We’ve all heard about how the exploding use of GLP-1 drugs has impacted restaurants and the food industry. People are eating less, and that’s rippling through the economy.

Now we’re seeing other impacts for businesses beyond the food industry.

Planning a wedding is stressful enough without unexpected complications. But for brides using GLP-1 weight-loss medications like Ozempic or Mounjaro, finding the perfect dress has become even more challenging. Some bridal shops are now requiring customers to sign legal waivers before purchasing gowns that do not currently fit, protecting the business from returns and alterations caused by rapid weight loss.

Nicole Hamilton, a New York product designer, experienced this firsthand. She started GLP-1 medications to feel healthier ahead of her wedding. As the pounds came off quickly, she chose an A-line gown with a waist about three inches smaller than her size at the time of purchase. Before she could take the dress home, the shop asked her to sign a waiver acknowledging that it did not fit yet. “The size stuff definitely made it stressful in a way that it wouldn’t have been otherwise,” Hamilton said. Still, she enjoyed most of the process.

Why Bridal Shops Are Taking These Steps

The bridal industry traditionally works on a six- to nine-month timeline. Brides order dresses well in advance, with fittings scheduled closer to the big day. GLP-1 drugs have disrupted that model. These medications can lead to significant and sometimes unpredictable weight loss, especially around the midsection. Shop owners report that former “apple-shaped” brides may suddenly have much smaller waists, making standard alterations difficult or impossible.

David’s Bridal CEO Kelly Cook explained that stores must now take on more inventory risk and show greater flexibility. “You’re changing an industry that’s always operated on a six- to nine-month timeline,” Cook said. Smaller boutiques face even tougher challenges. Houston bridal shop owner Natalie Harris noted that she cannot afford extra inventory and has begun recommending adjustable backs and forgiving silhouettes for brides on these medications.

Some shops worry about costly returns, refunds, or negative reviews if a bride loses too much weight after purchase. Pennsylvania bridal co-owner Wendy Ianieri-Salerno described the situation as “scary” but often agrees to exchanges to maintain good customer service.

The Growing Trend Among Brides

This shift reflects a broader reality. Recent data from Zola shows that 10 percent of couples planning 2026 weddings are already using a GLP-1 medication, with another 10 percent considering it. Among those taking the drugs, about 21 percent cite weight loss for the wedding as their main goal, while 33 percent see the wedding as one of several motivating factors.

Many brides view GLP-1s as a helpful tool for feeling confident and healthy on their big day. However, the trend creates new friction between personal goals and the practical realities of wedding planning.

What This Means for Future Brides

If you are planning a wedding and considering or already using GLP-1 medications, here are a few practical tips:

• Shop closer to your target weight if possible, or choose styles with built-in flexibility.
• Communicate openly with your bridal consultant about your medications and expected changes.
• Ask about the shop’s policies on alterations, exchanges, and waivers early in the process.
• Consider working with a tailor experienced in significant weight-loss adjustments.

The rise of GLP-1 drugs is bringing real health benefits to many people, but it is also reshaping industries like bridal retail in unexpected ways. For brides, the dream dress experience now sometimes includes legal paperwork alongside the excitement of saying “yes” to the dress.

Broader Implications

This is just a minor example of how the GLP-1 craze is affecting businesses. We’ll see how this impacts other retailers in this space. It may help some as people losing weight tend to buy more clothes!

You probably saw this amazing ad created by PJ Ace for Kalshi during the NBA Finals. It was a massive success for the Kalshi brand and generated a ton of buzz.

And it was created completely by AI.

For small companies and less well-known brands, generative AI offers an amazing tool if used propoerly with the assistance of creatives like PJ Ace, who has built an ad agancy that makes AI commercials for clients.

But for bigger and well-known brands, they need to be a bit more careful. Using AI in a way that’s not perceived as authentic can harm a valuable brand. The scruntiny is much greater, and you may risk a backlash.

This article offers some useful guidelines for marketing departments as they grapple with these issues, with a focus on the beauty industry.

