David’s Bridal is in a closed beta test of Pearl Planner, a platform and marketplace designed to connect brides and grooms to wedding vendors (and vice versa). The proprietary planning platform, which is slated to become publicly available this summer, uses AI trained on 75 years of wedding expertise along with real-time data and a deep understanding of wedding workflows. Pearl Planner is designed to provide a hyper-personalized experience that continuously improves by learning from new trends, planning behaviors, evolving behaviors and more.
“With Pearl Planner, we’re delivering something the industry has never seen: a deeply personalized, AI-powered partner guiding couples through every detail of their day — on their terms — and completely for free,” said Kelly Cook, CEO of David’s Bridal in a statement. “Pearl Planner is your 24/7 wedding concierge that doesn’t just plan with you, it ‘thinks’ for you. Your mother-in-law invited 10 more guests?! No problem. Pearl AI automatically adjusts seating charts. Changing the venue from Iceland to Aruba? Gotcha. Pearl AI updates checklist items from snow boots to flip-flops.”
The debut of Pearl Planner is a key moment for David’s Bridal’s “Aisle to Algorithm” strategy of pivoting from being simply a wedding retailer to a “tech-powered multihyphenate,” said Cook. The retailer brought endless aisle capabilities to select stores as part of its Shopify integration earlier this month and also consolidated the gifting process via a partnership with MyRegistry.com.
Platform’s Supplier Side Offers Tools for Growth
Wedding vendors, including SMB, event venues and service providers, can sign up to be at the front of the line when the platform goes live and gain early access to:
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- AI-powered lead generation: Driven by first-party data and planning intent;
- Profile optimization and smart recommendation: For visibility and front-of-the-line connections to high-fit potential clients;
- Real-time first-party data and insights: Into planning trends, user behaviors and localized demand; and
- A simplified dashboard: Designed to reduce admin time and increase bookings.
Additionally, David’s Bridal will launch Pearl Planner Pro this fall, which will enable professional wedding planners to leverage the Pearl Planner AI and integrations to better serve their customers.
Platform Organizes Tasks, Creates Timelines for Couples
During the closed beta period, couples can test out the multiple capabilities of the Pearl Planner solution, including:
- Pearl AI: Chat directly with Pearl, manage tasks, reorganize milestones and get real-time expert help;
- Style Quiz and Vision Board: Pearl’s proprietary quiz instantly identifies the wedding’s aesthetic, personalizes your experience from dashboard to wedding website and builds tailored recommendations;
- Task board that breaks planning into manageable tasks, with clear progress tracking and easy-to-complete steps;
- Dynamic timeline that will update based on your wedding date and progress;
- Curated recommendations based on style, budget, and location for vendors, dresses, content and more; and
- Diamond Loyalty Program Perks: Earn points for every milestone completed with Pearl Planner through David’s loyalty rewards program.
The public launch also will include new features and integrations with partners including MyRegistry, Dynadot, Shutterfly, Google and local wedding vendors across the nation.
“Pearl Planner is turning a fragmented, overwhelming process filled with chaotic spreadsheets and never-ending checklists into a streamlined, personalized, intelligent, joy-filled journey,” said Elina Vilk, President and Chief Business Officer of David’s Bridal in a statement. “Through David’s proprietary AI and strategic integrations, Pearl AI acts like a wedding planner, best friend and operations manager all in one. It intimately understands couples’ needs, anticipates next steps and empowers them to make wedding planning decisions with confidence. For vendors, we’re unlocking a trove of unprecedented first-party data and lead generation to amplify their pipeline.”
