If your customer base mirrors national statistics, more of them became engaged during December than any month of the year:

If it’s a first-time bride and groom, according to national averages she is 25 he’s 27.5 years old at the time of the wedding. (Median age for remarriage is 34 for women and 37 for men) But remember, the average engagement is 16 months. Also, couples, especially the bride-to-be, starts buying and reading the “bridal magazines” right away, and continues to do so up to and very likely even after the wedding. So, as a specialist, you have a lot of pre-selling to do. Tuxedoes are typically decided on 5 to 6 months before the wedding. So, statistically speaking, men’s formalwear comes to the forefront of wedding decision making around 10 months after the engagement took place. What do you do during that time? How do you convince the couple that your shop is “the” place for their needs? The easiest way is to contact them! Let them know you are ready to take care of dressing the guys. How do you reach them? Every way possible!
Some tried-and-true methods are:

• Send a congratulatory note and brochure to every couple whose engagement is announced in the local newspapers. Build their confidence in you right from the start
• Cross-market with other merchants that are part of the wedding market but not after the same dollar. Jewelers, florists and banquet halls are natural tie-ins. You give out their brochures, they give out yours. Some specialists work with local churches and give the house of worship a donation for every recommended couple that becomes a customer.
• Participate in bridal shows! Couples might attend these events a year or so before their weddings but these events give you great exposure—and a valuable contact list! Major bridal shows can draw huge crowds and you might be lost in the shuffle. If you want to avoid that scene, contact the local department stores to participate in their in-house events.
• Ask former and current customers. If a guy got married last year, chances are he knows at least one guy who is getting married this year. Current customers always know other people getting married or are in need of formalwear for various other reasons. Ask and ye shall receive.
• Go on TV! Local television stations most likely do special wedding features throughout the year. Call the producers and make your products and expertise available. Suddenly you are the town’s expert on the topic. GET COPIES OF THE TAPE! Play it in the store on a continuous loop. Also publicize the fact that you are a famous expert. In your ads and press releases include “as seen on KXY’s “Good Morning” Television Show!”
• Call the papers! Local newspapers tend to have special wedding sections twice a year (Spring and Fall). They’re going to need formalwear from somewhere, make it from you! Call the editors and offer full cooperation in exchange for publicity. Offer to write a column for free in exchange for publicity.
• If the local media is going to sponsor a wedding sweepstakes, make your formalwear part of the package. Even a little publicity can go a long way!
• Follow up on your contact efforts. You know that the couple will be seriously thinking about men’s formalwear 6 or so months before the wedding, so in addition to making contact when the engagement is announced, do it again 8 months before the wedding. Contact them by mail, e-mail and phone. (Chances are he/her/their phone number is listed in the book. If not, go to whitepages.com and put in the necessary data. The phone number will appear in seconds.)

It’s up to you to get that business!

Since your customers turn to bridal magazines for ideas, information and inspiration, shouldn’t you do the same? To help you, Formal Times contacted the fashion editors of leading magazines for their insights on what you should know about what your customers want.

Dana Wagner is the fashion editor at BRIDAL GUIDE. She uses data from the IFA EXPO as her barometer on that to tell her readers: “From what I saw at the IFA show in August, I would say one of the biggest new things is brown--just about every manufacturer came out with a least one version of a brown tux, and many of them had several different styles; the color may have ranged from mahogany to chocolate to light brown, but it was in just about every line--accessories, too. I saw quite a bit of velvet -mostly as a detail, as opposed to entire tuxedos of velvet. There's a bigger emphasis than ever on luxury fabrics, like super100 (and higher) wools, and peak lapels seem to be gaining favor. Long ties continue to be more popular than the classic bow tie, and flat front pants are becoming an increasingly available option; flat front shirts are also getting a lot of play. Many companies are starting to offer more fashion-forward options, such as shorter -or longer- jackets and jackets with untraditional collars (such as a Mandarin or Nehru, for instance). Also, the trend of catering to consumers who want ‘destination tuxedo’ options remains very strong--think linen, Mexican wedding shirts, lighter weight tuxedos and tan-colored ‘wedding suits’. For accessories, the biggest news is the explosion of color--as brides continue to coordinate their entire wedding party as well as incorporate color into their actual gowns themselves, the options for color in accessories is expanding. Pocket squares are also becoming very popular--we're seeing them in fashion magazines like GQ, they're on the red carpet in Hollywood, and now that's trickling down to formalwear, too. “


