Part of me can't blame her. The other part of me says this is tacky. Star Jones says 'I do' to wedding freebies http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-11-10-star-jones_x.htm By Karen Thomas, USA TODAY Like many brides, Star Jones wanted the very best of the best when she planned her wedding. But unlike most brides, she got much of it for free. When she marries Al Reynolds Saturday in New York, The View co-host will have received donated invitations (from Encore Studios and The Stationery Studio), tuxedos (Sarno & Son) and bridesmaids' gowns (Lazaro Bridal). According to the couple's wedding Web site (www.starandal.com), they even have an "official airline of our wedding weekend" (Continental). What have the suppliers received in return? Potential public mentions, or plugs, for their products. Wedding experts say Jones, a spokeswoman for Payless Shoes, has pushed product-placement and celebrity freebies to a new extreme. She has taken heat for soliciting freebies and for her on-air plugs for wedding suppliers on The View. Jones has denied wrongdoing. A show spokesman says Jones' plugs on The View followed federal regulations, which prohibit on-air mentions in exchange for products. It's a murky area, but since the controversy arose, Jones has noticeably cut back on on-air wedding chatter. Jones isn't the first star to get financial help for a wedding. Some cost-reducing tactics: • Trade wedding products for possible publicity. Tori Spelling's bridal party received chocolates donated by a popular candy company. A trendy clothing company in L.A. routinely offers celeb brides sweatsuits for bridesmaids, and Hollywood brides rarely turn down the offer. •Invite TV. The Bachelorette's Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter earned $1 million from ABC to air their 2003 wedding. MTV picked up the tab for last year's wedding of Dave Navarro and Carmen Electra. • Sell wedding photographs. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas sold photo rights to their 2000 wedding for $1.8 million. Most stars don't want freebies, says wedding planner Mindy Weiss, who worked with Jessica Simpson, "because then they have to talk publicly about intimate parts of their lives" in exchange. Jones' approach is a sign that the no-cost celebrity wedding has "most definitely" crossed a line, Weiss says. "It's not so much a wedding as it's a business deal. Where's the romance?" Karen Wood, president of Backstage Creations, which creates free gift bags for many awards shows, says just four years ago companies resisted giving freebies to celebrities. But in today's business world, it is a "powerful" tool. "Companies are shifting their advertising dollar because (giving stars freebies is) so much more effective" than newspaper or TV ads. But Wood warns that negative publicity, such as that associated with Jones' wedding, "might backfire on a brand."
