PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — From south Florida’s beautiful beaches to iconic hotels, Palm Beach County is known as a destination for weddings and that notoriety can add up.
According to wedding website theKnot.com South Florida is ranked 15th in the country for most expensive places to get married.
For Stefany Allongo the wedding business is her business.
“We have a website where we send out weekly articles that help couples here in Palm Beach County plan their weddings,” Allongo said.
She transitioned from wedding planner to full-time blogger, creating MarriedInPalmBeach.com after seeing that traditional weddings were becoming less popular than personalized, smaller weddings.
“We’re seeing a lot of younger couples and millennial couples say forget that I want to do what speaks to me as a couple,” Allongo said.
One factor is that having a wedding in a destination market like south Florida isn’t cheap. According to theknot.com the average wedding costs in south Florida is $42,596 and the average household income in Florida is $55,462.
“It wasn’t easy. When you look at the budget there is so many different things that go into it,” Sean Rigotti said.
Rigotti and his fiancé say they cut down on costs by spending more on what was important to them.
“The bar was really important, the food and the entertainment,” he said.
Over at Discover the Palm Beaches, their marketing team is amping up their efforts to compete in the wedding market.
They’re seeing it benefit businesses. Ashley Svarney says people are choosing attractions, not just hotels.
“The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, Palm Beach Zoo, Lion Country Safari the Norton Museum Art all of these attributes are available for people get married at,” Svarney said.
Svarney says they are expanding their marketing efforts to outside of the country in areas like Brazil where they have seen an increase of interests. The goal is to attract more money to local businesses.