The Knot, an online wedding resource, is ramping up its mobile strategy by offering brides a sneak peek at upcoming designer bridal gowns with live-streaming runway shows on mobile and desktop.

Held in conjunction with New York Bridal Fashion Week, bridal fashion?s largest annual event, the shows will feature thousands of never-before-seen items months before they are available in retailers. The shows aim to inspire future brides with new season designs and trends.

?Brides absolutely lean on their mobile device to draw inspiration for their weddings,? said Blair Rubio, marketing and communications manager for T1Visions, Charlotte, NC. ?Let?s face it - every spare minute of a bride?s day-to-day is spent thinking about this event in her life.

?Whether she is walking to grab a coffee or riding the elevator, it?s these 'mobile minutes' that are most likely spent perusing images of bouquets, hairstyles, gowns and color schemes via her handheld device.?

Premiering designs
Participating designers include Claire Pettibone, Reem Acra, JLM Couture, Maggie Sottero, Amsale and Kenneth Pool. Shows will be occurring throughout the week, and show times can be found on The Knot?s sites.

Photos of each dress as it appears on the runway will be available for browsing on The Knot?s mobile and Web sites. While many of the runway dresses will not be available for purchase until 2015, the bridal brand does offer a multitude of dresses for sale via its site.

Guests may browse with filters including designer, silhouette, neckline and sleeve length. The site then displays either the designer?s Web site or a third-party retailer carrying the selected gown.

?Planning a wedding is a highly social event,? Ms. Rubio said. ?Making New York Bridal Fashion Week more apparent on social media will make the latest fashions in wedding wear more accessible to the bride and her bridal party - and they?ll be able to use these social tools to share ideas, inspiration, and keep the planning process transparent for all of the women in the bride?s life.?

Wedding planner app
Keeping in mind with the brand?s aim to expand its mobile strategy, The Knot released a brand new wedding planner mobile application this past September. The Knot Wedding Planner syncs with guests? accounts on The Knot.com and offers a slew of ideas from real weddings in order to help fuel inspiration for soon-to-be brides.

The app helps with choosing vendors and tracking budgets and payments with its budget tool. Users can save all of their clippings and photos onto the app, to prevent confusion and misplaced information.

The guest list can also be updated through the app, and brides can ease some of their stress by completing some of the tasks on their wedding checklists.

For consumers who may be inspired by the live-streaming runway shows, The Knot also offers a wedding dress Lookbook app, offering streamlined ways of searching for dresses, local bridal salons locations and the ability to share dress photos and gather opinions from family and friends.

?Live streaming runway shows on mobile gives brides a first glance at their opportunity to stand out from the norm - and it?s their chance to capitalize on a trend that will likely hit its stride by the time her wedding date rolls around,? Ms. Rubio said. ?While the purchase may not happen while she is browsing her mobile, it?s an additional touchpoint that is likely to influence her decision down the road.?

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York