By Josh Disney - Director

The wedding industry generates approximately 54 billion dollars in revenues a year nationwide with 3.5 billion from the internet sales alone (2008 Market Value). Each couple will spend an average of $30,000 on their wedding. This includes dresses, tuxedos, flowers, catering, limos, wait staff, photos and videos etc (TheWeddingReport.com). Cities and states that work together on building their wedding industries see a larger growth in their economy in such areas as lodging, entertainment, tourism, travel, restaurant and bars to name a few. Cities and states that work together (Las Vegas, Gatlinburg, Honolulu) on branding themselves as wedding destinations see the lion's share of the wedding industry. Louisiana is one of the most recognizable states in the tourism industry and it is one of the top 5 tourist destinations in the world.

Why is Louisiana only seeing 1.2% of the wedding business when it is one of top destination in the world?