Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nora Culley. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Nora, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.
When I talk about being a wedding planner, the most common response I hear is that “weddings are too expensive” and “why would I pay to have someone plan my wedding”. The thing that most people don’t understand is that planning and producing a wedding takes a lot of time and experience to make sure that every detail is taken care of. We aren’t just working on your wedding day – we’re dedicating over 200 hours on each wedding that we work on. That includes consultations, monthly meetings, vendor selection, budgeting, creating custom designs, floorplans and timelines, attending tasting and rental meetings, final walkthroughs at the venue(s), designing and building custom decor and constantly communicating with our couples to make sure we are all on the same page. As a professional, we dedicate this time to each wedding, but imagine if you had no idea what you were doing? Imagine hiring a vendor that has a bad reputation that you weren’t aware of. Imagine trying to schedule your wedding day without knowing how long it takes each task to be completed? That’s why our services have value. You’re putting your wedding into capable hands that have done this hundreds of times before, know which vendor is going to do the best job for you and will help you avoid making costly mistakes.
Weddings are as expensive as they are because we are essentially building a home for 1 day. You have to paint the walls with light, bring in furniture, build out a kitchen, and sometimes even create the structure in which the wedding will take place! Your caterer has to prepare hundreds of meals, your florist has to hand pick every flower that goes in your centerpieces, and your photographer has to carefully edit sometimes thousands of photos to make sure they’re perfect! This type of detailed work takes extreme amounts of time and attention to detail, which is why weddings cost what they do!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Nora Culley Tuck and I’m the owner and creative director for Engaged With Nora. We are a wedding planning firm based out of Cleveland, Ohio that specializes in unique and bold designs, hands-on coordination and a team of fun and loving planners.
My path to becoming a wedding planner wasn’t a direct one. I spent 10 years performing professionally as a singer and dancer and was living in New York City while being represented by an agent. A friend of mine had posted a job opening at the iconic Kleinfeld Bridal store and I immediately jumped at the opportunity! I worked for Kleinfeld Hotel Blocks and eventually became their Hotel Relations Manager where I got to travel the country and create strategic partnerships with hotels and local wedding vendors. This is where I truly fell in love with the wedding industry.
After several years, I decided to make the leap and fully commit myself to working in the wedding world. I interned at a luxury wedding planning firm, and eventually accepted a job with a premier catering and event company. Here, I learned the in’s and out’s of what happens behind the scenes at any event and was quickly promoted to their Marketing + Design Associate as well as an in-house planner for their flagship venue. I had the opportunity to network with hundreds of vendors and learn everything I could about how to plan and execute events.
During Covid-19, the event world came screeching to a halt. After months of not working, I decided I wanted to take the leap and start my own planning company. I had no idea it would grow into the company that it is today! We now have 20 planners on staff and produce an average of 70 weddings and events per year.
We offer a variety of services including full and partial planning as well as coordination. We set ourselves apart from other companies by supplying our clients with proprietary tools and templates and acting as a guide as they make their way through the wedding planning process. Our biggest goal to reduce anyone’s stress or anxiety around their wedding day. We do anything we can to lighten the weight of the work for our clients.
The team at Engaged With Nora is passionate about our couples and weddings in general. We are always looking to innovate, improve and be an inclusive brand for anyone looking to celebrate their day in a chic and bold way.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
When I started the company, I already had a bit of a reputation within the industry. Since I was working at one of the most popular venues in the area, I had the opportunity to work with very experienced and established vendors.
To launch the brand, I knew I had to do a lot of marketing since I wouldn’t have the lush portfolios of competitors. There were 3 keys decisions I made that let me hit the market in a strong way.
The first thing I did was do a soft launch to all of the vendors that I had existing relationships with. Some even began referring clients to me before I even had the social media platforms! The second thing I did was create a profile on The Knot so that I could have a built-in lead funnel. The third pillar, was to have a strong social media roll-out. I created and scheduled content for 3 months straight so I could build a presence in the community.
After this, it was all about execution. My team and I went above and beyond to create a one-of-a-kind experience for our couples and the industry professionals immediately loved it! We still have vendors compliment us on how organized, detailed and attentive we are. That leads to more 5 star review, referrals and brand partnerships!
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
The biggest piece of advice I can give is to never expect your team to do something that you wouldn’t do. In our world, sometimes gross or uncomfortable situations occur and when I hired my first employees, I didn’t make them do those things. Instead, I did them. If your team sees you doing the “dirty work”, it makes them more empowered to handle those tasks when they need to. If their employer isn’t above it, why should they be?
Education is also a large aspect of what keeps my team passionate and excited. I hold training sessions multiple times per year so that the team can grow as planners and we can stay on top of trends. This helps them to feel more confident when handling their own clients and allows us to continue to grow the team.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.engagedwithnora.com/
- Instagram: @engagedwithnora
- Facebook: @engagedwithnora
- Other: https://pin.it/2ewZ92P
Image Credits
1: Birch Tree Photography 2: Fleeting Fox Photography 3: Lamb Photography 4: Michaela Kessler Photography 5: Renee LeMaire Photography 6: Agape Photography 7: Tori Maloney Photography 8: Christy Beal Photography