Today we received an email from one Molly B., soon-to-be bride of Rich J. in a big Buffalo wedding planned for Labor Day weekend. Her wedding of 300 (bigger than she’d planned, as is almost always the case) will include around 200 people “from away,” as they say.
Molly hadn’t counted on her wedding being the same weekend as the Buffalo Wing Festival, and only chose her date because that’s when the (soon-to-be auctioned) Stattler Terrace Room was available. As it turns out, the Wing Fest will only enhance the long weekend stay for her guests because Molly and Rich have chosen Buffalo as a theme for their nuptials.
That’s right, Buffalo – “from the stationary to the buffalo-shaped cookies from the Sweet Tooth.” Molly says her mother, a writer for The Downtowner, is a huge fan of Buffalo as is her brother; both live and work in the city and are involved with community endeavors. Add to that the fact that a lot of friends Molly grew up with in Buffalo have moved away, and she hit on a combination theme/marketing ploy to get her buddies to come back and join her and Rich in their newly married lives together.
“We want to raise our kids here, and I’m so happy that the man I love wants to stay in Buffalo too,” Molly said. “I’m trying to get my friends to move here too.”
Doing her part to boost the local economy, Molly has made sure that nearly every penny spent on this wedding goes to a Buffalo business, and has booked a total of 60 suites and rooms at the Embassy in the new Avant and at the Hampton Inn, respectively. By popular demand, she’s booked guests on the Maid of the Mist (the only out-of-town event) and made reservations at the Grover Cleveland Golf Course. (Rich, a high school history teacher, is quite serious about his golf.) She’s even included a wedding mapper, highlighting all of the Buffalo hot spots for her guests.
She has also ordered 100 reusable cotton bags with Buffalo logos printed on them to give out as “welcome bags” to guests. The bags will hold granola bars, water bottles and maps from the Buffalo Niagara Visitors Bureau. “I went to the Buffalo Store in the Main Place Mall when it was closing a few months ago because I’m looking for bargain items to put in the bag, but I didn’t find much that there was any sort of quantity of,” Molly said.
And then an idea struck us – this young psychologist sounded more like a marketing expert than a mental health professional. So we’re just thinking…if there are any Buffalo-based businesses out there who would like to help lure Molly’s friends back to Buffalo while providing some “spiff” for a goodie bag, a little advertising in the form of a Buffalo-themed trinket or two could go a long way.
If you have any Buffalo booty you want to stash in one of Molly’s bag, whether it’s a flier for something happening that weekend or a small souvenir, speak up. In addition, if you want to market a job to bright, young individuals, this would be the weekend to change the flow of the brain drain. Though she sold her fiance on Buffalo and promises to help populate it, this Buffalo Girl can’t do all of the heavy lifting all by herself.
We have to hand it to Molly for her promotion of her hometown.
Image: The couple on a sunny St. Patrick’s Day.