Are you struggling to meet the unique demands of high-end clients? Nora Sheils shares proven strategies for setting boundaries and delivering the high-end experience your clients expect.

As expectations soar, it’s essential for wedding professionals to set clear boundaries, communicate effectively, and deliver the luxurious, tailored experience these clients demand. From first impressions to long-lasting client relationships, Nora shares how to build trust early on and elevate your service offerings without compromising your personal boundaries.

Listeners will gain actionable insights on handling luxury clientele, including how to communicate boundaries, offer personalized service, and exceed client expectations while maintaining a manageable workload. If you’re looking to grow your business and step into the luxury market, this episode is packed with expert advice and real-world examples to guide you.

Highlights:

1. Importance of setting expectations upfront for luxury clients.
2. How to balance flexibility and boundaries with high-end clients.
3. Educating clients on the right services for their needs without feeling pushy.
4. The role of personal touch and relationships in creating a memorable experience.
5. Communicating effectively without overwhelming the client (e.g., organized emails, color-coded responses).
6. The growing importance of using modern tech stacks and automated systems for a seamless client experience.

Be sure to subscribe to Mind Your Wedding Business on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review—it helps others find the show and learn from experts like Nora Sheils. Have a topic you'd like us to cover? Send your suggestions to podcast@fantasysound.com and join the conversation!

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Kevin Dennis (0:0.466)

Alright folks, we're excited to get going. We have Nora Shields here. She's going to be talking to us about key strategies for mastering expectations with high-end clients. We have a lot to probably unpackage in that right there. So, and as you know, like I mentioned in her bio, she's with Rock Pripper Coin as well. She's the co-founder. That's amazing. So we'll have to talk about that towards the end. So, alright. How you doing today?

Nora Sheils (0:20.449)

Hehehe

Nora Sheils (0:24.567)

I'm doing awesome, how about you?

Kevin Dennis (0:27.323)

It's just another day, another day. We're having fun, you know, as we go through. Yeah, yeah, just it is what it is. So, alright, so we're gonna be talking about high-end clients today. So, how do their expectations differ from just your everyday client?

Nora Sheils (0:30.863)

Another day in busy season, no big deal.

Nora Sheils (0:44.334)

You know, high end clients are used to, they're used to special events, they're used to high end services, they're, you know, they're gonna hire an interior designer, they're gonna hire an organizer, they have all of these different services that they're used to hiring, rather than you're like, run of the mill couple that's planning a wedding and it's their first time booking a photographer or,

party planner or something like that. So they just have a little more experience and higher expectations.

Kevin Dennis (1:22.018)

So since they do have higher expectations, what are some of the things that we could do as clients to help meet those expectations?

Nora Sheils (1:32.490)

Well, I think like one of the most important things is setting the expectations or what they should be upfront because while they might have some high end expectations, they may not have booked a high end package or they may not have, you know, there might not have been that communication early on. So having that conversation of, okay, you've booked my services. I'm so excited to work with you.

Kevin Dennis (1:40.114)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (1:43.534)

They may not have booked a high-end package or they may not have... Oh.

Nora Sheils (1:58.982)

this is what you can expect working from me. My hours are, you know, eight to five. I don't work Mondays and Tuesdays like your crew, Kevin, and what most vendors should do. And just like being really open with them, making sure they understand what they've booked. I would assume a high end luxury client is going to book your biggest, most inclusive package, but that's not always the case.

Kevin Dennis (2:8.677)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (2:13.294)

Just like being really open with them, making sure they understand what they've booked. I would assume a high-end luxury client is going to book your biggest, most inclusive package, but that's not always the case. So all because somebody has come to me saying, let's take wedding planning.

Nora Sheils (2:27.554)

So all because somebody has come to you saying, let's take wedding planning for example, all because they've come to you and said, oh, I wanna book your partial package. You say, great, let's book it. This is what happens. Instead, really learning about what they want out of a planning experience, what their event is like. A partial package is probably not the best fit. So educating them upfront and not necessarily trying to upsell them, even though that's a part of it. But.

Kevin Dennis (2:40.232)

Instead, really learning about what they want out of it.

Nora Sheils (2:56.590)

you have to make sure what you're offering them is a good fit for their needs. And most likely, it's going to be a higher tier of service than your smallest or medium package.

