Meet Your Host
Welcome - I'm so happy you're here!
Hey! I’m Heidi Thompson and I'm the host of Book More Weddings Summit, Wedding Business CEO Summit, and The Wedding Business Collective. I help wedding professionals build 6 figure businesses without working all the time.
I’m a business strategist and marketing geek as well as the host of The Evolve Your Wedding Business Podcast and best-selling author of Clone Your Best Clients but you won’t find any overcomplicated marketing gobbledygook around here. I don’t know about you but I love making things easier and more effective. That’s what you can expect from the Book More Weddings Summit.
Growing a wedding business can be overwhelming, stressful and it can swallow your social life whole…BUT it doesn’t have to be that way and I’m on a mission to help wedding pros like you grow their businesses without killing themselves. Your business should give you the freedom to do what you love and the freedom to have a life doing the other things that matter to you.
I created this summit to help you to book more weddings so that you can grow your business, become more profitable, and know exactly what you need to do to attract your ideal clients to you instead of chasing after them.
Adrienna McDermott
Outsource Your Marketing And Book Out Your Calendar
Adrienna McDermott is the founder and CEO of Ava And The Bee, a marketing agency exclusively for wedding pros that builds connections with dream couples through inclusive, results-driven marketing.
With a rich background that spans beyond the realm of marketing, Adrienna has walked in the shoes of wedding vendors herself. As a former bridal boutique owner, wedding planner, and florist, she intimately understands the challenges vendors face when creating new and engaging content to grow their business.
She is also the founder of The Creative VA Academy, a hub where creatives can sharpen their natural skills and build profitable creative virtual assistant businesses doing what they love.
When she's not diving deep into analytics reports or crafting marketing strategies, you can find her cuddling on the couch with her cat (the Bee in her business), walking her tri-pawd black lab, or binging Netflix with her husband.
Alyssa Morton
Building Your Wedding Business While Raising A Family
Alyssa Morton is the best-selling author of "Welcome to the Room, Mama," podcast host of "Bloom Boss," event floral designer and educator, mama of two toddlers, Oreo-milkshake enthusiast, swing-dance lover, and obsessed with all things business.
After starting her floral design business in the peak of the pandemic and scaling it to six figures in her first year of business with two kids under two, she started branching out to start multiple other businesses including an event strike business, personal brand, and media company. You can find her working an event strike at 2AM, planning epic floral designs with her clients, interviewing epic guests on her podcasts, coaching new event florists to start and scale their business, networking with other mama-preneurs, and playing with her two little girls throughout the week.
Follow along on the journey (or just say hi) over on Instagram at @businessthatblooms or @lyss.morton.
Amber Peterson
How Repurposing Content And Fill Your Marketing Calendar
Amber Peterson is the new owner and CEO of Planner's Lounge, a community created for wedding planners to learn, connect and gain the tools to build profitable planning businesses. Prior to Planner's Lounge, she was a wedding planner in the Pacific Northwest for ten years and created a boutique marketing agency helping wedding planners and other service providers gain visibility through strategic content marketing.
She has a BA in Public Relations & Advertising from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications from Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL.
Amber lives in Washington state with her husband of 20 years, their three daughters, and an 11-pound Boston Terrier named Sadie. She loves to travel, wine tasting, all 90 Day Fiance shows (and the podcasts that recap them), and live music.
Andrea Shah
5 Keys To A Service Page That Books More Couples
When Ashley started her wedding planning company, The Simply Elegant Group, she was a one-woman operation. She never dreamed that years later, she would grow the business to one of the largest planning companies in the country with a team of over 40 employees and over 4 million dollars in sales.
As a natural-born connector, she now gets to share what she has learned about leadership and team development through her company The Abundance Group.
Her mission is to help over 15,000 creative entrepreneurs to build their dream businesses by building their teams!"Andrea Shah is a copywriter for wedding pros looking to ditch bland copy and kick-start their high-end client experience with a website that instantly resonates with their couples. Her first-ever website was hosted on Geocities, and she's been extremely online ever since. She has 10+ years of experience with SEO, brand voice, UX, and creative copywriting.
When she's not at the computer, she's usually experimenting with new dessert recipes, thinking about doing Pilates, or scouring the used bookstore for gems.
Becca Pountney
Invisible To Irresistible - The Power Of Connections To Transform Your Business
Becca Pountney is the UK’s leading wedding industry marketing expert. Using her experience from owning her own wedding business combined with her previous career in media working for Endemol, BBC, and Heart Radio, Becca now teaches business owners how to go from feeling invisible to totally irresistible and fully booked in their wedding business in her clear, down to earth, practical style.
