A Royal Business Opportunity

Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding is expected to generate millions of dollars.

Image: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Alisa Donohue couldn’t be happier to hear that Prince William is engaged to his longtime girlfriend Kate Middleton. “There hasn’t been a wedding like this in a very long time, and this is great potential for businesses in the U.S. to try to get a piece of it as well,” says Donohue, 30, owner of boutique stationary firm Creatively Engaged, in Bernardsville, New Jersey.

Donohue plans to send a bid to the royal couple one way or another. “It’s always worth it for small-business owners and entrepreneurs to try and reach out. Whether it’s by writing a great letter or sending a sample box with invitations that you proof 3 million times, a small gift, etc., to the assistant of Kate’s assistant—you never know unless you try,” she says.

And while royal watchers and experts expect many of the wedding details to be handled in-house and by companies based in the U.K., “William and Kate are not a conventional, stuffy couple, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if they go outside the box and give some opportunities to little-known vendors who strike them as unique,” says Donohue.

Besides bidding to be a part of the wedding, U.S.-based merchants can also milk some business on this side of the pond, experts say. “The fastest way to vendors to get noticed when it comes to this wedding is to blog about the details that come out,” says Phyllis Cheung, CEO and co-founder of My Wedding Concierge, a wedding-blog search engine based in San Diego. “Brides will be watching every detail that is released by the Royal Family and will try and implement them into their weddings.”

Prior to the Chelsea Clinton wedding, little details leaked out along the way, like locals spotting the former first daughter at Vera Wang. That created buzz about the famed dress designer. And any information about Middleton’s choices—from flowers to wedding colors—will generate interest in the U.S., as well. “This wedding is going to set the tone for what brides will be wanting for their big days,” says Cheung. She mentions that since this morning more than 40,000 searches were done on her site for “royal wedding.”

Blogging about the upcoming nuptials can also generate income for writers who can leverage reader interest into upping prices for advertising on their site. “Most of the royal wedding money in the U.S. will be made from media covering the developments,” says Carrie Leber, owner of Carrie Leber PR, which operates bicoastally in New York and Los Angeles. “And then there’s the business of knocking off elements of the wedding itself, such as the dress, ring, flowers, food. Already replicas of Diana's sapphire given as an engagement ring are being recast in light of the news.”

The “inspired by” concept is sure to be huge, says Donohue, who’s already planning a special discount of royal-wedding-themed invites for her Facebook followers. “The key thing is to put your own spin on it so you can bring value to the product or service,” she says.

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