Her Los Angeles wedding planner, Mindy Weiss, says clients have a charitable impulse at almost every stage of the festivities.

WSJ: For Brides and Grooms Who Have Everything, Something to Ease the Conscience

"A wedding marks the first day of the rest of your life, " says a dictatorial wedding planner played by Candice Bergen.

WSJ: Missing in 'Bride Wars': Wit, Invention

"I did tweet on the way to the temple but then put my iPad down because the wedding planner yelled at me, " says Ms. Waxler, 41.

WSJ: Social Media Etiquette at Parties: When Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Are the Guests

She started the first wedding planning firm in 1993, Very Truly Yours, after meeting a wedding planner in New Jersey and taking a summer course on the subject at Columbia University.

FORBES: The Woman Behind India's Celebrity Weddings

Did my parents have a wedding planner?

FORBES: Youth In The Office: Are Engagement Rings A Help Or Headache?

It seems that my wife Carleen and Sara soon became best friends with every gown designer, caterer, florist, baker, tent person, rock band, photographer, wedding planner, hotel, restaurant, transportation company, liquor store, priest, electrician and plumber in the region!

FORBES: Wedding Bells, And Cash Registers, Ring In China

The trend has been driven by the many young Nigerians living overseas, who had introduced ambitious ideas for wedding themes, along with the concept of the wedding planner: a professional event organizer who could realize the happy couple's vision for their big day, typically at their parents' expense.

CNN: My big, fat Nigerian wedding: Inside Lagos' bridal boom

"We took on the marketing process itself, " says McLaughlin, who had spent five years as a programmer for Eli Lilly and moonlighted selling his homemade wedding-planner software over the web.

FORBES: Junk Mail Bytes It