Borrowed & Blue

What Borrowed & Blue does

Borrowed & Blue is a private, for-profit company founded in 2011 and headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia. The company operates as a transactional marketplace for the wedding industry, with the stated positioning of being the first such marketplace of its kind. Its core product helps couples imagine, plan, and book their weddings by aggregating fragmented wedding vendors into a single discovery and booking surface.

The company serves two customer segments: engaged couples seeking wedding services, and wedding vendors (e.g., venues, photographers, florists, caterers) seeking demand generation. Vendor categories typically surfaced in such marketplaces include venues, photographers, beauty, bands/DJs, florists, caterers, planners, cakes/desserts, videographers, bar services, officiants, and event extras. The platform spans the United States, with no evidence of international operations.

The business model is consistent with a marketplace: Borrowed & Blue likely monetizes via vendor subscriptions, listing fees, or transaction commissions, though no pricing model is disclosed in the available data. The company has raised approximately $10.1 million across two disclosed funding rounds — a $3.1 million round in June 2015 led by Foxhaven, and a $7.0 million round in November 2016 led by Foundry Group, with participation from Accomplice, Foxhaven, Upslope Ventures, and Service Provider Capital. Headcount is stated at 11-50 employees. The co-founder is Christin Healey. No information on current revenue, ARR, GMV, or ownership structure was provided in the source data.

Name

Borrowed & Blue

Legal name

Zola, Inc.

Website

https://borrowedandblue.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Borrowed & Blue is a US-based wedding industry marketplace founded in 2011 that helps couples discover, plan, and book wedding services and vendors across multiple categories. The Charlottesville, VA-headquartered company operates as a two-sided platform connecting engaged couples with fragmented local wedding vendors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Wedding Marketplace

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Vendor Sourcing & Management (Venues, Catering, Photo/Video, Music) (HSACABAG)

Keywords

• Wedding marketplace
• Wedding planning platform
• Bridal vendor directory
• Wedding booking service
• Vendor matchmaking

Headquarters

HQ city

Charlottesville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Core offering

Borrowed & Blue operates a transactional online marketplace for the wedding industry that connects engaged couples with wedding venues and vendors. The platform allows couples to discover, plan, and book wedding services by aggregating vendor listings across categories such as venues, photographers, florists, and other wedding service providers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Zola Baby: Baby registry platform
• Zola Home

Products and services

• Wedding Vendor Marketplace

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Zola: Zola is a wedding planning, registry, and vendor marketplace platform serving the same couples-and-vendors marketplace category as Borrowed & Blue. It is the most direct comparable — the source data for Borrowed & Blue actually reflects Zola properties, suggesting acquisition.
• Here Comes The Guide: Here Comes The Guide is a U.S. wedding venue and vendor directory/marketplace serving couples planning weddings, directly comparable in category and customer to Borrowed & Blue.
• Eventective: Eventective is an event and wedding vendor marketplace connecting consumers with venues and service providers. It overlaps with Borrowed & Blue's vendor-sourcing mission, though it serves a broader event scope beyond weddings.
• HoneyBook: HoneyBook is a clientflow and business management platform for event and wedding professionals, with a vendor marketplace component. It competes for the same vendor supply side that powers Borrowed & Blue's marketplace.
• Minted: Minted is a design marketplace that includes wedding stationery, websites, and registries, serving the same couples-and-vendors commercial relationship in adjacent wedding product categories.

Broad incumbents

• The Knot Worldwide: The Knot Worldwide operates The Knot and WeddingWire, the largest wedding planning platforms in the U.S. with extensive vendor directories, planning tools, and registry. It is a scaled incumbent competing directly for both couples and vendors.
• WeddingWire: WeddingWire is a leading wedding vendor marketplace and planning platform, now part of The Knot Worldwide. It competes directly with Borrowed & Blue for vendor leads and couple discovery in the same U.S. market.

Emerging players

• Joy (WithJoy): Joy is a modern wedding planning platform offering websites, RSVPs, registries, and vendor tools. It competes with Borrowed & Blue for the same couple workflow and has expanded into adjacent wedding-tech tooling.
• Aisle Planner: Aisle Planner is a wedding planning SaaS platform for wedding professionals and couples, including vendor directories and planning tools. Comparable to Borrowed & Blue on the vendor-facing side of the wedding marketplace.

Regional players

• Bridebook: Bridebook is a leading wedding planning app and vendor marketplace in the UK. It is directly comparable as a transactional wedding vendor marketplace but operates in a different geography from Borrowed & Blue's U.S. base.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/zola
• Facebookfacebook.com/zola
• Instagraminstagram.com/zola
• Pinterestpinterest.com/zola
• TikToktiktok.com/@zola

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Borrowed & Blue