3 Apps Winning in the $300 Billion Wedding Industry

The path to wedded bliss is big business. Globally, the wedding industry generates some $300 billion in revenue every year, with $55 billion of that attributed to the U.S. market alone. With the average wedding in the U.S. costing around $30,000, it's easy to understand why couples are seeking cost-effective ways to manage the planning process and, ultimately, the budget itself. Luckily, there's now an app for that – more than one, actually.

According to a "social wedding survey" conducted by Mashable and The Knot, 89 percent of engaged couples use wedding planning apps to manage everything from to-do lists to gown shopping to seating charts, which makes sense given that smartphone users in general spend about 86 percent of their mobile device time on apps. The digital revolution is in full swing, and wedding apps are playing a key role. Here are three apps that are cornering the market using very different approaches:

Wedding Flowers: With flower arrangements playing such an integral role on the big day it's not surprising there's an app dedicated to everything floral. What is remarkable is the 1.4 million times Wedding Flowers has been downloaded in just the last 6 months. It's a free app, but according to Apptopia data, Wedding Flowers' in-app advertising has generated $1.1 million – one dollar for every monthly user the app has.

Zola Wedding Registry: Zola is a unique wedding registry app that allows couples to create a universal wishlist that includes all their favorite brands and even requests for cash gifts. It's another free app, but the potential here isn't in upfront revenue but rather advertising and affiliate relationships. Guests spend a staggering $19 billion annually buying gifts through registries; if developers can score a percentage of each registry item purchased, these sort of curation-type apps become very attractive indeed.

Wedding Planning by WeddingWire: App retention is a major concern for developers, and for good reason; about 20 percent of apps downloaded will only be used once before being abandoned. Not so with Wedding Planning by WeddingWire. This multi-purpose app was downloaded just under 106,000 times in the last 6 months and still maintains 167,000 monthly active users. That's an incredible retention rate, likely due to the quality of the apps functionality and content. The bride and groom can read vendor reviews and book their favorites, set up a personalized wedding countdown, track their budget, build a guest list, and interact with other engaged couples, all within the comfort of a single, seamless platform. Why would they feel the need to go anywhere else?

It's clear that the continued growth of the wedding industry leaves plenty of room for creative mobile app developers to offer innovative solutions, not just to bride and grooms but also to service providers. Imagine a one-stop-shop bakery app that helps cake decorators manage both their client calendars and inventory, or a collaborative app for crafting a reception playlist the happy couple and DJ all have a hand in creating.

Experts estimate that by 2017 the mobile app market will reach 268 billion downloads, which will generate some $77 billion in revenue. That's a lot of money flowing into the pockets of enterprising mobile app developers, and considering the similarly promising forecast for the wedding industry, combining the two seems like, well, a marriage made in heaven.