Same-sex nuptials could boost New York economy, tourism revenue to tune of $400 million a year
BY Orev Yaniv
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sunday, July 24th 2011, 5:39 PM
Same sex marriage could be a big boon to New York's tourism, wedding industries.
Aaron Showalter for News Same-sex nuptials-kicked off Sunday with rainbow flags-could bring pots of gold to everyone from wedding planners to estate lawyers.
The economic boost from the new marriage law is estimated at nearly $400 million over the next three years, according to a recent state Senate report.
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More couples will be getting married, the wedding biz expects, and many of them will be having more lavish celebrations. Surveys have shown that gay couples often have more disposable incomes-especially in the city, where the price of the average wedding is about $70,000, more than twice the national average.
"They really want to go all out, they want a very posh wedding," said Andrea Correale, president of Elegant Affairs, a five-star event-planning company that has been getting "a flurry of calls" in recent weeks.
"The fact that it's actually legal, they are so elated, ," she said, describing gay marriage as " a real shot in the arm for high-end companies."
Tourism boosters, led by Mayor Bloomberg, has embraced the newly marriage-eligible-advertising the new law in anticipation of as many as 20,000 couples traveling here in coming months to tie the knot.
"Overall, it's a boon for many industries," said Richard Kallman, CEO of CupcakeStop, a mobile shop that caters and bakes wedding cakes and has already booked a number of same-sex celebrations.
LIVE COVERAGE: THE FIRST DAY OF GAY MARRIAGE IN NEW YORK
"As time goes on, it will become a much bigger part of our business," he predicted. "It will affect many industries."
Those industries aren't just dressmakers and florists.
Most other states and the federal government still ban gay marriage, raising a host of legal issues - and generating income for lawyers and financial planners.
Kathryn Hamm, president of the web site GayWeddings.com, cautioned that party planners may be expecting too much. Many long-time couples may have already held wedding or other commitment ceremonies, she said, and may not plan another extravagant party.
Still, inquiries from New York to her site are nearly triple the level from last summer.
Bentley Meeker, who runs a lighting and staging company, has also seen an uptick in business since the law passed.
"You have this demand that has been latent for a long time," he said. "There's a lot of pent-up desire to get married in this town." --
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