Wedding Season Year Round

Engaged couples are going online for wedding inspirations more than ever. Searches for [wedding ideas] have increased by around 54% compared to last year. Although January and August are peak wedding search months, couples plan an average of 9-12 months ahead for their big day. Looking at current search trends can give a better insight into their needs for 2013.

Consumers are diverging from the traditional wedding plans. We see a bigger focus in the coming year on things you can do yourself, such as decorations or floral arrangements, and alternative cake and vacation options.

Do it Yourself Weddings
Increasingly, brides are adding personal flair to their wedding - and are turning to YouTube to find ideas and tips. Searches for do-it-yourself videos have exponentially increased. YouTube style vloggers with huge followings, such as RachLoves and MissKasandraBrooks, often give wedding tips to their fans. FleurdeForce, for example, recently started a separate channel BridedeForce to share the process of planning her big day. The channel has already attracted 60,000 subscribers. These vloggers are not just sharing their opinion - they’re influencing what their viewers purchase and planning for their big day as well.

Couples also turn to businesses for help. Bunches-Direct, a flower wholesaler, created a channel to help people craft their own wedding bouquet. One of their videos on DIY Wedding Corsages received over 100K views. Retailers have also used the video platform to display their products. Koyal Wholesale, a popular channel that features creative wedding merchandise, has over 3M video views.

Let them eat... cupcake?
We’ve seen a spike in searches for alternative wedding cakes. and wedding planners and brides alike are inviting luxury desserts such as cupcakes, cookies, and cake pops into the latest celebrations.

Honeymoons, babymoons, mini-moons, oh my!
Honeymoons do not only happen after the wedding day! More and more couples are considering taking that vacation they always dreamed of when the time is right. Hotels and & Resort Services companies such as Hilton are adapting their packages for flexible customers.

• A starter honeymoon: Since their surge began in 2011, mini honeymoon searches continue to increase in popularity
• Before the family grows: Searches for ‘babymoon’ increased 45% year over year, and increased by nearly 70% in the last two years
• More honeymoons, more often: Not only are folks searching for honeymoons more, they're taking more of them. Searches for ‘second honeymoon’ doubled over the past year

There are great opportunities for your business to find consumers looking for products and trips for their special occasion. Visit Think with Google to learn how you can leverage these trends for your marketing strategy this year.

Posted by Karen Poreh, The Google Team