WASHINGTON — Chevy Chase, Maryland-based WeddingWire has acquired fellow wedding planning site The Knot in a deal valued at more than $900 million.
The Knot parent company XO Group Inc. and WeddingWire owner Permira Funds and Spectrum Equity merging creates a company with more than 3 million registered couples in 15 countries, 700,000 local vendors and 7 million reviews.
Combined, the newly merged company includes wedding sites The Knot, WeddingWire, Bodas.net, Matrimonio.com and Marriages.net, and brands The Bump, GigMasters, Lasting, How They Asked and more.
The sites include access to wedding venues, vendors that include everything from photography to DJs, florists, gown designers and catering, and planning tools, such as guest lists and seating charts.
WeddingWire was founded in Maryland in 2007. For brides and grooms, it is a one-stop site for finding and booking wedding services. For vendors, it means exposure to millions of local couples planning their ceremony.
Weddings are big business. The average cost of a wedding in 2017 reached a record high $32,000, and the wedding industry represents $72 billion in annual revenue.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story listed one of the combined company’s websites as Matrimony.com. It is Matrimonio.com.