ANNA MARIA — Anna Maria Island has been touted as the “beach wedding capital of Florida.”
The title is an unofficial marketing slogan of sorts for this seven-mile strip of land in Manatee County.
Determining how successful Anna Maria Island is as a “wedding capital” however, is hard to measure since local businesses are hesitant to share specifics on bookings or revenues from the marketing effort.
Mary Ann Brockman, president of the Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce, said the island averages about two to three weddings a week throughout the year.
This is partly a result of the chamber’s marketing efforts that include designating a portion of its Web site entirely to island wedding merchants.
In addition, the chamber is spending an estimated $10,000 on marketing and advertising for its second annual Wedding Festival, which will be held Jan. 25. At least 40 business vendors will participate by offering a sample of their wedding services to would-be newlyweds who can travel from business to business via a free trolley or limo ride.
And island businesses are doing their part to further market their services via The Anna Maria Island Wedding Network and on their Web sites.
Calculating the amount of revenue weddings bring in islandwide is tough to track say Brockman and Larry White, executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
However, Brockman said the number of weddings that are held on the island each week is an indication businesses must be profiting.
“Everybody would not be doing it if they weren’t making any money on it,” Brockman said. “The businesses must be doing well or they wouldn’t be putting all the effort into weddings.”
The Sandbar Restaurant, one of Anna Maria’s most popular sites for wedding ceremonies and receptions, is booked into 2010 for weddings, said Karyn Hodge, marketing director for the Chiles Group, which owns the restaurant.
Last year, New York-based wedding and bridal magazine The Knot named the Sandbar as the best reception site in Florida.
Besides the national publicity, Hodge said the Sandbar and many businesses are counting on the Wedding Festival to be an ongoing marketing event for the island.
An estimated 400 people attended last year’s event, and Brockman is hoping for the same attendance this year.
“Weddings are bringing revenue into every different kind of business on the island,” Hodge said. “It’s very instrumental not only in accommodations being positively affected but little mom and pop places.”
Mark Davis, owner of the Harrington House, said his bed and breakfast resort in Holmes Beach typically hosts one or two weddings a month.
The resort hosts smaller-scale weddings, typically none larger than 50 people.
However, Davis’ business benefits most from reservations his resort receives when a wedding is hosted elsewhere.
“The wedding market is getting bigger and bigger on this island and it’s great because the island in general is hosting weddings,” Davis said. “That puts a lot of heads in beds.”
Davis, like many island wedding merchants, wouldn’t disclose the wedding revenue his business sees due to competition concerns. However, Davis said his resort gets reservations every week from guests in town for an island wedding.
“We do very well for the size of place we are,” Davis said.
Dara Caudill and her husband, Chuck, both business owners in the wedding industry, have seen business increase over the past few years as a result of the chamber’s marketing efforts.
“They have an aggressive marketing tool so the chamber has definitely helped us,” said Chuck Caudill, owner of Chuck Caudill Entertainment. “The weddings have definitely increased on the island.”
Dara Caudill, owner of Island Photography, wouldn’t disclose how many weddings she photographs each year but said business is growing.
“Each year, I’m doing better.”
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