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American Morning

Couple Discuss Planning Wedding With Sponsors

Aired July 05, 2002 - 09:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The saying goes you get what you pay for, but a Georgia couple is putting a different spin on that old standard: Publicity is what you pray for. And she is taking that version -- the bride here -- to the bank for her wedding day. For this enterprising bride-to-be, love is a many-sponsored thing.

Here's Brian Cabell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Don't tell Ericka Armour that nothing in life is free. She's getting free limousine service for a day, a brand-new stretch model.

ERICKA ARMOUR: We'll probably stay maybe three or four hours.

CABELL: Three or four hours at her wedding. Yes, Ericka is getting married -- and what a deal. Her cake will be free too.

ARMOUR: I can see it. I can picture it.

CABELL: That's a model of the cake to be made. Usual cost, about $1,000.

There's more. A free wedding site, free beverages, a free veil.

(on camera): So how is Ericka getting all of this for free? Well, she got the idea from "The Oprah Show" last year, a suggestion that she could offer free advertising at her wedding and free publicity from the media, like CNN, to businesses, in return for free goods and services.

(voice-over): Her husband-to-be, Nate Hughes, too busy with work, stayed out of it altogether.

NATHANIEL HUGHES: I said, Baby, that ain't going to work.

CABELL: But Ericka, determined to have her fairy tale wedding, sent out 500 e-mails and faxes to companies in the wedding business. Most of them, of course, turned thumbs down.

ARMOUR: I got a couple of nasty e-mails, and I just politely e- mailed them back and said, you know, thanks for your opinion. And I moved on to the next company. CABELL: And some, especially new or expanding businesses looking for new clients, said yes, including a graphic designer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sounds good.

CABELL: And a caterer:

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And this will be the bruschetta.

CABELL: Ericka proved persistent and persuasive.

LEYTA JORDAN, CATERER: I'm telling you, she's done such a nice job I'm thinking of hiring her myself for my marketing director.

CABELL: Ultimately, 15 companies signed up, a fact that amazes and dismays wedding planner Susan Pando.

SUSAN PANDO, WEDDING PLANNER: She's assuming that her guests want to be advertised to. I can't imagine anybody showing up at a wedding and thinking that they're going to actually be part of a commercial.

CABELL: She calls Ericka's wedding tacky; Ericka calls it free.

Brian Cabell, CNN, Mableton, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And joining us now from Atlanta, on the eve of this commercial commitment, better known as their wedding, Ericka Armour and her husband-to-be, her fiance, Nathaniel Hughes.

Congratulations.

ARMOUR: Thank you.

HUGHES: Thank you.

KAGAN: Tomorrow is really the day?

ARMOUR: Tomorrow.

HUGHES: Yes, tomorrow.

KAGAN: Very exciting.

Ericka, I want to start with you, to respond to that remark at the end of the piece there. Do you think that your guests will be offended by all these sponsorships they're going to see?

ARMOUR: I don't think they will be offended at all. I did notice that she said they don't want to be advertised to. We're advertised to every time we turn on a television, we pick up a book, ride down the street. You can't avoid it.

KAGAN: All right, I know in my ear right now I'm hearing a really bad echo. I don't know if it's going like that over the air. If it is right now, I apologize to our viewers.

But we're going to just keep rolling on, because that's kind of the spirit of Ericka and Nathaniel here, with going for the wedding.

Ericka, give me your pitch shortly. What was your pitch when you would call up sponsors or write to them or e-mail them?

ARMOUR: Well, I put together a proposal, and basically, what I said to them was we're requesting your services, and in exchange, we're offering you advertisement at our wedding, which included their information listed on our wedding programs, various favors, on our wedding Web site. And I also sent out press releases.

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: So it's not like when you walk down the aisle tomorrow you're going to have a big banner on the back of the dress saying, like, "Dress by Betty."

ARMOUR: No. No. It will be very traditional wedding. Onlookers will not even know. If we haven't told you, or you haven't seen the coverage on the wedding, you would think it's just a traditional, everyday wedding.

KAGAN: I think it sounds like it's going to be beautiful.

Nathaniel, let's bring you in here. Are you the kind of guy who says, You know what, honey, just tell me what time to show up and when, and I'll be there.

(CROSSTALK)

HUGHES: I do. I do. That's my line: I do.

KAGAN: You have that part down very well.

HUGHES: Got it down pat.

KAGAN: Probably not a big surprise. It sounds like you have a really go-getter bride here. This is a woman who goes after what she wants. In fact, quickly tell the story of how you guys met: She picked you out of a traffic jam, didn't she?

HUGHES: Yes, yes. They were behind me in the car seeing me, and blew the horn, and asked me to pull over.

KAGAN: That's true. Ericka, you and your girlfriend saw Nathaniel in the traffic jam and you said, Yes, that's him.

ARMOUR: I said, Hey, he's cute. So she flagged him down, the rest is history, and she's my maid of honor.

KAGAN: Perfect -- but she's not sponsored, though, is she? She comes free of charge.

ARMOUR: She comes free of charge. KAGAN: What about the honeymoon?

ARMOUR: We don't have a honeymoon yet, so we're still looking for a sponsor for that.

KAGAN: Put the word out there. Very good.

We'll wish you well.

ARMOUR: Thank you.

KAGAN: And wish you a wonderful day. And good luck.

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