In this episode of Mind Your Wedding Business, Kevin Dennis sits down with Nora Culley Tuck of Engaged With Nora to talk about one of the biggest challenges wedding professionals face today: standing out in a crowded market without losing broad appeal.

With so many brands in the wedding industry looking and sounding the same, Nora shares how leaning into authenticity, personality, and strong brand values helped her grow Engaged With Nora into a recognizable and trusted planning company in just a few short years. From tattoos and bold design choices to team culture and client experience, she explains why today’s couples are drawn to businesses that feel human, intentional, and memorable.

Kevin and Nora also dive into the importance of knowing your ideal client, creating systems that support consistency as your company grows, and why “timeless” branding can sometimes strip away personality. Nora shares practical insights on building a scalable team, hiring people with the right mindset and service background, and how strong communication and client experience ultimately fuel long-term referrals and growth.

If you’ve ever struggled with how to differentiate your business, attract the right clients, or build a brand that feels authentic to you, this episode will help you rethink what truly makes a wedding company memorable.

Nora Culley Tuck is the founder and creative director of Engaged With Nora, a Cleveland-based wedding planning and design firm known for bold, authentic, and experience-driven events. Since launching in 2020, the company has grown into a team of planners specializing in weddings rooted in personality, intention, and creativity. Nora’s background in theatre, catering, venue management, bridal attire, and design gives her a unique perspective on both the creative and operational sides of the wedding industry.

Highlights

• How to stand out in the wedding industry without losing broad appeal

• Why authenticity is one of the strongest branding tools

• The importance of defining your ideal client early on

• Why “timeless” branding can sometimes feel generic

• How personal connection impacts bookings and referrals

• Building a scalable team while maintaining brand consistency

• Why client experience matters just as much as the final product

• The systems and communication strategies that support long-term growth

Connect with Nora:

Website

Instagram

Facebook

LinkedIn

Connect with Kevin:

Wedding IQ

Fantasy Sound

Instagram

YouTube

TikTok

LinkedIn

All right, folks, welcome to another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business, and I'm here with Nora Culley today. How are you doing, Nora?

Kevin, good to see you. Thanks for having me.

Good

to see you too. so Nora is here to talk to us today about how to make your company stand out without losing a broad appeal. And I'm really excited to kind of dive into this topic because it's one we've never talked about on the podcast. So I'm excited. So Nora, before we jump in, tell us a little bit about yourself and how we got you here today.

Yeah, my name is Nora. I am the owner and creative director of Engaged with Nora, which is a wedding planning and design firm based in Cleveland, Ohio. We specialize in statement making weddings for what I like to call cool couples. And to me, a cool couple is somebody who wants a wedding that is bold and authentic and rooted in intention. So our work varies.

you know, depending on who our clients are and what they come to us in terms of their ideas.

I love it. All right. So we're going to dive right into this. So Nora, give us the quick overview of what makes Engaged with Nora stand out.

I think it's the fact that we don't shy away from who we are. ⁓ When I first entered this industry, specifically in my market in Cleveland, I kind of saw planners that all looked the same. Everybody had like a blush or blue website. Their logos were usually very feminine with like a scripty, with like a flower.

Ooh, okay.

scripty.

or a little frame around a monogram. And I like to consider myself a bit of like a rock star. like for those of you that are listening and can't see me, I'm covered in tattoos. I'm wearing a leopard turtleneck right now. Like when you picture a wedding planner, I'm probably not who you picture. And I think the thing that has made my company grow as fast as we have in the five years that we've been in existence,

⁓ And the reason why couples find us is because I don't shy away from who I am personally in my business.

Mm.

I love it. Well, why would you want to shy away from who you are and like bring it, you know, that? I think that's what today's couples want. They want to connect with someone on a higher level, a different level than just the wedding. So. Yeah.

Absolutely. find that,

you know, we do about 50 to 60 events a year. ⁓ I have a team of five full-time planners, an additional eight associate planners, and 25 assistant planners. We have a large team. Not everybody on my team is exactly like me, and I like that diversity. Like, we can match a client with the perfect planner for them because we...

