The Bitterroot Wedding Association's 2015 accomplishments

We just wanted to share a bit about what we've accomplished in our first year!  We want to thank you all for your support, and look forward to 2016's accomplishments!

• Our website went live January 8th
• We’ve had over 1,200 visitors to our website to date
• We had a booth at the Cherry Creek Wedding Fair & collected about 300 leads!
• We hosted 3 Networking Events!  Off-season (January, April & October)
• We taught classes on Social Media Marketing
• We taught a class on creating your own Website
• We sent a monthly Newsletter with wedding business marketing tips & leads from website visitors
• We put together a styled shoot with Rocky Mountain Bride, which will be published in the Spring of 2016, featuring the Bitterroot Valley, the Bitterroot Wedding Association and a bunch of our members!
• We joined the Bitterroot Chamber of Commerce–and are joining Missoula soon!
• We created a traveling “Open Space” Billboard for the Association
• We partnered with Destination Missoula to create a free wedding!  The goal is to build awareness about the area in feeder markets (like Chicago, San Diego, Minneapolis, Seattle, etc.)  The wedding will take place October 15, 2016, and we are partnering with a bunch of great vendors who are members.
• We set up social media promotions to capture destination business
• We're constantly promoting weddings on social media, to keep our audience engaged.
• We’ve been featured in articles in the Ravalli Republic, Missoulian, and also got a segment on KPAX

DID YOU KNOW:

• Montana has 7000 weddings a year
• The average spend in our area is $20,000, and the national average is $29,900
• The average guest count is 120-130 in our area, and the national average is 135
• Whitefish hosts about 1200 weddings per year ($21k avg). - $31 million revenue
• Bozeman is 1000 ($24k avg.) - $19 million revenue
• Missoula is 800 ($21k avg) - $17 million revenue
• The Bitterroot Valley is 200 ($20k avg). - $4 million revenue

MEMBERSHIP GOALS:

• In 2015, we reached our first year’s membership goal!
• We've already received a great amount of memberships for 2016 also, so it's looking like we'll meet 2016 membership's goals too!

• Dues are $100 for the year for 2016 – the membership runs from January 1st to December 31st.
• After December 31st, the dues become $150
• Multiple categories are $25 each (like if your business did photography & videography under the same business name)
• Multiple categories are $75 each if you operate a second business under a different name (example: Events by Autumn & Happy Huckleberry Studios is owned by the same person, but it's 2 different business names & websites)
• Dues are 100% applied to marketing efforts.   Our mission is to bring more business to the area – by joining the effort, you’re providing resources to grow ALL of our businesses.
• In order to keep this successful, we need your help to continue talking about the association!
  • When a client asks for a referral, include our website in your list!
  • Include our "proud member" logo in your email signature line
  • If your business is active on Facebook, repost things you like from our BWA Facebook page, and like posts that you find informative!
  • Guest Bloggers are always welcome
  • Find us on Weddingwire.com, and add us as an Association you belong to!

                           

Again, thank you all for your membership, and we're thrilled for 2015's year, and looking forward to growing the amount of business that happens in 2016 in the Bitterroot Valley!