Donna Parks is the Publisher of SOUTHERN BRIDE & GROOM. Here are her comments on the subject:
“In our beautiful area of the south, couples host as many estate and garden receptions as fine hotel and country club wedding events. The trend is for men to choose their favorite tuxedo style and add pizazz with a brightly colored power necktie to match the wedding colors. Many men are also making a stylish statement with wildly colored or patterned bowties or subtly patterned vests. The tails and cutaways are always stylish in the south for the most formal weddings.”

Each month, the leading bridal fashion magazines post on their websites photos of actual weddings. Check them out occasionally to be up to date on what’s happening in the “real” world of formalwear. Here are some shots from recent weddings:

Many of the major bridal magazines run sweepstakes worth tens of thousands of dollars in prizes. Check out their Internet sights and (A) notify your customers about these wonderful opportunities, or (B) have an active e Internet connected computer in your store and let customers enter the contests while they wait to be served by you. One of the best jackpots current available is on the bridalguide.com site—a wedding package worth $70,000!

Here are the details:

We want to know your story! Tell us why you are America’s Favorite Couple and your tale of two hearts could win you and your fiancé more than $70,000 in prizes from our Bride of the Year 2007 sponsors for your wedding, honeymoon and new life together. We will post the best three entries online and America will cast their votes for their favorite couple!

Among the prizes one lucky couple will win are a fabulous reception at Central Park’s Tavern on the Green in New York City, a beautiful bridal gown, an extravagant Caribbean honeymoon and home products galore! The couple will also be featured in 4 issues of Bridal Guide magazine.

All you have to do is enter Bridal Guide’s Bride of the Year 2007: America’s Favorite Couple Contest and you could be on your way to winning your fairytale wedding.

It’s easy! Here’s how to enter:

In an essay*, answer the following three questions:

1) How did you two meet?
2) Who proposed and how?
3) What is it about your relationship that will make America fall in love with you?

* You can also send videos or other types of entries! A more elaborate entry will not increase your chances of winning; the way you tell your story is what counts.

Then send your story of love with the completed entry form and signed rules and a recent photo of you and your fiancé to:

Bridal Guide’s Bride of the Year 2007: America’s Favorite Couple Contest
330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001

Your entry must be received by February 16, 2007 to be eligible. Good luck!

Some other good sites to visit:

www.weddingcontests.com

www.favorideas.com

www.atlantabridal.com

www.2become1weddings.com

www.weddingbasics.com

• “The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards” Will Be Telecast Live On NBC Monday, January 15. The show is always a great place to see what celebrities are passing off as formalwear. The 79th Annual Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 25.

• The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which was virtually unchanged in November, improved in December. The Index now stands at 109.0 (1985=100), up from 105.3 in November. The Present Situation Index increased to 129.9 from 125.4. The Expectations Index improved to 95.1 from 91.9 last month. The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The monthly survey is conducted for The Conference Board by TNS. TNS is the world's largest custom research company. The cutoff date for December's preliminary results was December 19th. Consumers' overall assessment of present-day conditions was more upbeat than in November. Those claiming conditions are "bad" decreased to 14.6 percent from 16.2 percent. Those saying conditions are "good," however, edged down to 27.2 percent from 27.5 percent. Labor market conditions also improved from last month. Consumers saying jobs are "hard to get" declined to 21.2 percent from 22.1 percent. Those claiming jobs are "plentiful" increased to 26.9 percent from 25.7 percent in November. Consumers' outlook for the next six months was more encouraging than in November. Those anticipating business conditions to worsen decreased to 7.9 percent from 8.5 percent. Those expecting business conditions to get better increased slightly to 16.3 percent from 16.0 percent. The outlook for the labor market improved moderately. Consumers expecting more jobs to become available in the coming months edged up to 14.0 percent from 13.3 percent, while those anticipating fewer jobs edged down to 15.9 percent from 16.1 percent. The proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to increase in the months ahead declined to 19.6 percent from 22.0 percent in November.