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

have our planners out in the world. People know who they are. So we'll even get like specific requests like, want to work with Lily. We're like, perfect choice for your wedding. Garden wedding in, you know, in May with pastels. That is Lily's vibe. We will get you set up with her. But I think the individuality of each team member that I have,

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

makes us appeal to more people. And it's not about the cohesiveness of the brand, it's about the personalities that come with working with a planner.

Yeah.

Yeah, I love it. All right. So you built this brand that feels distinct but widely appealing. So why is that such a hard balance for wedding pros to strike you think?

I think people think they need to show up as their most polished and professional self, both on socials, in meetings, at networking events. And what I found is that when you show up too polished, you've actually built a wall where people don't know who you are. I have thoughts and feelings and opinions, and I'm not afraid to share those thoughts and feelings and opinions.

Mmm.

Not only with my clients, but with my team and with our other collaborators within this industry. Like people know that like, don't bring me a wedding that's blush and gold because I'm going to be irritated the whole time. Right? So those vendors that I work with on a consistent basis, bring me the clients that are best suited for me. And that kind of transparency helps everybody.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, I love it. All right, so I was just gonna say I something that you made me think of when you were talking is that ⁓ like just last week I did a zoom call with a client, ⁓ after coaching a little league baseball game And I was still in my like little league stuff and i'm like, hey guys, sorry I just got done coaching a little league baseball game and didn't have time to change and they're like la and then like the groom and I connected over like His little you know, you know i'm saying so there's

There's a way like when you referring to like showing up, you have to be polished and look great every time. I don't think I think that's a myth. Like you were saying, you know, you don't have to be that way because we're all real people. We're not always polished every day of our of our lives. So.

I tell my team members all the time, remind your clients that you're a human. Remind them that. You are not some robot behind a computer answering your emails. You are a real person who has things outside of your job that you care about as well. And when you set those boundaries, you actually get more respect from your clients.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, I agree. All right, so what is the biggest mistake people make when they're trying to stand out in the wedding industry?

I mean, I don't think there's really anything you can do wrong. i think obviously talking badly about other people is going to make you stand out for the wrong reasons. But I think in terms of branding and personal style, you kind of can't go too far. But you need to know who your ideal client is first, right? Like when I started this company,

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I sat down, I made my archetype, right? Who are my couples? What do they do for a living? Where do they live? What do they value? What restaurants they go to? What music they listen to? What TV shows they like? And I got really, really specific. And when you're starting out, not every client you work with is going to fit into that archetype. But they're a stepping stone to getting to that ideal client.

Mm-mm.

So there are weddings I've done where I'm like, that's probably not making it in the portfolio. That's probably not gonna be shared on social. It doesn't align with where I wanna be or what type of clients I wanna work with. But knowing where I wanna go is the first step because then I can gear everything toward that specific client. And what I have found is that even with my ideal client out there, clients...

Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

that may not align with me on a style basis, still inquire. They're still reaching out and sometimes still book because couples are overloaded in an oversaturated market. In Cleveland, I can name 20 to 30 planners, just this city. And we're a mid-sized city. We're not New York, we're not LA, we're not Miami.

Yeah.

Mm.

wow.

Yeah.

So I can only imagine what couples in those larger cities are dealing with when they have 100, 200, 300 vendors that are out there promoting their work. So what I found is that people get frustrated and tired of looking, and they end up going with who stands out most.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

They can discern that this is somebody who knows what they're doing, who's producing good work, even if it's not necessarily aligned with them on a style side, right?

⁓

Yeah.

All right.

Yeah,

it's just one of those things. think, you know, when everybody looks the same, everybody's producing the same level of work, you need to be clear about what you can do differently.

It's all vanilla at that point. It's all it's same wedding, you know, rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat.

Yeah, and I think especially as we move into Gen Z, these couples don't want to feel like a turn and burn. They want to feel like they are working with somebody who cares just about just as much about their day as they do. So when you are kind of vanilla and blending with everybody else, why would your your work for their wedding be anything special for them?