Kevin Dennis (3:10.474)

Well, funny you say that because I'm like educating the client was yeah, that's amazing. But then also, you know, because they'll come in and sometimes take a I feel like we've all had that client like where you're like, oh, they needed this because, you know, they just have those needs. You can just tell like from phone calls and emails and all that kind of stuff. So.

Nora Sheils (3:30.054)

Totally. And a lot of wedding pros are, you know, they're, they don't love sales. They, they want to do their craft, their artists. And so like being open and like trying to upsell to a higher package, they see that as pushy instead of in actuality, it's providing a better service to your client cause they're going to be happier when all is said and done.

Kevin Dennis (3:53.294)

Mm-hmm. Well, yeah, it's Yeah, it's amazing. You're right. No, no, I was just like it's so I'm like in my head I'm going back and thinking about all the times that we've had these experiences and I'm like, yeah If we would have done the education on the front end We probably would have been the whole the whole thing would have been a whole lot, you know easier going through. So, all right Yeah, it would have been probably all a win-win so I guess that's why

Nora Sheils (3:57.766)

Hahahaha

Nora Sheils (4:14.331)

Yeah, and the client would have probably been happier too.

Nora Sheils (4:20.288)

We've all done it.

Kevin Dennis (4:21.498)

I know, I know. That's why we learn. That's why we got to continue to learn. I mean, it's all part of it. So, all right. So, tell us some of these strategies that, you know, like, yeah, let's get going.

Nora Sheils (4:27.210)

Exactly.

Nora Sheils (4:32.386)

Yeah. Okay, so communication is key. You've set the expectations upfront. You need to stick with those. So if you have promised your client monthly check-ins or weekly check-ins, by God, you better do those. And when they have email you questions, you need to make sure that they're all answered. You'd be surprised how many event pros will get an email and answer a portion of it and not the rest of it.

Kevin Dennis (4:36.532)

Okay.

Kevin Dennis (4:47.170)

Hehehe

Kevin Dennis (4:59.358)

No, it happens all the time drives me nuts the client but I mean I will be honest with you clients do the same thing But it's just like hello. I really needed in the middle there You answered the first part and then in the end But where how about with the answer to the middle because that was the part I really needed. So anyway, I'm sorry

Nora Sheils (5:2.063)

It drives me nuts.

Nora Sheils (5:6.331)

Totally.

Nora Sheils (5:15.202)

Yeah, and so I like to keep it as like easy as possible. So like bullet points, numbers, so there's not like a huge paragraph that they need to read through to get to what they need to do. I also really like responding in different colors. So if it's a like say I've sent you a list of

Kevin Dennis (5:21.366)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (5:25.714)

Yeah, that's a good idea.

Kevin Dennis (5:34.748)

Oh.

Nora Sheils (5:37.786)

hey, I have these five questions and you respond with your answers, I'm gonna go back to your response and then in pink or red or whatever, I'm gonna make a note or ask a follow-up question or something. So again, they're not having to scroll and read through, the whole conversation is like right there, so it's super, super easy. And that's the other thing, like don't pepper your clients with a bunch of one-off emails or texts or phone calls, like.

Kevin Dennis (5:56.680)

Mm-hmm.

Nora Sheils (6:4.790)

Save it for a meeting, have your agenda, or do the bullet points so it's all in one place. Because whether they're high end or not, everybody's busy right now, and this is not going to be helpful to them. And then as far as communication goes, respond as quickly as possible. Definitely stick to your office hours or the boundaries that you've set.

Kevin Dennis (6:19.345)

Mm-hmm. No.

Nora Sheils (6:31.202)

I don't think it should ever take more than 24 hours to respond to somebody, whether it's a client or a vendor or a coworker. Ideally, it's much, much less than that. But you know, you have to respond quickly. These couples are, it's their one or two or you know, how many times they've done it, but like it's their number one priority. So whether you have two other clients or 20 other clients, your

Kevin Dennis (6:43.650)

you know, have to respond quickly. Mm-hmm. Couples, are it's their one or two or, you know, are they going to have to respond quickly?

Nora Sheils (6:59.254)

Every single one needs to feel like they're a priority, and a lot of that is just with communication. I'm not a huge fan of texting clients. I think it opens the door to over-communicating and kind of pushes the boundaries of your work relationship. I also think it's harder to keep track of texts. I love that now you can mark a text as unread, whereas before you couldn't, and if I had a...