Becca is no stranger to the events industry having built an award-winning wedding blog and consultancy business from the ground up in 2016.
Becca is known for transforming the fortunes of businesses within the highly competitive wedding and events sector and has worked with over 1000 businesses through her courses, membership, and speaking.
Becca’s mission is to inspire wedding professionals that it is possible to turn their passion into a profitable business doing what they love.
Bethel Nathan
Marketing Mysteries: Solve The Puzzle That Gets Them To Buy
Bethel Nathan is an award-winning officiant and knows how to build and run a successful wedding industry business, having married over 1200 couples and accrued over 500 5-star reviews over the past 14 years. Combining her background in large Wall Street investment banks and in small business, along with her passion and skillset, Bethel focused on her ideal couple and having a rave-worthy customer experience. Bethel also enjoys helping other wedding industry businesses grow and prosper as a business coach, speaker, and WeddingPro Educator.
Bethel has a BA degree in Political Science and Japanese from UC Berkeley, and an MBA in International Business from Thunderbird. She is a former board member of the San Diego Women’s Foundation and Komen for the Cure San Diego.
Bethel has lived in Japan (three times), London, and New York, and traveled extensively around the world. She now lives in San Diego with her husband, Jason, and they enjoy traveling, scuba diving, and wildlife.
Candice Coppola
Data-Driven Decisions: The Secret Sauce To Booking More Weddings
Candice Coppola is an author, podcast host, business coach, and entrepreneur who believes that you shouldn't have to do business (or happy hour!) alone.
As a successful entrepreneur who grew a business from the spare bedroom of her home into a multi-country, multi-six figure company - it's safe to say she's navigated the bumpy road of entrepreneurship.
She started her first company, Jubilee Events, during the great recession in 2008. With NO experience and NO contacts, she grew it into a recognizable brand and team. Over 12 years, she worked with clients from all over the world and produced events in excess of 1M.
Her favorite color is pink, she's obsessed with all things skincare + bravo TV, she's always overdressed, and now lives in beautiful Barbados with her husband and two pups. Catch her on Instagram for business advice and tips–but stay for the island life and house plants.
Carissa Woo
6 Steps To Getting On The Preferred Venue Vendor List, The Holy Grail Of Lists!
Carissa Woo is the owner of Carissa Woo Photography and Heck Yes Media.
She is a hopeless romantic who has made her love for love stories into a successful photography career. She loves pops of color and crazy-in-love couples.
She's traveled to Thailand, Paris, New York, Taiwan, and Croatia for weddings. She lives in Torrance with her hubby Stu and 2 daughters.
As an award-winning wedding photographer and business coach, she helps wedding pros with their brand messaging, pitch themselves to venues, get leads on autopilot, and master the dreaded sales call.
She is the author of Woo Them to Heck Yes. A pro wedding photographer's tips and tricks for earning 6 figures plus and perfecting any couple's big day. It came out on July 15th so make sure you grab a copy.
Carissa has 99 episodes on her podcast for wedding pros, "Get a Heck Yes".
Carolyn Kulb
3 Places You're Getting Ghosted (And How To Fix It!)
Carolyn Kulb helps wedding pros book more weddings by designing a Gentle Sales System, which treats every potential client with warmth and compassion from the very beginning, and builds the trust that is so necessary before clients can book you for their wedding. Carolyn is also the founder and CEO of Bloom Poet—a full-service wedding florist and event design company based in Seattle, Washington. Carolyn now has a 100% booking rate in her business, and loves helping other wedding pros stop the ghosting and book more weddings in her signature program, The Wedding Sales Fix.
Carolyn’s work has been featured in national publications such as Flower Magazine, Aisle Society, Well Wedded Magazine, Trends Magazine, Slow Flowers Journal, and Houzz.com. She has been invited to design and teach at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show and American Flowers Week, and has appeared on podcasts like Talk with Renee Dalo, the Slow Flowers Podcast, and the Evolve Your Wedding Business Podcast.
Cat Ekkelboom-White
Unleash Your Niche: The Secret To Lasting Success In The Wedding Industry
Cat Ekkelboom-White is a British elopement photographer, ski instructor, and hiking guide living in the Austrian Alps.
After starting her photography business, she realized she hated weddings! So she created Wild Connections Photography, a super niche elopement photography brand, which focuses on creating multi-day elopement experiences in her home region in the Alps & Dolomites, where she combines her qualifications as an outdoor guide with her expert local knowledge to take couples on wild and adventurous adventures for their weddings.
Outside of helping couples have epic wedding days, Cat is also a certified coach, helping creative entrepreneurs from across the wedding industry refine and niche their businesses to embrace their ninja skills so they can stand out in a crowded marketplace, whilst also creating more freedom to do all the fun things they want to do.