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, it's funny. I had someone pick me. ⁓ I did a wedding for a warrior girl ⁓ She was one of the warrior cheerleaders and I am Sacramento Kings season ticket holder but she picked me to work her wedding because I like basketball and that's randomly even though we cheer for different teams and but you know, that's why she picked me and we like

Like Joe, it's funny, still do this day on Instagram. We still like follow each other and she likes my stuff and I like, you know, follow and like her stuff. So I mean, you can meet people in different ways too, you know? Yeah.

I mean,

my husband and I travel a lot. That's something that we hold as a core value in our personal lives. And it's become something that has attracted couples to my company because they see me traveling and they're like, my God, she was just in India. I went to India three years ago. I can't wait to talk to her about that. Or even if we haven't traveled to the same places, holding that same value makes someone...

Yeah.

Yeah.

feel more connected to you and more likely to invest in what you can provide.

Yeah, makes sense. All right, so Nora, how do you define your brand in a way that attracts the right clients without turning them into or turning them away? You know, like how do you blend that?

Yeah, I think that this is something that I, you know, am still working through. Obviously, you don't want to be so pigeonholed into a specific type of wedding that people can't see themselves in your work. think that's something that people and I personally struggle with. But I think by showing quality of work, you're going to attract people regardless. So

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Hmm.

Yeah.

I like to do things that are a little bit more out of the box, adventurous. When I get a couple that says like, go crazy, that's like, you know, that's the best thing I can hear as a planner is like, okay, you want crazy? Well, then you're getting a fountain and a cake. You're getting a ceremony. You're getting a hanging sculpture. Like you're getting crazy stuff. And that's really exciting to me from a creative aspect, but.

Hehehehe

I think even if somebody on the adventurous scale is not a 10, they might be a four or five. They see that I can take things there and that I can execute that seamlessly. So they know that they're in a professional's hands regardless, even if they might not be trying to push it as far as I push some other clients.

Mm-hmm.

So you were talking about like at the beginning, like everyone had the blush or the blue and then I chimed in with the scripty font and all that stuff. So when you were first growing your company, how did you figure out what made you different when you were in the beginning?

Yeah, well, I thought of my branding as my bedroom, right? Like, someone walked into my home, what would they see? ⁓ And so I started pulling imagery of, you know, color palettes and patterns and typography that I thought aligned with what I generally navigate towards. And then started to kind of develop the brand over time. And it has

Okay. Works.

Mm-hmm.

evolved. Like my first logo had like neon, right? Like neon signs. Yes. ⁓ Like neon signs were all the rage in 2020 or were about to be all the rage. Like I had just gotten married. I had a neon sign at my wedding that was custom built and it was real neon. This was before people were doing the LED and that broad.

Yeah.

Me too.

Okay.

Okay, I was

neon color, so i was neon pink. Yeah, okay, so I was a little different. I'm a little older than you, but that's okay. Okay. Yeah.

Yeah, it was neon color. I mean, it was neon pink for sure, but electric, like neon.

The logo was neon. And, you know, I quickly started to like develop that a little bit more. Then we went a little bit more into like black and white, crisp, clean, contemporary. Then we went into like a whole tattoo motif. ⁓

I love it.

Yeah.

Okay.

I have matching sparrow tattoos on my biceps and sparrows are birds that mate for life. So I thought it was a really nice connection to the wedding industry. And so if you see like old things on my Instagram or like even painted on my bullpen wall are two sparrow birds. And so we kind of went into this tattoo motif and then now we've kind of

I love it.

pulled back into something a little bit more clean and minimalist. But evolution is good, right? You don't want to be changing every year, but kind of seeing where you're taking the business, especially in these early development years, I think you have to be willing to evolve. I could have probably stuck with the same logo for five years, but...

No.

