Dress, Cake, Reception — PR
"They put a lot of money and effort into these weddings. Why shouldn't that receive press?" asked Savannah Engel, who runs her own public relations firm representing PatBo, Morgan Lane and Naomi Campbell's Fashion for Relief, among others.
Having run the pr for oil heiress Ivy Getty's San Franciscobased summer nuptials to Tobias Engel (of no relation to Engel), she is gearing up to work two more in the summer and the fall and plans to focus a part of her business on weddings.
Several publications cover weddings, such as Tatler, Town & Country Brides, Martha Stewart Weddings and the Daily Mail, as well as numerous blogs, and Engel sees a gap in the market for pr surrounding these events.
"So far it's only existed for heavy, heavy celebrities and royal weddings. Why can't other beautiful weddings also get pr when they have the right photographer, they have the right look, they have everything that looks incredible and exquisite?" she added.
For the Getty wedding, which saw the bride wear a custom wedding gown designed by John Galliano for Maison Margiela Haute Couture featuring no less than four layers and shards of real broken mirrors, Vanity Fair, People, Brides, Town & Country, Coveteur, Vogue, Guest of a Guest, L'Officiel, Tatler and L'Officiel were among those publications that covered the nuptials.
That was no doubt helped by the lofty guest list, which included officiator House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, maid of honor "The Queen's Gambit" actress Anya Taylor-Joy, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, DJ Mark Ronson, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Carolina Herrera creative director Wes Gordon, Princess Olympia of Greece, and singer Olivia Rodrigo, to name a few.
For her part, Engel sees her role as curating a team to create a wedding concept such as stylist, photographer and event planner; overseeing wedding photography, and working to secure press coverage.
"The way I think of a wedding is the way I think of any other event and we do a lot of event work. A lot of these brides are already handling so much right now," said Engel of the process. "They don't want to be there answering the questions and finding out the vendor information and making sure the photographers gets the right photo." — K. H.