Wedding Wagon
NO DEAL
EPISODE SUMMARY
🕓 Air Date: September 26, 2014
Asking For:
$125,000 for 20%
Investor:
No Deal
Deal:
No Deal
PRODUCT SUMMARY
The Wedding Wagon is the world's first casual and affordable mobile wedding service, offering couples a unique and personalized wedding experience at the location of their choice.
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Background Story
The Wedding Wagon, founded by James Cass and Adrian Gonzalez, emerged from the vibrant city of Las Vegas, Nevada. The dynamic duo shared a common vision of revolutionizing the traditional wedding industry by introducing a more casual and affordable alternative. Both hailing from Las Vegas, a city renowned as the wedding capital of the world, Cass and Gonzalez were intimately familiar with the limited choices couples faced when planning their special day. James Cass brought a wealth of experience to the table, with a background rooted in event planning and a keen understanding of the wedding industry’s dynamics.
Adrian Gonzalez, on the other hand, complemented the partnership with his expertise in logistics and operations. The founders, having witnessed the dichotomy between mundane ceremonies at the Justice of the Peace and extravagant affairs at churches or hotels, envisioned a novel solution. The spark for The Wedding Wagon ignited when Cass and Gonzalez recognized the need for a more personalized and memorable wedding experience. Their breakthrough concept involved bringing the chapel directly to the couples, allowing them to tie the knot at a location that held sentimental value.
The mobile wedding service was born out of a desire to cater to couples seeking a unique and fun ceremony without the complications and high costs associated with traditional weddings. The founders’ passion for creating an accessible and enjoyable wedding experience led them to launch The Wedding Wagon in the heart of the wedding capital, Las Vegas. Their journey involved navigating the intricacies of the wedding industry, adapting to changing demands, and ultimately making the strategic decision to sell the original Las Vegas Wedding Wagon in pursuit of a franchise-focused expansion.
The Product
The Wedding Wagon presents a groundbreaking concept in the wedding industry, offering couples a casual and affordable mobile wedding service that brings the chapel directly to their chosen location. The process is straightforward and personalized, providing a memorable experience for the couple.
Couples can easily engage The Wedding Wagon’s services by reaching out through a phone call or online booking. The founders demonstrated the simplicity of the process on Shark Tank, highlighting that the couple only needs to pick up the phone, call The Wedding Wagon, and choose a location that holds significance to them. The service includes the presence of an officiant and a photographer, ensuring a complete and memorable ceremony.
The benefits of The Wedding Wagon lie in its flexibility, allowing couples to avoid the limitations of traditional wedding venues. Whether it’s a parking lot, a park, or any other location of choice, The Wedding Wagon adapts to the couple’s preferences. The founders mentioned a launch price of $99, making it an accessible and budget-friendly option for couples seeking a unique wedding experience.
The Wedding Wagon’s features include the ability to perform multiple ceremonies in a day, showcasing efficiency and scalability. With a two-person operation, the founders claimed to conduct about six to eight weddings daily. Overall, the product redefines the wedding experience, making it more personalized, affordable, and adaptable to the couple’s vision.
How It Went
The company’s position before Shark Tank
The Wedding Wagon exhibited a commendable performance, showcasing a solid foundation in the wedding service industry. With sales reaching $243,000 in the previous year, the company demonstrated financial viability with its unique and innovative approach to weddings. The founders, James Cass and Adrian Gonzalez, initially launched the business in Las Vegas, the wedding capital of the world, capitalizing on the city’s vibrant wedding culture. The company’s model involved a two-person operation, emphasizing efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
However, the founders made a strategic decision to sell the Las Vegas version of The Wedding Wagon for $120,000. This move allowed them to focus on a new direction – launching a franchise company with the goal of taking the concept nationwide. Despite this bold decision, the sharks expressed skepticism about the sale of the successful Las Vegas model and questioned the viability of the new franchise-focused business model. The founders did mention plans to launch franchises in different cities, envisioning Wedding Wagons in locations such as Los Angeles and Miami.
The franchise fee was set at $25,000. The sharks expressed concerns about the founders selling their original business, which had proven success, and questioned the logic behind the shift in focus to a franchise model. The company’s current structure was not explicitly outlined, but the founders emphasized their dedication to launching and expanding the franchise company. The sharks, however, expressed reservations about the new business direction, ultimately leading to a lack of investment offers. The outcome left The Wedding Wagon at a crossroads, with the founders contemplating the impact of their decision to sell the original model as they sought broader expansion through franchising.
The Negotiations:
The negotiations for The Wedding Wagon took an unexpected turn as the sharks expressed skepticism and raised critical concerns about the founders’ strategic decisions. The initial ask was $125,000 for a 20% equity stake in the company, but as the pitch unfolded, it became evident that the sharks were apprehensive about the founders’ recent move. Mark Cuban and Kevin O’Leary were particularly vocal about their doubts, focusing on the founders’ choice to sell the successful Las Vegas version of The Wedding Wagon. Mark questioned why the founders couldn’t expand their proven model within the wedding capital of the world.
Kevin, known as “Mr. Wonderful,” criticized the decision to sell the original business, stating that they had essentially given away their show-and-tell. As the sharks delved deeper into the numbers, the founders revealed that they had sold the Las Vegas Wedding Wagon for $120,000 and intended to launch franchises with a franchise fee of $25,000. This sparked further skepticism, especially from Kevin, who found the franchise model unappealing. Mark, echoing these sentiments, mentioned the common practice of showcasing a successful model before selling franchises.
Despite the founders’ enthusiasm for a nationwide expansion, none of the sharks were convinced by the new franchise-focused approach. One by one, the sharks opted out of making offers, citing concerns about the unproven nature of the franchise model and the founders’ decision to sell a successful business. The negotiations concluded without a deal, leaving The Wedding Wagon founders to reassess their business strategy and contemplate the impact of their choices on the future of their innovative wedding service.