I was still figuring out where I want to take the company and a logo in terms of recognition, you know, your clients are coming to you and they're probably working with you for a year. So if your logo changes, you know, if you have three logos in five years,

Your clients aren't like, my gosh, that's crazy. I can't believe she had three logos. Wedding industry might be like, she doesn't know who she is, but that's for them to think, not for me to think, right? And, you know, nobody cares. Nobody cares. It's, you have to give off a vibe first, right? Like, I think that's where my specialty lies is even in my

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

branding, if it's changing and evolving, the vibe has remained the same. You still know who I am and the work that I'm going to create, regardless of what my logo or my website or my headshot looks like.

Yeah. Well, yeah, it's a whole thing. you know, because in the world of AI, we can be changing our logo every, you know, every six minutes. know, it's just like the way things are evolving. mean, you know what I'm saying? So but it's what kind of mood are you feeling today? And that's what you want to be. But, you know, it is what it is. All right. So you've built a team. You got a good team going now. But how do you make sure your brand stays consistent as your team continues to grow?

I think hiring the right people that align with the company's values are first, right? I think that we come from a place of authenticity and intention. So when I'm interviewing people, it's not about whether they necessarily align with me on a style basis. Like my client concierge, Maddie, her and I, if you looked at our closets, like, how are these people even friends? Right? Like,

Okay.

Okay.

Bye.

Yeah.

And she doesn't necessarily love all the designs that I do. Like the weddings that we party to is like, I would never choose this. And that's okay. But she herself has authenticity in who she is and knows who she is. So that's easier for me to work with than somebody who's trying to be something, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, well and I was gonna say I there's weddings that I do that I don't agree with the brand but the people are nice and I'm gonna go along because they'll ask me I'm like I wouldn't do this but this is not me this day is not about me it's about you and let's we're gonna do you and you know you have to circle it back right on to them and you know but yeah just because we don't align doesn't mean we can't work it out and I can't design your wedding and help you get there you know

And all I care about is that she's kind to our couples, that she communicates clearly, that she cares about the work that she does. It doesn't matter what she would do for her own wedding. It matters that she's supporting the client in their experience. So, and I think I also very much look for like a service heart. Anybody who works on my team has to have

100%, yeah.

Yeah.

restaurant or retail experience on their resume. If you don't have one of those two things, I don't even bring you in for an interview because coming from a catering background and a restaurant background myself, I need to know that you know how a kitchen operates, that there's front of house and back of house.

Mm.

Wow.

Mm-hmm.

customer service, general operations, problem solving, thinking on the fly. Those are all incredibly valuable ⁓ skills within this industry. And same thing with retail. If you haven't stood across a counter from an angry customer because they're past their return date, I can't trust you on a wedding day to put out a fire if something comes out.

Yeah.

Because I need people who aren't going to panic under pressure. need people who are going to critically think, problem solve, and act without me having to tell them to do that.

Yeah. My favorite thing to say when someone's upset. Well, let's just figure this out. Come on. Let's work together. We're going to figure this out.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah. Let me, let me take a breath. Let me think about that for a second. I'm going to give you a couple options. I always say to our team, like the answer is never no. The answer is let's find out. Or let me think about this. Like that's the way that you navigate any type of issues. I mean, I've, you know, never had a wedding from first meeting to execution.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

be perfect, seamless, no issues, nothing comes up. That's just not the world that we live in. Being able to pivot when you need to and expect the unexpected and be able to sit in that and calmly move past it and manage the client and their experience.

Mm-hmm.

No.

is way more important to me than somebody who has 10 years of event experience before they start working on my company.

Yeah, well, and it's never it's it's always like I half the time It's a shit show at a wedding is because it's a family some kind of family drama some kind of friend group drama You know, there's something in there that always you know And even my wedding on Sunday the mother of the groom kept telling me I'm gonna do this and I'm like well on my paper It says you're doing that not this and so and I'm like so let me get some clarification for you and then I would go up to the groom and I'm like you need to talk to mom because she wants to do this

Yeah, mean, you know, talk about family going rogue. I once had a father give a 42 minute speech.