Kevin Dennis (7:3.148)

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Hmm.

Nora Sheils (7:27.386)

read text, it was like dead unless I responded. So I know that it's not necessarily a popular opinion. I prefer to keep everything on email. So, you know, we'll Zoom, talk in person, you know, text every once in a while, but I will always follow up with an email outlining the conversation. So if there is ever any question or any doubt about a decision that was made, it is documented and everyone has that.

Kevin Dennis (7:35.067)

I prefer to keep everything on email. So, you know.

Kevin Dennis (7:54.323)

it is documented when it has that.

Nora Sheils (7:58.514)

So that's another piece of communication I think is really, really important is to just be really transparent, but keep it like clean and easy. Also, and this is a tip, not necessarily only for high-end clients, but we all have hiccups that happen in whatever type of category we're in. You don't have enough sound equipment. A planner doesn't have an assistant.

Kevin Dennis (8:10.286)

is a tip not necessarily only for high-end clients, but we all have hiccups that happen in whatever type of.

Nora Sheils (8:24.118)

you know, there are a million different things that can go wrong, but never present a problem to your client before you have a solution or a couple options in place to fix it. Because what's the point? Now they're stressed out and you don't, you're going to have to do the work to fix it anyway. So why even bug them with it? Unless it's like some crazy dire issue. I always recommend having a couple options in place because

Kevin Dennis (8:34.152)

Mm. Yeah.

Nora Sheils (8:50.578)

They're gonna be disappointed most likely with whatever you're presenting them with, but if you have a good solution, then you've totally saved the day and you're the hero. So it's a win.

Nora Sheils (9:6.159)

100 percent.

Kevin Dennis (9:19.664)

and then you totally saved the day and you're a hero.

Nora Sheils (9:22.370)

Yeah, you got it. You're only going to be good in this business if you can think on your toes. And every single amazing wedding professional and event professional I know is really good at that. You're like a duck, you know, with your feet below water. Flexibility obviously is key, especially with high-end weddings. A lot of these couples are traveling a ton. They work long hours, things like that. So

Kevin Dennis (9:27.884)

Oh, for sure.

Kevin Dennis (9:35.146)

Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Kevin Dennis (9:47.390)

Mmm.

Nora Sheils (9:50.794)

Yes, you should have boundaries on what your working hours are, but that should be a little flexible at the same time. And then just making, sorry.

Kevin Dennis (9:58.762)

Like, oh, just real quick. No, no, just real quick on the flexibility. So like if you put the boundary up, like you don't meet with clients on Sundays, but they're gonna be in town and that's the only time, like is that kind of what you're referring to? Okay, yeah. Like a one timer kind of, you know, like working with them, yeah, okay.

Yeah, I'm cool with that.

Yeah, and just make it clear. Like this is typically one of my only days off, but because you're, you know, a valued out of town client, whatever it is, uh, make them feel good about it, but just be clear that this is not typical of, of your working hours and you're stepping outside of it. And that way they're not going to continue to ask because couples are going to push and push and push until you say no. So they're just waiting and a lot of event pros.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

You know, they don't, they want to just make sure their clients are happy and work long hours and that's great. But you're not necessarily making them unhappy. And to be honest, I think couples have more respect for their event pros when they do have boundaries. Otherwise, if your vendors are okay with you walking all over them, then like, they're not that professional, right?

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (11:4.991)

I agree.

Well, I just worked a wedding and like the bride was texting the photographer in the middle of the wedding, you know, and I'm like, but I was like, I'm like, where's and I'm like, the boundaries are like gone at that point. I mean, it's just like, you know, I'm like, we're all at the same event, you know, like, how can we? I'm like, this was so unnecessary. I don't know. Anyway, it was weird to me.

Right.

Oh my gosh. Also enjoy your wedding. Why are you micromanaging?

Well, that's I still to this day will never forget there was a bride that brought the timeline with her uh

Sat it at the sweetheart table with her and we all kept trying to steal it from her, you know Because I'm like we're like you just need to enjoy this event that you planned and let it I go it We're probably not gonna be at 645 doing whatever's on that list at 645 It's just the way the reality is, you know, but we're gonna follow the order and we're gonna get through it But you know anyway, oh Yeah, no, yeah exactly

Nora Sheils (12:0.090)

Ha ha.

