On July 9th, I blogged about the fiasco of 7/7/07 weddings, perpetrated by the Las Vegas Garden of Love Wedding Chapel. At the end of August, there was an update, noting a lawsuit against the same chapel by MGM/Mirage & Bellagio.

Since then, there have been various updates in the Las Vegas newspapers and beyond. A couple of months ago, Las Vegas Garden of Love lost its license to do business. The chapel has closed up shop and its website is gone.

However, the impact of its misdoings and its demise, still ripple through the Las Vegas wedding industry. Some inbound wedding couples, caught unaware by the closing, have had to scramble to complete their vows. Former competitors of the Las Vegas Garden of Love have pitched in, in a large way, to make that happen and preserve the good name of Las Vegas.

Despite that goodwill, the number of people coming to marry in Las Vegas is down for the third straight year. A recent article in the Las Vegas Review Journal, Nevada’s largest newspaper, cites a number of factors, including the sagging economy. However, many people feel that Las Vegas weddings, and Las Vegas Wedding Chapels, in particular, have suffered wedding-marketing-fallout from the in-fighting, fueled by the Las Vegas Garden of Love.

Amazingly, some of the existing wedding chapels have hired former employees of Las Vegas Garden of Love. Let’s just say, the results have been less than stellar. When one knows of the deficiencies of people, by direct observation or checking their history, it’s only prudent to believe that information and keep your distance.

The only thing more powerful than good public relations is bad public relations. The notion that “all publicity is good,” is pure nonsense.

Who you choose to hire, within your business, and who you choose to associate with, outside your business, is critical. Failure to adhere to choosing relationships and employees wisely will come back to bite you. It’s only a matter of time.

In this case, just one business with questionable ethics and practices, appears to have an impact on many businesses around it.

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written by Andy Ebon \\ tags: Las Vegas, one bad apple, Relationship Marketing, wedding chapel, wedding marketing fallout