I ⁓

had 43 one time. it's like, and I'm like, the whole time we're like, what the f*ck is this guy? Excuse my French. I'm sorry. I was like, what is this guy doing? It's like, it just kept going and going. it was like, and he, at one point he did say, he goes, you know, I paid for this wedding. So I feel like this is my time. I mean, everybody, the guests were upset and it was just like, it was such a weird experience anyway.

Yeah, well,

you've essentially ruined everyone's night because now dinner's behind, so everyone's going to get a cold meal. They've lost now probably, if you've accounted correctly, they've probably lost 30 minutes of dancing time, 30 minutes of bar time because on what venue you're at, the bar may or may not be open during toasts. You, because you feel like you deserve a spotlight, have ruined everyone else's experience.

100 %!

Yeah. Yep.

You

I mean, it's, those are things you can prepare for, but not necessarily account for, right? Because as a planner, my job is to build and buffer time, but also make sure the event runs the way that we planned it to run. and I'm never going to account for 42 minute speech before dinner. That's something I'm never going to push for. Right? Like, cause then if I account for that.

Yeah.

No, no, no.

Then catering is going to push dinner back. And then everyone's sitting waiting for dinner. And then I have to go in the kitchen and be like, Hey, we can start service now. And they're like, the meat is still cooking. And it's like, okay, well, we have 30 minutes to kill until people, and then people are even more upset. You know, that's just the dynamics of a wedding day, being able to be flexible in our approach, but rigid in our structure. Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Yeah,

had a dad once ask me, how long should my speech be? you know, like, what should I do? And I said, I said, I think you need to make it short, sweet, with a little bit of humor. And then but it needs to come from your heart. I go, if you hit all those things, I go, you know, and you'll be fine. He goes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because they I mean, generally, they'll go over a few minutes. with that said, yeah, but but short, sweet.

Yeah, 35 minutes. I always tell people 35 minutes and I count 10.

Be a little you know a little bit. gotta have that humor like make people laugh but also Speak from the heart, you know, and then yeah and then And then you're gonna make people laugh and cry and i'm like success You did it so

Yeah, I

always say a good speech has three aspects, which I wish I, you know, we could have talked about this on the client side, but it's good for everybody to know, because if you're guiding a client, these are good things, right? So I always say you have a three minute speech. The first minute should be how you know the couple, who you are and how you know them, right? Don't start off with, for those of you who don't know me, that's the only way that kills it. Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I hate that. Yeah. It drives me nuts.

Especially when the DJ goes, this is our maid of honor, Jane. know, Yeah.

We know, also nobody cares, nobody cares.

But yeah, say, you know, I'm Nora, I'm the sister of the bride. I, you know, can't wait to see how this night unfolds, blah, blah, blah. How you know the couple. Minute two is a story about the couple. It could be funny, it could be sentimental, it could be sweet, whatever you want, story about the couple. And then minute three is well wishes for them, what you hope for them.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

And if you hit all three of those, you have a great, well-rounded speech that should be short, sweet, keeping everybody happy. Yeah.

Yeah, I love it. All

right. We're not on the toast podcast. We're on talking about our brand. all right. So now, nor you've built this large team, what kind of systems or standards have helped you guys maintain consistency?

Yeah. So, I am a Google girl, and honestly I've tried out so many CRMs and planning tools. and honestly, I kind of hate them all. Like everybody, I don't want to drop names, but everybody uses one planning software and I can't stand it. I can't stand it. I think it's clunky. I think it doesn't have the information that you actually need. I think it doesn't.

Mm-hmm.

give the client any clarity on what they should be doing and when. And I think it's just generic. And when you are building a customized process for a high end client, the last thing they want is to feel like they could have gotten the same experience working with another planner because you're all using the same software. So we have a full dashboard that we create for each client that is personalized to them. That includes things like to do lists, a budget.

Mm-hmm.

a vendor spreadsheet, places to upload contracts and quotes, deposit schedules, decor lists, a guest list, seating chart template. We have spent years developing our internal processes specifically so that there's transparency with the client. So that at no point in time, do they have to email us and say, hey, can I see this quote? They have access to that.