Nora Sheils (12:6.338)

Yeah, she had one of those timelines that was like 642, 643, 644. That's cute. No, no. Let's see, other things, just making the whole experience easy. Like I said earlier, kind of like when you're not peppering people with emails, it's really the whole experience. So like compare it to going on a flight. If you are

Exactly. Anyway, sorry I didn't interrupt.

paying for a first class ticket, you get to skip the lines, you get a cocktail once you board, and whenever you want, someone's gonna take your coat. There are all these different amenities that come with that, but if you fly a budget airline, you are gonna fight for, you're gonna fight for overhead space. Some of them charge you for water, I just heard the other day. That's the low, low.

Like me. Southwest.

Yeah, that's the low. That's the spirits. Yeah.

Nora Sheils (13:1.850)

But you get what you pay for, and so high end clients, they expect their investment to really equate to like an easy, convenient experience. So you, as the event pro, have to do whatever you can to make that experience easy and enjoyable for them. Yeah, easy, just make it easy, no problem, right?

Mm.

It's easy and enjoyable for them. Yeah.

Easy? Yeah, well, I mean, that's our job and for I think for high end or low end, just making it easy. But, you know, I'm sure it goes a long way with the higher end clients. So anyway, yeah.

Totally. And then people, especially, we've noticed, with luxury clients really want this relationship with their event pros. And so, again, making them feel like a priority and interacting on social and maybe before a meeting, checking out their Instagram and being like, oh, how was that trip to whatever? So they think you're.

Mm-hmm.

Mmm.

Kevin Dennis (14:5.102)

I'm going to go ahead and turn it off.

Nora Sheils (14:7.606)

actively paying attention to their social lives, but just making them feel like a priority.

That's interesting, I never thought about the relationship side of it. That's probably a big piece, right? Yeah.

Huge and the great thing about that is once you can build that relationship early on they're gonna trust you instantly You've connected you understand their style you understand what makes them tick and they will trust you with More so you don't have to ask for approval for every little thing They they just know that you understand What they want?

Hmm So now just randomly because it just popped in my head and I'm sorry Crazy that way so now, you know, like high-end clients are you know, they're different than famous clients But you know, but you're gonna have some clients that have some fame to themselves. I mean, what is there a difference between treating them? You know differently

Yeah.

No, don't be.

Nora Sheils (15:4.866)

Um, no. Okay, there's, this is total generalization, but most of our luxury clients, they are not as high maintenance as the celebrity clients. And granted, the celebrity clients that my team has worked with are not like A-list celebrities, so this is probably a different answer for that. But, um.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The celebrity clients are definitely like social and what's put out there is really, really important. Our luxury clients typically don't even want photos posted. They don't want their names out there. They don't want photo, even if there's not a person in the photo, like they're very private for the most part, which I totally understand, but it's a bummer when it's like a crazy, beautiful wedding.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm

Yeah.

Nora Sheils (16:0.610)

And actually there was a conversation on the board that I'm on about do you charge more if your clients don't let you use their photos?

Kevin Dennis (16:0.822)

Buh.

Kevin Dennis (16:8.902)

I was just going to ask around that. Then how do you show other high-end clients what you can do? Will they allow you to put it in your portfolio and not put it out on social?

Totally.

Yeah, in my experience, it's really just their names and faces that they don't want out there. So we always have in our contract, like, you know, approval to use their images however we want, and that's people will come back. So we don't change that initially. Sometimes it's fine and nobody has an issue with it. Other times they'll come back and we'll say, totally understand. We can leave your names and your, like, likeness out.

Mm-hmm.

but can we use room shots or detail shots and not related to you at all? And 99% of the time, they're fine with that. And that's what, as a planner, a florist, or a designer, that's what you want anyway, right?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, we did it.

Kevin Dennis (17:5.670)

Yeah, we did an event for a pretty famous in the Bay Area rapper. And it was very interesting dealing with all the different, you know, things. And that was like one that we just dealt with actually just before COVID hit. You know, but it was kind of crazy because all the different, you know, we had a writer of all these different things and his attorney came back and went through and all the different things. But we yeah, and they allowed us to do a lot of different things. But on the day of we had no cell phone, you know, like we had to, you know,

Oh my gosh.

put our cell phones away they got in those have you ever been to a comedy show I feel like they we just went and saw Kevin Hart and I had literally had to put my watch and my cell phone in this bag and then I got something and then at the end of the day I gave it back and they oh matched up my bag and out it came you know it was crazy so it's a well no I didn't know what to do I mean it's

Oh yeah.