As the beauty industry continues to evolve, brands are under increasing pressure to innovate while maintaining their audience’s trust. Generative AI has emerged as a powerful tool for ideation, content creation and campaign design.

But while generative AI’s potential is undeniable, the way it’s used in advertising demands careful consideration. Missteps can compromise a brand’s authenticity, damage brand values and erode consumer trust — outcomes that no brand can afford.

There’s some great stuff here, with warnings on avoiding “AI slop” and creating ads perceived to be “AI sterile.” Transparancy is key, and the author argues for a hybrid approach where real actors are used in addition to AI tools.

Meanwhile, if you’re a new or smaller branded, you caan afford to take more chances and make bold statements using AI. So give PJ a call . . .

“Immigrants and children of immigrants are creating new businesses at more than twice the rate of other Americans. If we stop immigration, we are basically stopping economic growth in this country.” @RepJohnDelaney at #NIIC2018 pic.twitter.com/iP3s5I97VG

— Sonia JM Quinonez (@SoniaQ_NV) December 11, 2018

Things are still tough in Las Vegas. Check out this article about the state of business at strip clubs.

Times are rough in Las Vegas, even for Sin City’s second-most lucrative vice.

With the recession still dragging down discretionary spending, just the opportunity to ogle — or fantasize about your chances with — dozens of beautiful naked women isn’t enough to pack in the tourists these days. So a number of Las Vegas strip clubs are offering discounts and freebies to seal the deal, particularly during off-peak hours.

Some, such as Cheetah’s, will give you two-for-one lap dances every afternoon.

Others, like the Can Can Room and Crazy Horse III, halve the price of a lap dance that usually costs $20 for three to 4½ minutes at an all-nude club or two minutes at a topless joint.

These clubs are a huge business in Vegas, and it’s a great barometer of the overall economy.

“For years, Las Vegas has pretended like the adult community doesn’t exist,” says Wayne Bridge, CEO of the Sin City Chamber of Commerce, an alliance of adult-oriented businesses. “It’s a huge part of the economy and it’s really helping to carry a lot of people.”

At last count, there are 32 active strip clubs and between 30,000 and 40,000 registered exotic dancers in the Las Vegas Valley. On weeknights, some 1,500 women bump and grind at clubs here; weekends, that number doubles or triples.

“It’s huge,” Bridge says.

How huge?

An estimated $8 billion per year, second only to gaming as a component of the Las Vegas economy.

The freebies are working, as business has picked up. You couldn’t get a deal anywhere in Las Vegas 4 years ago. Now, the hotels, clubs and other establishments are working hard for business. It might be a good time for a trip!

This is a huge problem for Russia and other countries that rely on cronyism and corruption.

When he was 17 years old, Alexei Terentev, then a bookish high school student in Moscow, created what the Russian government has been desperately trying to engineer — a start-up with some of that Silicon Valley–style magic. It was innovative, cleverly marketed and could be run out of his parents’ apartment. By June of last year, when Terentev got his diploma from one of Moscow’s elite universities, his company was on its way to making him a millionaire. But it was also getting big enough, he says, “to get the wrong kind of attention from officials.” So Terentev, now 22, took no chances. One day after graduation, he packed up his laptop and emigrated to the Czech Republic, taking his company with him. He doubts he will ever return.

The reasons for his move, as well as his haste, are the typical worries of the young entrepreneurs Russia is currently hemorrhaging: corruption and bureaucracy, the forces that are driving the biggest exodus since the fall of the Soviet Union. In the past three years, 1.25 million Russians have emigrated, most of them young businesspeople and members of the middle class, according to data released in February by the head of the state’s Audit Chamber. That is about a quarter million more than left the country during the first few years after the Soviet collapse, when Russia was a political and economic basket case. Now the country is stable and the cities are thriving. But small-business owners seem to feel less safe than ever.

Russians are paying the price for the thuggish atmosphere create by Vladimir Putin and his cronies. This is one reason why fears about the decline of America are overblown.