July 23, 2010

Are Brides at Work Good or Bad? TheKnot.com, WeddingChannel.com & Forbeswoman.com Unveil “Work & Wedding” Survey Results

Brides Believe Being Engaged and Married Has a Positive Impact at Job Interviews and at Work.Yet, 1 in 3 Brides Admit Their Job Performance Has Suffered as a Result of Wedding Planning.

View Full Findings at TheKnot.com/WorkandWedding and ForbesWoman.com

NEW YORK (July 23, 2010) – TheKnot.com (www.theknot.com) and WeddingChannel.com (www.weddingchannel.com), the top two wedding planning websites housing the largest online community of brides, and ForbesWoman (www.forbeswoman.com), a website for career-minded women, today revealed the results of a cobranded “Work & Wedding” survey. This one-of-a-kind survey, promoted on ForbesWoman.com, TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com during the peak wedding month of July, polled 1,000 working brides on their personal experiences and opinions when it comes to juggling work and wedding planning. This in-depth survey reveals howwedding planning affects job performance and employee relations, as well as a bride’s perception of being married and engaged in the workforce.

“Planning a wedding can oftentimes be a full-time job for brides, so it’s no surprise they’re distracted at work,” says Carley Roney, editor in chief of TheKnot.com. “However, our survey finds that nearly one in two brides say that after the wedding, they become more competitive at work. This could be good news for employers since these newlyweds are now completely refocused on work and will work harder than ever to meet their financial goals as a couple.”

Highlights from TheKnot.com, WeddingChannel.com and ForbesWoman.com “Work & Wedding” survey results include:

38% OF WORKING BRIDES THINK BEING MARRIED HAS A POSITIVE IMPACT ON HOW THEY’RE PERCEIVED IN THE WORKPLACE. Interestingly enough, 29% of total respondents said that wearing an engagement ring could have a positive impact during a job interview.

WORKING BRIDES SPEND AN AVERAGE OF 10 HOURS A WEEK PLANNING THEIR WEDDING-NEARLY 30% OF WHICH IS DONE AT WORK. However, for 20% of working brides, more than half of their wedding planning is done at work. 35% of working brides squeeze in wedding planning around lunchtime and 41% do it pretty much whenever they can.

1 IN 3 WORKING BRIDES ADMIT WEDDING PLANNING HAS HAD A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THEIR JOB PERFORMANCE. The majority of employers don’t seem to notice though, as only 15% of these brides say that someone at work has commented about it.

MORE THAN HALF OF WORKING BRIDES SAY MARRIED AND ENGAGED COWORKERS ARE MORE SUPPORTIVE THAN SINGLE COWORKERS. Additionally, 15% of working brides say that single coworkers in committed relationships seem to be jealous about their upcoming nuptials.

“There’s no doubt about it-planning a wedding at work can be time-consuming and challenging,” said ForbesWoman Reporter Meghan Casserly. “But, rather than trying to hide their wedding planning from colleagues and managers, brides-to-be should communicate openly about taking care of both priorities-work and wedding.”

To see the Forbes.com article and more survey results, please visitTheKnot.com/workandwedding and ForbesWoman.com. To receive a full copy of the survey results, or to speak with an editor from TheKnot.com or ForbesWoman.com, please contact Jacalyn Lee at Jacalyn@theknot.com or Debbie Weathers at dweathers@forbes.com.

About TheKnot.com & WeddingChannel.com
TheKnot.com (www.theknot.com) and WeddingChannel.com (www.weddingchannel.com) are the nation’s top two wedding planning websites housing the largest online community of brides. Reaching millions of brides each year, TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com offer comprehensive wedding planning content, expert Q&As, a passionate online community, interactive wedding tools and a central location for couples to manage their gift registries. TheKnot.com and WeddingChannel.com are part of The Knot Inc. (NASDAQ: KNOT;http://www.theknot.com), the premier media company devoted to weddings, pregnancy and everything in between, providing young women with the trusted information, products and advice they need to guide them through the most transformative events of their lives.

Forbes Media
Forbes Media encompasses Forbes and Forbes.com, the #1 business site on the Web that reaches on average more than 18 million people monthly. The company publishes Forbes and Forbes Asia, which together reach a worldwide audience of more than 6 million readers. It also publishes ForbesLife and ForbesWoman magazines, in addition to licensee editions in China, Croatia, India, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Latvia, Middle East, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Turkey.

Other Forbes Media Web sites are: Investopedia.com; RealClearPolitics.com; RealClearMarkets.com; RealClearSports.com; and the Forbes.com Business and Finance Blog Network. Together with Forbes.com, these sites reach on average nearly 40 million business decision makers each month.

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