Oh, I love him.

Was everybody so anxious without their phones?

Kevin Dennis (18:1.626)

No, I mean it's we were like, yeah, you're right But it but it was that way during the event because I found like I normally will take some photos with my phone And you know and I will text with the cordon, you know, like behind, you know, like us will text each other like hey Go time for this and you know, like going back it was it was a little anxious, you know We had to find other ways to communicate anyway Sorry, i'm good at interrupting you I apologize

Nora Sheils (18:4.370)

I'm sorry.

Oh my gosh, so funny.

imagine that.

So.

Um, I don't know, it lost me thought. You ruined it!

Oh, I'm so sorry. So, it's my fault. I'm good at that. All right. So where would you suggest someone start when revamping their client, you know, like experience to, you know, reflect these new expectations? Like, where would they start?

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Um, I think at the very beginning, so from before that they even book you, you have to have like a step, go through what you do step by step. So you get an inquiry. What happens is that client getting an automated response? Are you, um, writing something from scratch every time or using a template? Um, high end couples don't want automated responses. They want like a, they want to know that that.

Okay.

Mmm.

Mm-mm.

event professional wants to work with them and they care about their potential booking. So getting, you know, if they plug in it, something on your website, they don't want an email that says, Hey, thanks for reaching out. Here's my PDF of options. You know, it's just not a elevated service. They want a more kind of curated response and curated from response all the way through. So when you meet with them,

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

you know, having an understanding of who they are. So before you've even met these people, do your homework. Google them. There are a million different places you can get information on people. Check out their LinkedIn, find out what they do. And that'll kind of help you understand a little bit about them and kind of what questions to ask in that original inquiry or consultation. And you might have mutual friends or acquaintances or past clients.

Mmm.

Hmm.

People love it when you say, oh, I was so excited to chat with you. I checked out your Instagram before, Facebook or whatever it is. People like knowing that you stalked them, which sounds crazy, because before you would never say that, right? But they like to hear it now. And so they're like, oh, that was so cool that I wasn't just one in 100 people they were talking to this week. So,

Yeah.

No, yeah.

All the way from booking, from beginning of planning. I like gifting as well. Not in a way that's like super over the top expensive, but more in a personal way. So if in your consultation, your couple is talking about how they really wanna include their dog in their wedding, then send a gift to their dog.

Mmm.

It doesn't have to be expensive, but like it's sending a gift to someone's kids. Like they love it. It does. It, it's more of the thought and the personality of it rather than just like the same welcome gift that goes to every single client. So again.

Yeah.

It was probably a deeper way of connecting too. Yeah.

Yeah, and a way to build trust from the beginning, because that's kind of the goal, is early on, have them trust you, and the whole rest of the experience will be easy. So tie in their backgrounds for these gifts, or for the different ideas that you're sharing with them. Childhood favorites, nostalgia always helps. And then from there, everything has to be very detailed.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

Mmm.

Nora Sheils (22:2.006)

These are the types of weddings, you know, like you've got Lynn Easton that does the highest of the high and what differentiates her from everybody else is her design, her level of detail, her execution. So it's not just a run of the mill. She never does the same thing twice. Couples don't, they want, their goal is to like outshine all of their friends. They want to up one up them.

Hmm.

in every possible way that they can. And when the budget is unlimited, you have to think outside the box and present things that you didn't just find on Pinterest. So get creative, get inspiration. But regardless of cost, if it's going to be like a wow factor, they'll probably do it because they've never seen it before and their friends are gonna talk about it for years.

Yeah.

Yeah, well, so I'm in the middle, you know, or I'm just theoretically there and I'm wanting to get to the higher end. What, how do you service both clients until you can get into that higher end? You know, market, you know what I'm saying? It's, I feel like there's a, it's a mesh, right? Or it seems hard. I think it is hard. Yeah.

Yeah.

The easiest way, I think, it is hard, it is hard. And I will tell you that almost every high-end vendor I know doesn't only do high-end. It's a hybrid of the two, because there are only so many high-end weddings per year, especially depending on your location. I mean, you probably have more than the average amount, but.

