New Web site targets engaged Y students

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    By DEGAN JOHN KETTLE

    At a time when thousands of enterprising individuals seek to make the Internet profitable through advertising and Web site construction, a local business has discovered a subject that will attract both BYU students and other local businesses — marriage.

    Eureka Internet Services, a marketing group that designs and markets Web sites, opened The Perfect Wedding site on June 14. The site, found at http:\www.eureka1.com, targets BYU students.

    The site features lists of local wedding-oriented businesses which deal with health and beauty, wedding attire, travel, flowers, wedding consultants, caterers, bakeries, photographers, announcements, bridal registries, jewelers, music and decorations.

    The site designers are also working on offering advertising pages for businesses in Utah County and links to other sites. Although only five or six businesses have signed on to have their own Web sites designed so far, interest is high among local businesses, said Heidi Rasmussen, sales consultant for Eureka Internet Services.

    “We’ve had a huge response,” Rasmussen said.

    Rasmussen said the idea for the Web site came about when Jill Means, a graphics designer, Elice Smith, a secretary, and Rasmussen were brainstorming.

    Rasmussen, Means and Smith decided the Internet was not a local enough tool to be useful, and BYU students were pressed for time when it came to planning weddings. They began looking for ways to make listings of local businesses available in area specific Web sites that Rasmussen referred to as virtual communities.

    The goal of The Perfect Wedding Web site, according to Rasmussen, is to replace the lists of wedding-related businesses they have with Web pages that Eureka Internet Services would create.

    Dave Enger, a senior from Watertown, Wis., majoring in philosophy, said the Web site is a good idea because wedding plans involve a lot of time going from place to place, which could be avoided with the wedding site.

    Todd Boston, a junior from Spokane, Wash., majoring in computer science, became engaged recently and said the site could be extremely helpful “because you only get engaged once and don’t have a lot of experience about what needs to be done and how to do it.

    “There are lots of books about that, but something on the Web would be a lot easier to access,” Boston said.

    Emily Christensen, a married junior from Spokane, Wash., majoring in nursing, said it is very hard to make marriage plans because non-Utahns do not know where to go. To have local businesses listed on the Internet would be very handy, she said.

    Rasmussen mentioned the time-saving feature of reading lists of photography services, something that would have helped Suzanne Flake, a married senior from Spokane, Wash., majoring in nursing.

    “The biggest pain was calling each photographer and finding out about each package. I spent one hour on the phone with a photographer who didn’t even have the best price but kept talking about why I should go with his services.

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