And we do a whole onboarding call with the client to show them how to use our systems so that they do have that accessibility that we want them to have. Yeah, it's awesome. Would I love to develop my own software someday? Absolutely. And maybe with AI, that will be possible. I found that that is what works best.

That's nice.

Hmm.

And our team, every client that works on our team, whether they're a coordination client or a full weekend planning client, they all get access to these documents. We obviously have different versions of them depending on level of service and things like that, but everybody gets access to these things. And then I think something else that makes us stand out is our note taking and recap process.

Mm-hmm.

I was gonna

ask about like that and the communication, like how do you guys communicate internally?

Yeah, so I work on a three person team for all our service clients. So I'm the creative director on that team. I'm the one that leads every meeting. I do the design. I do the timeline. I manage basically the big picture of the event. Maddie on my team is my client concierge. She is the one who is emailing the client, scheduling meetings.

Okay.

answering questions and basically managing the client experience. then Savannah on my team is my event producer. So she's the one handling backend operations, working with our vendor team, working on the production elements for the event. So the three of us work on every single client throughout the year. We're present on every meeting. We all work on the same client at the same time. And I found that it's a really good structure because

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

then all the weight doesn't land on one person. know, Maddie has a son. If she has to run out because her son is sick and she needs to pick him up, we're okay, right? Because I can step in and email the client if the client needs to be emailed at that point in time. Or I can, you know, I'll still handle the meeting if she can't be present. Same thing with Savannah. Savannah needs to take a vacation or she has a family obligation, she can step out. Same thing with me. If I need to step

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I have a team that can step in and handle things. So a client never feels like they're left hanging. And then from the vendor side, it's really, really helpful because we have checks and balances within our team. So in our documentation, everything has to be so clear because all of us are working on it at the same time. So our timelines are typically 35 pages long and include every detail you could ever imagine.

The specific food that's being served at specific times, the ingredients that are in all signature cocktails, what each table is going to have on it and how many, the different types of linens, the napkin folds, the deliverables, everything that's coming in and out of the space, a hair and makeup schedule, emergency contact information, a social media guide. It has literally everything so that if a vendor needs access to something, they can find it in that paperwork.

instead of having to talk to us with that. So if something needs to be updated, Savannah is probably the one updating that in the timeline and distributing that to the vendor team. But I'm also in that timeline looking at things. So if I see something that's updated that hasn't been changed, I can go in and do the same. And then same thing with Maddie. If she gets an email from a client saying, actually, can we switch me and my mom's hair and makeup because we want to be at the same time, Maddie can go in and do that. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

We're all simultaneously working so that there's no missing of any information.

Yeah.

makes sense.

All right. So now, you know, as you continue to grow, so how do you hire and train, you know, your planners, your staff to execute your brand vision, you know, at a higher level?

Yeah, so everybody starts as an assistant planner. Everybody starts. Yeah, we got to start from the bottom. You got to start from the bottom. You're working wedding days first. You need to know how the event runs before you can learn how to plan it, right? Because, and you need to see a variety of events because not all events run the same way, right? You know, a 200 person, three day event is going to be very different from a 100 person dinner.

Oh, stop right at the bottom.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

So they need at least a year experience as an assistant planner working on site at the events. Then from there, they can apply to be an associate planner. Associate planners on our team work with our coordination clients. So out of our 50 to 60 events a year that we produce, typically about 30 to 40 of those are coordination clients.

Hmm.

So we need a large staff to take on those events. And a lot of our team, a lot of our associate planners work part-time for us. So they have other years. So they take on maybe five clients a year because again, we don't want to overload them. But Lily, like I mentioned, our team, she's a full-time associate planner with us. So she has 25 coordination clients this year that she's working with. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

wow.