Hmm

Mm-hmm.

Uh, you know, that area is you're in California, right? In LA Bay area. Okay. But still.

Yeah, I mean, well, I'm in the Bay and no, I'm in Bay Area. So so I but even in LA they do, you know Well, LA you walk down the street. You'll see someone famous, but you know here there's a fair amount It's a different kind of famous. It's it's It's tech famous and it's you know, they've you know, they developed something or they're part of you know, something You know, it's a different kind of famous Because every once in a while i'll be like who and i'm like looking them up on linkedin I'm like, wow, they invented the

Yeah.

Exactly.

Yeah. Like, oh, yeah.

I'm just making it up, but you know it's like I'm like holy cow you know like yeah You know that kind of stuff, but they don't they don't come across that way So that's why that's why I'm like how do I get there? You know as someone wanting to get there, so

Totally.

Right.

So I think the easiest way to work with high end clients is to connect with other event pros that work with high end clients. So planners, photographers, all of those different networks that can refer you, if you take care of them, they're gonna refer you to take care of their clients. So when you work with the high end planner, for example,

Oh...

Okay.

Obviously you're going to do a stellar job and impress them so they'll refer you again. That's the number one way but also keep in touch So, you know follow up with them send a handwritten thank-you card for having you at the wedding There are different ways to stay top of mind But of course the best way is to excel at your craft I know a lot of there are a lot of newer event pros that

Kevin Dennis (25:4.920)

Hmm.

Their goal is to work with luxury clients. Well, you kind of have to pay your dues and you have to know, like you have to really know and understand your craft before you can book these events with extraordinary price tags. Because unless you're doing like a high end job, you can't take those clients. And if you do take one and you're not ready and it doesn't go well, you know, word gets out pretty quick. So that's like.

you're doing like a high end job. Mm-hmm. Take those clients and if you do take one and you're not ready.

one of the worst things you can do.

Yeah, that would be horrible. So I am so I so once again We were talking about the middle trying to get there would going and intending like a conference like engage or any of you know one of those is that a good like Step to help get you going. Okay

Nora Sheils (26:6.610)

Yes, Engage is an incredible way to meet people. And what's different about Engage is that everyone is there to connect and learn. It's not necessarily one of those conferences where there are booze and you go around and you get flyers and promotional items. The goal of Engage is to connect with people throughout the country, there are international folks that come.

there to connect.

that are like at the top of their game. So, plus it's really fun. So it's a good experience. If you can put on an event that impresses event professionals, like you're doing something right.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, yeah, we're the worst critics of everything because we are I mean I've been to conferences and I'm like seriously You can't do I'm like look at that, you know And we're like pick we're picking apart the event and I'm like and then meanwhile some poor planner like Worked their rear end off to plan this all for us But you know, but yet we that's why it's very stressful anytime you like sponsor You know in Ailea or a nace or a whip event, you know, it's just because you're putting yourself out there for criticism

The worst.

I'm sorry.

Nora Sheils (27:3.247)

now.

You know, 100%. But, if you do it right and treat it right, it's gonna go a long way for you. So, anyway. Alright, anything else we need to cover in this?

For sure. For sure.

Yeah, absolutely.

Other things to cover. So part of making the process easy is meeting the clients where they are. And a lot of clients are, you know, in their late 20s, early 30s getting married for the first time. And they live in the digital age where everything is at their fingertips. They can get whatever they want in, you know, less than an hour.

Okay.

their whole life is digitized. And so that has to be a part of how you run your business. Gone are the days of sending a PDF and expecting somebody to mail you a check. I mean, couples today, many of them don't even know how to write checks, if we're being honest. Like they never had to, it doesn't make sense anymore. So event pros are slowly catching up with all of the different.

Kevin Dennis (28:5.568)

Hmm.

They never had to. It doesn't make sense anymore.

platforms and apps out there available to them. I wish that they did more because I think a lot of event pros would work less. Having more of their processes automated and automating some of what you do is totally fine. You still get that personal experience. You just can't automate everything. Like I said, like the in-create, don't automate that. But if they're like little, like payment reminders, things like that, your couples expect, they get automations.

Gotcha

Yeah.

all over the place and they appreciate it, especially with like payments, contracts, things like that. If they're reminded when they have to pay something so they don't have to put it on their calendar or remember it, that makes their life easier. So try to sync up with the tech stack that is not only going to make your life easier as an event pro, but also the lives of your clients.

