We were lucky to catch up with Hope Mirlis recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hope, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
I’ve been an entrepreneur ever since I sold stickers and wire jewelry in the cafeteria in elementary school. However I didn’t create a company with a name until my 20s. I had a hot chocolate company called Two Chicks and a Chocolate Bar and a catering company named Someone’s in the Kitchen. I had a theater company called Synchronicity – because as we started, everything just magically lined in.
My life shifted in my 30s when I started stepping into my calling. I combined my yoga practice with my personal chef business with Namaste Gourmet. However in 2009, I officiated my first wedding and everything changed. My teaching of acting morphed into being a life coach. Then two years later, it transformed into a premarital counseling practice.
It took a friend to suggest combining the officiating, counseling and yoga into a holistic wedding practice. It just clicked…it was perfect! Now I was on the path of finding a new name. I realized the word UNION related both to weddings and yoga. We all know that a wedding celebrates the union of two people, however the Sanskrit word yoga has the literal meaning of “yoke”, from a root yuj meaning ‘to join’, or ‘to unite’.’ Wow, again perfect!
However, while I personally strove for perfection, I didn’t want to idolize it in my work. In yoga, we don’t strive for perfect poses. Just as in relationships, there is no perfect union. Then I thought about the preamble to the constitution. I loved the yearning for a more perfect union. There was movement in the phrase, as well as recognition. So A More Perfect Union was born. Unfortunately, the name was popular, but not in the wedding world. So while I could not get a variation of A More Perfect Union for my url address, I decided PerfectUnionNY for my website and all of my social media handles.
Hope, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
As I like to say A More Perfect Union is a holistic wedding business. I started officiating weddings, offering premarital counseling sessions, and leading wedding yoga practices either leading up to or on the day of the wedding. I’ve worked with hundreds of couples across the country since 2009.
Based on the needs of my couples, I also help couples write their vows, as well as coach ‘friend/family officiants.’ Since it’s a current trend for couples to ask friends or family member to officiate their wedding, I like to be there as an advocate for them. Guiding them as they write and perform a ceremony for the first time.
Weddings can be stressful, and planning the wedding can be overwhelming. So I’ve decide to be available for couples at the beginning of their engagement. This way I can empower them to get the information they need to start their journey. With that in mind I’ve recently created Ever After Academy. I wanted to provide more education for couples as they plan the wedding and prepare for marriage. I was asked to teach a Wedding 101 class, but it made more sense to offer panel discussions. So, with Ever After Academy I host Wedding 101 and Marriage 101 Panels, plus a workshop for brides called The Zen Bride.
I really love being able to support my couples and their community. What tends to happen is right before the ceremony starts, the couple gets really nervous. They don’t expect it, and they don’t know how to handle it. I’m there with some lavender essential oils, a warm smile and usually a joke to get them through. It’s such an important moment in a couple’s journey and I am humbled to be a part of it.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
While I do not have a huge audience on social media, I am happy with the fact that I built my following organically. Early in the pandemic, there were no weddings and counseling was light, so I decided to take the time to create a social media calendar. Perhaps it was a good use of my time, but it also allowed me to create a routine when my calendar was regularly empty.
So I looked at the platforms that I was interested and created a weekly posting schedule. Monday was Pinterest, Tuesday was either my gratitude journal or a spotlight on other vendors on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, Thursday was a blog post and Friday rotated between testimonials, advice from me or quotes from others. While I may miss a day here or there, I still follow the schedule. I do find that consistency matters, as well as tracking your actions so you know what works.
Social media is big in the wedding industry, and I have since added TikTok to my schedule. I do try to have regular engagement, but I have added a timer on my phone, so I don’t fall into the habit of constant scrolling.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
While I don’t have business partners in my current businesses, I have had them in the past. I founded a theater company with 3 other women where we desired more work and more visibility. Our paths kept crossing in the theater community. If weren’t getting hired by others, we decided we may want to start something ourselves. While our structure was not the norm for mid-sized theater companies at the time, it made sense for us. We each had different expertise and skills, so it was a good partnership while it lasted.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.perfectunionny.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perfectunionny/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PerfectUnionNY
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hopemirlis/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/a-more-perfect-union-new-york-2
Image Credits
Arius Photography, Bri Johnson, Hyde Photography, Emily Meing, Peter Ou, Tori Petrillo (2) Susan Shek, Amy Sims