So she's full-time salaried. So we've kind of created that as an intermediate step So you start part-time as an associate planner and then we hire you on full-time as an associate planner They got a full load of clients and then from there you can start working on design So for our core clients, we also offer like a mood board package So they can add on basically design services at the beginning of their planning process and then you know, we kind of

put that on their plate to then source their vendors and do everything like that. And then we come back in to manage coordination at the four month mark. So then you can start working on design and you work with myself and my director of sales, Casey. ⁓ We both have arts degrees. So we help train up people on the design side. And then there you can start working with the full planning team.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

So Maddie and Savannah have both gone through that process with me. ⁓ And the hope is eventually that we build additional three person teams that we can take on even more full service clients. Yeah.

Wow. Okay.

I love it. It sounds like you got

it all ready to go. Well, it's true. If you don't, you're foolish. All right. All right. So where do you see wedding pros playing it too safe when it comes to their branding or their marketing?

You know, you're learning every day, right?

Absolutely.

I think everybody wants their weddings to feel timeless. And I think in that quest for timelessness, you end up losing all personality and permanence. Like I always say, we don't go timeless, we go iconic. ⁓ So I think people think that by keeping things simple and clean and more

for lack of a better word, elegant. They actually drain their brand and their wedding personality. ⁓ And so I think you need to go back to rooting your process in the clients that you specifically are working for. Don't just build them a wedding, build them their wedding.

Hmm. Okay.

All right. So how can someone start standing out more without doing a complete like rebrand, you know, like make tweaks.

the wedding.

Totally. think getting your face out there is also helpful. I on TikTok, I'll post a wedding. People will comment on that wedding, like usually asking questions because that's where all of our clients are right now is on TikTok. ⁓ And so they'll ask a question and then I typically respond to that comment in a different video face forward, answering that question for them. So now.

Okay.

Mm.

they feel like they got a personalized response from me, I'm giving them insights into the industry and they actually feel connection with not only my work, but with me as a human being, as a professional. So I think if you're not ready to do a full rebrand and if you have your 2026 and potentially 2027 client load and you can't necessarily get new, more adventurous clients for that, I think putting yourself

Yeah.

as the face of the business will always help.

Yeah, I think you're right. People like to, they want to see a face. They want to see a personality when they're spending their money.

want to see opinions. know, people are coming to you because you're a professional and they need guidance. Like I always say, ⁓ you know, we're like accountants and realtors and ⁓ landscape designers and interior designers, people who hire out professional services all the time know what they're looking for when they're hiring a professional service, right? They're working with us on a, you know, on a specific project timeline, but

Yeah.

They need to know that one, you can do the job, but two, that you're not gonna make their life harder as you do that job, right? So I think having opinions and being able to guide somebody is a valuable thing to show before clients even inquire with you.

Yeah. All right. What role does client experience play in making the company truly memorable?

Well, I think that's everything, right? Like I think whatever the end product is, if the client had a bad time in the year, year and a half that you were working with them, then what was the point, right? Why did they hire you? I always say you can learn so much about a company by looking at their reviews and especially reading specific qualities that they talk about in those reviews. We actually had a mom reach out to us, which is usually red

Okay.

Yeah.

Hmm

red flag for me, but we had a mom reach out to us and in the inquiry she wrote saying like, am blown away by what people are writing about you and what people said about you. She's like, I'm not seeing that anywhere else in this region, like these specific things that people are talking about that you do differently. So even the way that we onboard our clients, the way that we gift to our clients,

wow.

the way that we communicate with them, ⁓ timeliness, seamlessness. That is all things that will not only give you a great review, but also great referrals. Your business is built on referrals. So if somebody had a bad time with you, but the wedding was gorgeous, like they're probably still not going to refer you to their friends and family because you made their life hell for a year. We actually just had a pair of sisters.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Sign on to us. They're both getting married this year. We actually just executed one Yeah, yeah, well that's why they have planners right But yeah two sisters we executed the first sisters wedding this past weekend They were working with a different planning company. They came to us in February And they actually

Those poor parents.

That's right. Yeah. Damn.

Mm-hmm.

wow.

reached out and said, we are so unhappy with the process with our current planner that we would like to terminate that contract and we want to work with you. It took one call to convert both sisters to work with us. One call.

wow.

