Destination Brazos Valley
Article By | Travis Rollins, Downtown Events Services, LLC
Photography By | Patti Darby Photography
The Brazos Valley location as a Destination Wedding fills Kyle Field two more times each year. Wait! What?
Destination Wedding. The first thoughts that come to mind are sparkling beaches, snow-capped mountains, or the glitz of Las Vegas. The Brazos Valley isn’t on the destination wedding radar – but it should be.
The Brazos Valley is quietly becoming a premier Texas wedding destination. The Bridal Association of the Brazos Valley (BABV) is 150 members strong and boasts 50 wedding venues. BABV wedding professionals assist couples who come to The Brazos Valley from all points across the nation, and yes, from foreign countries as well.
Howdy y’all!
The Bridal Association of the Brazos Valley is THE wedding professionals organization in our community. The organization produces two Wedding Shows per year. No longer known as a “bridal show”, couples and their entourage can acquire essential wedding information in one venue.
The spring and fall Wedding Shows are the only two Wedding Shows that feature 100% local BCS/Brazos Valley wedding professionals.
The Wedding Show attendance has averaged 200 engaged individuals who are accompanied by an entourage of attendants and parents to give rise to a sale of more than 700 tickets per show since 2017.
BABV celebrates the success of the shows by supporting The Pink Alliance with donations exceeding $159,000.00 during the past decade.
The formal presentation of the check takes place during an annual Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event which is hosted by a member of BABV. Save the date for the presentation on March 5, 2020 at Texas A&M Agrilife, one of the many unique and distinctly Brazos Valley wedding venues.
In addition to donating to worthy causes, the local economy receives a boost with each wedding. The simpler days of backyard receptions with barbeque, beer, and a boom box have been eclipsed by spectacular events in private venues, catering, open bar, and a band or DJ.
Millions of dollars are spent here in The Brazos Valley, which encompasses a nine-county region. M i l l i o n s.
The Knot does an annual survey, and in 2018 the 14,000 responding wedding couples spent an average of $33,941.00 on their wedding which included an average of 136 guests. This is a calculation which does not include the honeymoon, hotel accommodations for guests, meals, dry cleaning, shopping, gasoline, etc.
It is not uncommon for a wedding budget to exceed $100,000.00 right here in the Brazos Valley.
Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, Leon, Madison, Milam, Robertson, Walker, and Washington Counties issue a combined average of 2,600 marriage licenses each year. Brazos County issued 1,540.
It is simple to do the math if each wedding averages $34,000.00 per event. The potential economic impact exceeds $50,000,000.00 in Brazos County alone.
Not every marriage license will yield a $34,000.00 wedding budget. Conservatively, if half of the licenses issued in Brazos County yielded an event consisting of 136 guests, Kyle Field is filled! Factor in the other eight counties and Kyle Field is almost full a second time!
The wedding guests are not wearing team colors, traveling in packs, or spending tiger paw two-dollar bills on a single Saturday. They are definitely here all year, and they are definitely boosting the local economy.
Why are they coming to The Brazos Valley? Some are coming home. Some are coming home to Aggieland to revisit a significant time in their lives.
Many families are researching the high cost of hosting a wedding in Houston or Austin and discovering the value which impacts their budget by booking the venues and amenities offered in The Brazos Valley: 50 wedding venues, plenty of hotels and restaurants, interesting attractions for time between wedding festivities, and numerous talented wedding professionals dedicated to assisting in this life-changing event.
The Brazos Valley Bridal Association is a vibrant part of the wedding industry. It is a group of talented, experienced wedding professionals who help families plan one of life’s most meaningful and memorable of days.
Think Destination Wedding. Think Brazos Valley.
Visualize Kyle Field with 100,000 beautifully dressed wedding guests — twice!