Macy's Ties The Knot

After helping brides and grooms hook up for the perfect wedding, let's see whether Federated Department Stores (NYSE: FD) and The Knot (Nasdaq: KNOT) can do the same. The companies announced this morning that Macy's will be the exclusive provider of retail products on The Knot's online bridal registry for the next two years.

If you were expecting another bridal registry heavy like Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) or Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) to land this deal, you just haven't been paying attention. Macy's and The Knot have a history of cuddling together. The retailer's CEO was named to The Knot's board back in October; he will step down now, perhaps to avoid any conflicts of interest. Macy's was also an early investor in WeddingChannel.com, which The Knot acquired last year.

The Knot's bread and butter is its lead-generating business for wedding services providers, though merchandise sales accounted for 21% of the company's revenues last year. A deal like this can help grow that merchandise slice, which accounted for $15 million in sales last year and $12.3 million in 2005.

Macy's and The Knot will launch new website pages and tools to promote the alliance. Couples will be encouraged to kick off the registry process with a quiz that will inspire gift ideas based on six different categories:

• Happy Hipster
• Jet-Setters
• All-American Dreamers
• True Romantics
• Independent Spirits
• Connoisseurs

Okay, that's cheesy stuff. There's no "my groom-to-be has cold feet so I'm stuck doing this registry alone" categorization. Still, planning for that special day can be difficult, so it's nice to see a light approach to getting the registry done.

Even though I prefer The Knot to be more of a free agent, cherry picking from any and all retailers in the future, the exclusivity lasts just two years. At that point, the couple will be free to see other people if it's just not working out. It's a lot like love -- and life.

The Knot was recommended to Motley Fool Rule Breakers subscribers last year and has gone on to nearly double. You can see what all the fuss is about with a free 30-day trial subscription.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz got married years before TheKnot.com was around, and he regrets that. He could have had a punctual person working the video camera that day. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.