Wow.

Yeah, that's easy. Yeah.

Easy, right?

Now that we've executed sister number one's wedding, that went seamlessly. Now, as we move into sister number two's wedding, there's even more trust, right? Because they know how we executed number one, they're not gonna go into number two with any worry because they know the process and they know the expectation. So it's that kind of stuff that we see over and over and over.

Yeah, yeah.

The amount of couples that have come to us that have been working with somebody else, first, is shocking.

Yeah, that sounds amazing, like scary. So, well, I mean, think about it. I get married this weekend and therefore I loved planning my wedding, therefore I'm going to become a planner. Doesn't mean I'm an expert. Doesn't mean I have the processes and the systems and everything in place ready to go. so, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

I think when buyers are first out there, they are sticker shocked, right? So they don't necessarily see the value in your services because they're so overwhelmed by what things cost these days. I mean, so that they're like, well, I just need a planner. I don't need the right planner. I just need a planner or a DJ or a florist or a venue. ⁓ And then once they get into the process, they're like,

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

what's a couple more thousand dollars to get the planner, like to work with somebody that we know is going to be the right fit for us. And I think that's a mistake people make early on is like they're looking for the cheapest service they can get versus the best service they can get.

Yeah, and that's where a lot of the wedding industry gets a bad rap is because people decided to go that route and doesn't always work out that way. So, all right.

Yeah, everyone's

they're scammers. And it's like, well, they over-promised. They over-promised. And that's something that happens. Yeah, yeah. And it's something that you learn over time that you need to know to not do. Yeah.

Yeah, and under, under delivered. So, yeah. Yeah.

Exactly.

So a really important question. Okay, sister number one got married this last weekend. When is sister number two's wedding? How far apart? August. Okay, not, I mean, a couple months apart, but not, yeah, yeah. Still close though. That's pretty close. So that's a lot of pressure. So.

on this.

Very close. Yeah. It is

well, it's less pressure now. Like, the pressure is on number one, because, you know, in this industry, you have one client at a time, right? So like, if you underserved that client, it's like, ⁓ man, I wish we could have done better for them. But it's not going to ruin the rest of your year.

Yeah, that's true. Yeah.

If sister number one was unhappy, then like today I would have been on a call with the entire family about how we're approaching wedding number two. But now it's just ease. We just do what we do best and the client knows that we're going to deliver. Mm-hmm. Exactly.

yeah. Yeah.

Yep. And it's smooth sailing. all right.

All right. So we're getting ready to wrap up here. we're going to add one last question is what does a strong, scalable brand actually do for your business long-term, you think?

I think it cements your foothold in your market. I think that in an industry where there are constantly people entering, I hear of a new planner every day. Being firm in my brand and my processes means that no one's gonna come in and take my clients from me.

⁓

Mm-hmm.

It means that I'm always going to be seen as a standard in this region and in this industry. So even, you know, only being five years in, like I'm, my name is mentioned in the same breath as people who have been in this industry for 10, 15, 20 years. So.

Hmm.

wow.

That's where I think the value is, is by knowing who I was and knowing the service I wanted to create for our clients. It basically cemented me as one of the planners in this market.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, and the experience you want them to have too. All right. Well, thank you, Nora, for being here today. I enjoyed diving into this topic with you. So can you tell our guests how they can connect and find you?

Absolutely. Yep.

Thanks.

Yeah, absolutely. On all socials, I'm at @engagedwithnora You can also reach out via our website, engagedwithnora.com I'm always happy to answer questions and help newbies in this industry figure out who they are and what they want to be doing. So don't be afraid to reach out.

Yeah, I love it. All right, and we'll have all the Nora's information in the show notes as well as the email blast that goes out and remind you if you do not subscribe, hit the little subscribe button right there and also sign up for the email blast because that's where you get all the additional information in there as well. So, Nora, thank you very much. All right. Always a pleasure. You're great. All right, folks, we'll see you next time on another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business.

Thanks, Kevin. Always a pleasure.