Targeting the challenges of wedding planning, Conde Nast?s Brides magazine has expanded and renamed the Brides Dressing Room iPhone and iPad application.

With Marriott Hotels & Resorts as its 60-day presenting sponsor, newly renamed Brides Wedding Genius builds upon the Dressing Room application by including more than 700 bridal and bridesmaids dresses and videos, with the ability to search for engagement rings, wedding bands and honeymoon locations. It will add beauty tips in October.

?We wanted to be able to capture all that inspires the bride while on-the-go,? said Amy Newman, associate publisher of marketing for Brides, New York.

The target demographic for the revamped application is brides-to-be and those ?dreaming about it.?

Bridal path 
For a $2.99 initial upgrade fee, consumers can access the application?s Digital Wedding Binder that syncs to a Web site so the application can be used from a computer.

The Digital Wedding Binder features inspirational and organizational ideas, and automated schedule reminders. It also assigns to-do tasks to others involved in the planning process.

?Love that color tablecloth for a bridesmaid?s dress? Capture it to share with your best friend,? Ms. Newman said.

?Love that favor at the work party? Take a photo to share with your mother,? she said. ?No more heavy binder?it?s all in the palm of her hand.?

The initial version of the application that launched last October allowed consumers to view and browse a large selection of gowns and bridesmaids dresses, save and send favorite items, and find retailers.

Brides launched more than 75 years ago as the first bridal magazine in the world. It is part of the Condé Nast portfolio that includes 18 consumer magazines such as Vogue, GQ, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, as well as two trade titles and 27 Web sites.

Wedding planning mobile applications are becoming popular. Another application targeted at the bridal market is the Bridal Binder iPhone application, developed by luxury and celebrity wedding planner Meg Stepanek.

Once the bride enters the wedding date and budget, the application compiles a to-do list and tentative schedule. It features a blog, forum, list of 18 vendor categories, and tips on working with vendors.

Since its launch, Brides Dressing Room has ranked in the top 2 percent of downloads out of 225,000 iPhone applications and was the top bridal application in iTunes. In less than nine months, 8 million products were viewed within the application. The average viewer browsed more than 150 products.

In bed with apps
The focus of the Bridal Wedding Genius applications was a major attraction for sponsor Marriott.

?Weddings are part of Marriott?s culture and wedding planning is a service that we excel at,? said Michael Dail, senior director of marketing for Marriott, Bethesda, MD. ?It is a natural fit. The application is a great step forward in the wedding planning tool. 

?It?s a great fit for the Marriott customer who is an early adapter of technology, highly mobile and very social,? he said. ?We also saw this as an opportunity to touch our wedding customers in a meaningful way through online, mobile and Brides magazine.?

Marriott has a portfolio of more than 500 hotels and resorts worldwide, ranging from beaches to vineyards, and brands such as Marriott, JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton.

Conde Nast will promote Brides Wedding Genius through traditional advertising, social media, mobile marketing, digital advertising, blogger outreach and direct marketing to Brides readers.

The magazine will also pass out postcards at the Running of the Brides, an event held at Filene?s Basement where bridal gowns are sold at drastically discounted prices. Brides-to-be often camp out in front of the store overnight to take as many of the non-returnable gowns off the racks as possible once the doors open.

?We are always looking for ways to reach our consumer and offer her solutions,? Ms. Newman said. ?We are happy to be on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch for now with Brides Wedding Genius and can see creating apps for different platforms in the future as well.?

Final Take
Kaitlyn Bonneville, editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer, New York