our area. Not only do we now know how significant, but we can use this information to influence decisions that affect the wedding industry.”

Justin credits the members of GIWA for their role in the study as well, “The study was made possible by our members. The saying is true about ‘strength in numbers.’ We truly couldn’t have done it without every member’s support.” He continues, “We’ve learned so much in this first year since GIWA was founded, and plan to make changes based on what we’ve learned and feedback received.

Our focus all along has been to protect our area from outside competition; in doing so, we inadvertently protected from within too. As a result, we plan to make our 2019 membership packages more accessible and inclusive, as well as its benefits.”

Scarlet Starr believes that GIWA’s role here is important, saying, “The Golden Isles Wedding Association proves to be an invaluable tool for our clients. 90% of our clientele are destination brides, and to finally have one resource that will assist in making the planning process easy, fun, and stress free, is exciting and unique, and something that we look so forward to utilizing! The knowledge that GIWA is comprised of qualified professionals, is rewarding, and we believe that each couple can be confident and comfortable in their vendor and venue selection, thanks to this wonderful new support system.”

Henshaw recaps the first year of GIWA’s existence, saying, “Events this year have been a huge success in bringing together vendors who only usually interact while working events. It’s not just about working together, it’s about working well together. Intentionally connecting and making friends with other vendors strengthens our already amazing reputation in the Golden Isles.” He adds, “We joined the St. Simons Land Trust 1% initiative, donating 1% of all membership sales to the Foundation, because we know that the biggest draw to our area is its unmatched natural splendor. Couples flock to the area for its breathtaking views as a backdrop for their wedding, and, once here, they realize the resources we have to plan and execute their dream wedding day. That’s really special.”

Justin stresses that GIWA exists to represent and strengthen this important industry in our community. He says, “We will continue to fight for the Golden Isles and the small businesses that occupy it. GIWA is a voice for small business owners in the wedding industry; we have demonstrated that we can create campaigns and influence commissioners’ votes, and we will continue to do that to protect and strengthen our local interests.” Now with these strong numbers from the study demonstrating just how major an impact the wedding industry made up of these small businesses has here, that voice just got louder.

To read the Economic Impact Study in full, and to find out more about the Golden Isles Wedding Association and how to become a member, go to goldenislesweddings.org. They are currently offering newly structured all-inclusive 2019 membership packages, so join GIWA today to be included in the Golden Isles Wedding Directory and be part of this trusted local network of professionals.

*In this study, South Georgia Coast is defined as the following eight counties: Brantley, Camden, Charlton, Glynn, McIntosh, Pierce, Ware and Wayne counties, and this includes the Golden Isles.