Today's Bride Helps Thousands Plan Weddings

Shortly after they were married in the late 1980s, Jim and Denise Frericks began brainstorming ideas for a business of their own.

Having just planned their own wedding, the Frericks were intrigued by a prediction that wedding consulting would be one of the fastest growing businesses in the 1990s. From personal experience they knew no one was giving Akron area brides good information about local services, so 24-year-old Jim quit his job to begin their wedding planning business.

Jim Frericks said he quickly found that no one in the blue-collar Rubber City wanted to hire him to plan their weddings. He and Denise went back to the drawing board and Today’s Bride magazine was born in November 1989.

Twenty-three years later, Today’s Bride publishes two annual magazines and produces a bridal show that Frericks believes is the largest in Ohio, the second largest in the Midwest and among the top 10 nationally. The business has seven employees, including the Frericks, and relocated two years ago from Copley Township to its present headquarters on North Cleveland-Massillon Road in Bath Township.

Birth of a magazine

Denise calculated how many ads they would have to sell to fund the first issue, a digest-size black and white publication. Jim, a former WKDD-FM ad salesman, signed 40 businesses that provided bridal services, wrote the articles, designed the ads and did the layout for the first magazine. He persuaded his new clients to pay up front so the couple would have enough money to print the magazine.

No local printer would give them credit, Frericks said. “I shudder to think that 40 businesses were brave enough to take a chance on a wet-nosed 24-year-old kid who had nothing to show them.” The Frericks made $300 profit on the first issue. It was enough to convince them they had found a niche. Jim was able to re-sign all of the original 40 advertisers for the second issue and they’ve continued to grow from there.

Over the years, the magazine morphed from a digest sized issues brides-to-be could put in their purses to today’s full-color, image-heavy oversize publication. The Akron-Canton edition is published annually in October. The Cleveland edition is published each July. The magazines – 44,000 copies these days --  are distributed by advertisers, at bridal shows and by request, Frericks said.

Bridal shows become part of the business

The Frericks organized and hosted their first bridal show in 1990 at Todaro’s Party Center in Akron with a goal of signing 25 exhibitors. Now the business produces an annual January shows at the John S. Knight Center in Akron that features 150 businesses and attracts 1,500 brides and Cleveland’s I-X Center that features 250 vendors and attracts 3,000 brides. Smaller shows are produced in each market every October and this year, two additional smaller shows will be produced in April and July.

The Frericks also maintain a website, where prospective brides can find all editorial content from the magazines as well as listings of vendors. The website can provide as many as 75 leads per week for Today’s Bride clients, Frericks said.

Today’s Bride is located at 1930 North Cleveland-Massillon Rd.