Yeah.

Yeah, that makes sense. All right. Well, since we have the co-founder of Rock Paper Coin, can you tell us a little bit about Rock Paper Coin and how it maybe will help us get more high-end clients?

Hahaha!

That was a great little segue. So rock paper coin. So I'm a past planner I own a company called bridal bliss in the Pacific Northwest And it was through my experience as a planner that I found myself doing the same things over and over again It was super repetitive I felt like I was babysitting my clients for them to get their paperwork done and everything and I was kind of out of the Loop so we set out to find software that already existed and none of them

really understand how the wedding world turned. And so we built it. So Enter Rock Paper Coin, we are a software platform made specifically for the wedding and events industry. We focus on proposals, contracts, invoices, shared documents, so that booking process is made really, really easy.

and we allow for those automations. So if you send out an invoice with five different installments and five different due dates, your clients are going to get a reminder before everyone. They can set up auto pay, their life is easier, your life is easier, you get paid in less than two days, and we have the lowest processing fee on the market, at 2.5%. So in a nutshell, that's what we do.

Oh. No, you can't beat that. Now is there anything in the horizon, like are we expanding Rock Paper Coin? Anything that you guys are looking at or? Okay.

Yes, we are. So we have a full development team. We put out updates every two weeks. And so, you know, some are small little updates, some are bigger ones. So we recently just updated our contract experience. So you can now have multiple signers on a contract instead of just one person. We also just put out some features where businesses can work together on Rock,

Kevin Dennis (31:5.800)

Oh wow.

Hmm

Oh. Mm-hmm.

Oh.

You know, if you had ordered some printed items from a printer, that person could invoice you on RPC, even though you're another event pro on there. So functionality like that. We have a lot coming. We're working on a couple integrations and I'm not allowed to say anything yet, but there are exciting things coming. So just follow us. We're at rock, paper, coin on Instagram.

Oh, that's awesome.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

We always release updates on there and then we have a great newsletter if anyone wants to sign up.

Kevin Dennis (32:2.370)

Well, I think we all should sign up. Not if we want to. I think it's a must. I think we have to. So, all right. So something other that we talk about a lot is socks. So you brought us some socks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we got to see the socks. You were prepared.

Nora Sheils (32:4.154)

I do too.

Oh yeah, I did. I was prepared. Okay, so I have to explain these socks. So I don't know if you can see them. So this is my oldest. This is my youngest. This is my nephew. And so for Mother's Day, my brother brought these socks over and this is their little baby announcement. So I'm going to have another niece or nephew. So these are my fun socks.

Oh, yes.

Oh, that's exciting! That's her nephew. Well, that's awesome, actually! These are my socks. Those are actually the best socks I think I've seen. That's an amazing way to do it. So, yeah. You can't beat it. And then I know you know my sister, as I refer to her, Megan Ealy. I have socks with her face on them. I know you do. Yeah.

Aww, I know it was so fun.

I know you do, she's one of my favorite people.

Kevin Dennis (33:1.830)

I have a good older sister, I do. So, all right. And then, you know, Rock Paper Coin is a great app and software service, but what is something you can't get through? You know, I'm a big techie person, I love apps. What's an app that you can't live without?

Nora Sheils (33:4.795)

Hehehe

Yeah.

Okay, mine is, it's called One Password, and it is incredible. So there's an app for my phone, it's on my computer, but it's exactly what it sounds. You have one master password and it saves all of your other logins, your credit card numbers, any other things that you want to keep secure. So whenever I go to a website and it asks for my login, it'll automatically just like plug it in for me. So I never have to remember.

Oh, yep.

A year ago my wallet was stolen with all of my credit cards and it was all saved on that app so I could access all of it. It was so great. So I'm a huge fan of One Pass and it's super inexpensive.

It made your life easier.

Kevin Dennis (34:0.970)

Yeah, well, and it has it to where you can set up employees, right? And then, yes, yep. And then that way, when they if they leave you or you have to let them go, you can they're gone and they don't they don't ever have access to the passwords, which I think is amazing. So you're not having. Yeah, because I just had a friend that we had to let, you know, such and such go. And I'm she's like, I spent the whole day changing all the passwords because this person knew I'm like, why don't you have one of these? And she goes, I didn't even know there was such thing, you know.

