Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stephanie Ridgely. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Stephanie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

I met The Elliot’s first wedding couple at the Today’s Bride show in April 2021 at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland. We had yet to start construction but I wanted to meet with couples to learn what they value in a wedding venue and to grow our social media following.

Rachel and James loved our concept, the Tremont neighborhood, and the fact that The Elliot is woman-owned. Our tour took place in a vacant, water-damaged church with nothing but architectural drawings and a vision (we wouldn’t receive renderings until June 2021). The paint and decals were peeling, the plaster on the ceiling had gaping holes, and what is now The Ballroom was riddled with garbage. The only stairwell that led to the lower level was nowhere near code. And at that point, we hadn’t received our building permit. Rachel and James loved it anyway and booked their wedding for July 2022.

As a surprise to no one, a project that was supposed to be completed at the end of 2021 was delayed well into 2022. All permits (or temporary permits) that allowed us to open were received within two months of our first event. By the time we made it to Rachel & James’ wedding, the only significant item missing was the elevator.

Rachel and James were married on July 30, 2022, bringing The Elliot to life with music, an amazing cake, and love. I could not have asked for a smoother first wedding and will always be grateful for the trust they put in our vision.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am the Founder & CEO of The Elliot, a wedding and private event venue in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood. As a Tremont resident, I saw the value in repurposing the former Holy Ghost church as an asset to the community and an opportunity for others to appreciate Tremont’s charm.

At sixteen, I fell in love with weddings while working at a banquet hall in Connecticut. Since then, I have earned over fifteen years of event coordination and management experience across the legal, wedding, and nonprofit industries. From creating floral arrangements for weddings to executing corporate fundraisers, I understand the inner workings of an event from start to finish.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Word of mouth. For the first half of the year that we were open, we had limited wedding and event photos to share, so it was difficult to create an appealing campaign through social media and venue databases. Most of the leads we received heard about us from a friend or family member. We hosted public events including our grand opening gala, trivia nights, a live music series, and happy hours to show off the space and spread the word.

How did you build your audience on social media?

There are several ways to build your social media following, so it’s important to understand your audience, industry, and the type of content you plan to share.

For The Elliot, different tactics worked best at different times throughout the few years we’ve been operating. Here are a few of the things you can do that helped us reach 1,000 followers before opening:

1. Reserve a booth at an industry trade show. We attended the Today’s Bride Show in Cleveland in April 2021, well before we started construction. We weren’t accepting bookings yet, so it was a good opportunity to talk to people about our vision and gather feedback. We had a sign up-sheet for emails and encouraged guests to follow our progress on Instagram.

2. Giveaways. We gave away tickets to our grand opening gala in August. For people to participate, they had to follow our Instagram account, tag their friends, and share our post.

3. Follow industry professionals and engage with their content. This will make them aware of your business, follow you back, and increase the chance of them sharing your profile and content with their followers.

4. Collaborations. Team up with professionals in the industry to host events, styled shoots, or develop content that can be shared with your following. Tagging each other and sharing content from the collaboration will increase your reach and followership.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theelliotcle.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/theelliotcle
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/theelliotcle
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-elliot

Image Credits
One Red Door Photography K Photography Drzazga Photo Olivia D Wenger Photography Honeylens Photography