David's Bridal Bets on AI to Capture the Full $70 Billion Wedding Market

Quick Facts

David’s Bridal launched Pearl, an AI wedding planning platform, in August 2025, adding agentic AI features in June 2025 and smart budgeting tools in May 2026.
The company migrated to Shopify and integrated its full inventory into ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot, enabling end-to-end bridal gown purchases inside both platforms.
David’s Bridal says 90% of its customer communications are now AI-driven, and it aims to expand beyond the $4.1 billion dress market into the broader $70 billion wedding industry.

David’s Bridal sells nearly one-third of all wedding dresses in the United States. Now it wants to sell the entire wedding.

The twice-bankrupt bridal retailer, acquired by CION Investment Corp. in July 2023, has spent the past two years rebuilding itself as a technology company. Its new strategy, called ‘Aisle to Algorithm,’ centers on AI-powered personalization, a retail media network, and an asset-light marketplace model designed to dominate wedding commerce from inspiration through checkout.

The company operates 190 retail locations across North America and says roughly 90% of U.S. brides engage with its ecosystem at some point during wedding planning. Since 2022, AI has driven 90% of its customer communications.

The Pearl Platform

Pearl by David’s is the digital hub at the center of the strategy. Launched in August 2025, Pearl Planner is a free tool that gives couples a single workspace for wedding management. It includes more than 100 guided tasks covering guest lists, venue tours, wedding websites, and vendor recommendations.

Brides select images rather than answering text-based questions. The platform builds what President Elina Vilk calls ‘a knowledge graph about you,’ sequencing tasks into a calendar tied to the wedding date and surfacing vendor options, bridesmaid dress suggestions, and AI-generated wedding websites.

David’s added agentic AI features to Pearl in June 2025. In May 2026, the company announced a Smart Budgeting suite inside Pearl Planner. Nearly half of newly married couples reported going into debt to pay for their wedding, according to a 2025 LendingTree report, a problem the new tools aim to address.

For vendors, Pearl offers AI-powered lead generation based on first-party data, profile optimization tools, and real-time market demand signals.

ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot Integration

David’s Bridal has made its full inventory shoppable inside ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. After migrating to Shopify, the company built integrations with both platforms that allow shoppers to browse real products, see real-time availability, and complete purchases without leaving the conversation.

The company has been auditing product attributes including silhouette, neckline, fabric, and train length to improve how items surface in AI-driven search results. It is also evaluating Shopify tools to automatically score product data for large language model readiness.

Leadership and Market Ambition

Kelly Cook became CEO on April 1, 2025, the second woman to hold the position in the company’s 75-year history. She succeeded Jim Marcum, who moved to executive chairman. Vilk, who joined David’s in August 2024 after roles at Meta, PayPal, and Visa, was promoted to president and chief business officer to lead the ‘Aisle to Algorithm’ effort.

The company also appointed Heather Braddock as chief global transformation and operations officer and Scott Saeger as chief technology officer.

David’s Bridal frames the strategy as moving from a traditional retailer into a 360-degree tech-enabled marketplace that connects inspiration, planning, and commerce. Over the next five years, the company aims to expand beyond the $4.1 billion wedding dress market and establish itself as the dominant player across the broader $70 billion wedding industry, which is growing at a 6.8% compound annual rate.