Mobile apps are great at one thing in particular–contextualizing personal data.  They’re able to lock in your environmental interactions, noting searches, location, travel and buying patterns, images and time stamps.  This is how mobile apps become extensions of our individualized existence, and the potential behind this is quite powerful for a consumer-driven economy such as our own. 

One market that’s booming this time of year is the wedding industry, which is fresh off Valentine’s Day and the arrival of spring, heading full-force into the Summer season.  Brides-to-be have one thing on their mind, and that’s their big day.  In an era where stylized ceremonies are as trendy as they are promoted on reality TV shows, individuality can only be accomplished with thorough research and organization.

Weddzilla is applying new demands around the personal cloud to picky brides in search of a simplified solution.  Sure, a bride needs seating charts, and yes, a list of popular reception venues is a handy resource, but what about making that data personal, and then putting it to work?

Founders Aaron Hall and Sara Morgan recognize the wedding industry’s relevance to other interests, connecting to fashion, decor, event-planning and other trades.  They’re recently launched iPhone app to help brides organize the fun stuff.  Bookmark ideas, share them with friends and crowd-source where needed.  Highly social and leaning towards a brand-managed level of engagement, Weddzilla’s pushing for a cultural shift in the way couples plan their weddings.

But helping people manage their personal wedding fantasy clouds is just a launchpad for Hall, who envisions Weddzilla’s iPhone app as segueing into the related industries mentioned above.  Extending its market, Weddzilla is catching users early, hoping to keep them around through the early nesting phase.  First comes love, then comes marriage. Then Crate & Barrel dining sets and Bugaboo blankets.

It’s a tactic that’s becoming quite popular for brand-centric businesses, with online retail getting a big piece of the action.  Flash sale sites like Gilt took a similar path to expansion, starting with women’s fashion and shifting into furniture and children’s clothing.  In fact, one of their newest verticals is weddings–destination discounts and planning services.

It was an earlier Facebook app that piqued Hall’s interest in cross-vertical analysis.  The app, called WeddHot, was able to quickly gather data and gauge individual interest in a variety of items.  As Hall describes it, WeddHot “pulls an image, and [users] mark whether it’s hot or not. The app started to get tons of data on what colors are hot, and what styles. We’re really able to tell where bride trends are headed, based on blogs and websites they’re visiting, what products they’re buying, etc.”

In this way, personal cloud data is being put to use for the aggregate benefit of culturing consumer data, determining which designers and colors are popular, and when they reach peak demand.  Yes, Weddzilla is another mobile bookmarking tool amassing a demographic database. But its anxious to leverage that as part of the emerging trend of cross-industry data analysis.  As more verticals seek partners for the development of cloud-based data marketplaces, companies like Weddzilla will be able to build business models around the relationships between participating industries.

The benefits of Weddzilla’s data collection is prepped to trickle-down to the business verticals Hall’s interested in, likely leading to a unique advertising channel and hub for market research.  “Not only is the Weddmark app revolutionary because it lets brides collect inspiration on-the-go,” starts Diane Forden, Editor-In-Chief, Bridal Guide Magazine.

“It is amazing because it gives businesses’ invaluable insight into current and upcoming trends in the wedding industry, supplying us with data on everything from engaged couples’ likes and dislikes to the most popular fashions, colors, products, etc. so that we can better know our consumers.”