Nora Sheils (34:5.371)

Yeah.

Yeah, and also...

Oh god.

Yeah, the other piece of that is that it's super easy to share passwords. So if you have shared logins to any platforms, you can just, you know, put it on there. And if you do have to change it for whatever reason, it updates everybody at the same time and it's all super secure. And if you're signing up for a new subscription or whatever it is, it will recommend like, you know, crazy long random passwords for you to use. And it just saves it so you don't have to remember anything.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, make sure and you can update it. You can change your password pretty easily as well. Yeah, so yeah No, I agree. That's and it's a time like you said time saver safety I mean like our whole world is on online now, so it just makes life so much better So, all right. Another question we ask here is what's your favorite part of a wedding, Nora?

Nora Sheils (35:1.892)

Mm-hmm. Big fan. Ha ha ha.

Okay, so as a guest or an event professional or both? Okay. Okay, so as a planner, my favorite part was walking the couple into their reception before any of the guests had come because you work so hard to curate this amazing design board and go through all these trials and...

Oh, either one. I've never had... I like both. Let's do both.

Oh

When they walk in and they see it all together and their jaw drops, it's just like the best. And it's just you, so you have this like fun moment before all the guests show up. So I love that. I always love watching the person at the end of the aisle, whoever it might be, watching their face when their future spouse walks in. That's always a cool touchy-feely moment. That's when you always tear up. But as a guest, I love toasts.

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (36:8.296)

Mm-hmm.

I always think that's super fun.

I agree, it's funny, toasts are the, like I'll find myself crying, laughing, and I don't even know, like I don't know these people, but I'm over there, you know, they have some amazing story, and like I just had a dad recently at a wedding roast his daughter, and it was amazing. Like it was done such-

Hahaha

Oh my gosh.

You know and she goes my dad's gonna probably get me like but they that and it was After getting to know a little bit about the two of them. That's their relationship You know like that that's their love language and it was and it was probably one of the best hosts I've heard in a long time. It was amazing. So yeah, you were we were laughing crying the whole thing

Oh.

I love that. I was, I was on site at a wedding a couple weeks ago, and we have like new assistants every season. And so I was telling them, okay, so this is what we do. At every cocktail hour, you're kind of as a planner, your most has been done at that point. All the reception's done, candles are lit, you're just like waiting for them to finish cocktailing. And so we're kind of in the background and we always pick our favorite.

dress or outfit and then we guess who's underwear we're going to see first at the reception. It could be someone in a short dress, it could be somebody in a suit that's too tight, like you never know but it's always so funny to do that and I've gotten pretty good at it.

Okay.

Oh my gosh.

That's too tight. Yeah.

Oh wow, that's a good skill there, Dora. I don't know. How do we market that? How do we get you famous? No, that's...

Oh, fun fact.

I'm sure high-end clients would love that.

It's funny, I just worked a wedding last weekend and the groom, I'm putting a microphone on him, and I'm like, dude, your suit, he goes, and he dropped the F word, he goes, this F'n suit is so tight, I go, well, and I looked at him like, didn't you try it on before? And he goes, I did, but it just, it felt, I'm like, oh, okay, you ate a lot before, I don't, yeah, I'm like, the poor kid, he was like, you know, and then we had a wedding the week before where the bride, she couldn't even sit down, she had to like, lay like a board,

Classic.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

through the first dance and speeches as fast as we could so she can go change her dress and breathe you know yeah because she had another dress yeah no kidding huh so anyway all right Nora great

She can change. Well, God, good thing she had a dancing dress.

Amazing stuff, you know for those people that are trying to get in with the hiring clientele There's I mean, it's always a you know, I think it's a lot of work, you know And I think people are like you said they want to get there But I don't think some people want to actually do all the work to get there. So, you know, it's a different beast So yeah

is. It is a different beast, but it can be fun.

Kevin Dennis (39:0.838)

Yeah, well, it could be fun for sure. And it's a good thing to add to your portfolio as well. So yeah, for sure. So all right, Nora, I can't thank you enough for being here. You were so much. I hope you will come back again. I'm sure my good to see you too. All right, thank you. Bye.

Nora Sheils (39:5.542)

For sure.

Of course. Good to see you, Kevin.

Bye.