Eddie Babbage
Harnessing The Power Of Technology
Eddie Babbage is the founder and CEO of Timeline Genius, a software company dedicated to revolutionizing the way wedding and event professionals create event day timelines. Prior to launching Timeline Genius in 2013, Eddie spent over 3 years researching the timeline creation process – interviewing hundreds of wedding planners nationwide and studying their timeline workflows.
In addition to his work on Timeline Genius, Eddie is the host of the Wedding Industry Insider podcast, which provides interviews and insights from top figures in the wedding industry. In his earlier career, Eddie worked in fields ranging from e-commerce and social media to corporate law and investment banking.
Elizabeth Solaru
How To Book More High End Clients
Elizabeth Solaru is a best-selling author and the multi-award winning founder of Elizabeth's Cake Emporium and the Luxury Business Emporium. Recognised as one of the best wedding cake companies in the world, her company creates the most opulent and beautifully handcrafted cakes using the finest ingredients. Her creations have been featured in films and in numerous national and international blogs and publications including Vogue, Tatler, Wedluxe, Brides, and Martha Stewart Brides
Her clients include British, European, and Middle Eastern Royalty, celebrities, billionaires, and very high-net-worth individuals. Elizabeth has appeared as a luxury expert on the BBC, the Good Food Channel, BBC Radio, and Sky Living.
Elizabeth is an international speaker and cake judge who presents on several topics ranging from her inspirational creative journey from Microbiologist, and Headhunter to luxury cake maker. Her business book on getting luxury clients will be published at the end of the year.
Emily Foster
Creating A Stand-Out Brand That Books Your Ideal Clients: Tips From A Recent Bride
Emily Foster is the owner of Emily Foster Creative, a brand and website design studio based in Portland, Oregon, and working with creatives everywhere. She's a wife, bookworm, travel lover, and cat mom of two adorable cats, Elsa and Olaf.
Emily specializes in helping wedding vendors and photographers stand out with personalized, tailored branding and website design. She brings 7+ years of experience to helping business owners get clear on their brand strategy and then transforming that into a brand that connects with their ideal clients.
Hank Paul
Inclusion 101: Authentically Connect with LGBTQ+ Clients
Hank Paul (they/them) is a distinguished wedding photographer turned LGBTQ+ advocate and inclusion strategist. Creator of Authentic Allyship Academy, they help entrepreneurs authentically connect with LGBTQ+ people through the power of art, business, and education.
In 2022, Hank was recognised as one of Australasia’s Top 5 Wedding Photographers by Sony, cementing their status as a creative force. Their advocacy work has been honoured with accolades such as winning Out For Australia's prestigious 30 Under 30 Award and being named a finalist for ACON's Honour Awards.
Hank is the host of The Values Proposition podcast and creator of the ground-breaking documentary podcast "First Look: How Marriage Equality is Transforming the Wedding Industry".
Hank Paul continues to inspire and captivate business leaders and wedding professionals worldwide with their unique perspectives and passion for storytelling.
Ingvild Kolnes
Make Your Website Work For You So You Can Book Dream Clients While You Sleep
Ingvild Kolnes is an educator and mentor for photographers and creatives. She helps talented but overworked business owners get back in touch with the artist they want to be where they work with dream clients without having to work too much. She does this by helping them build their confidence and set boundaries, and teaching them to charge what their work is worth through a 7-step program so that they can make a living from their creativity.
Ingvild enjoys traveling with her boyfriend and hanging out with her fluffy dog in her spare time.
Katelyn Magnuson
Financial Harmony: Uniting Your Business And Personal Finances For Success
Katelyn Magnuson, founder and CEO of The Freelance CFO, LLC, helps individuals and business owners achieve their long-term financial goals without giving up their daily latte.. With a decade of experience as a tax analyst and controller, she launched The Freelance CFO in 2016. Through training, coaching, and continuing education, she empowers clients to create profitable businesses that align with their dreams. By releasing financial shame and frustration, Katelyn believes anyone can achieve lifelong success. Featured on OppsLoan, Thrive Global, and Betches.
When not working with clients, she enjoys spontaneous trips to Iceland and spending time with her chickens.
Katie Lyth
SUBSCRIBED: Build Your Email List And Make Money On Autopilot
Katie Lyth is a renowned, award winning business coach and marketing strategist and one half of The Wedding Business Hub, a community of worldwide wedding businesses lifting each other up and striving for business growth! She helps businesses unlock their full potential, increase their visibility, make more bookings and reach 6 figures and beyond.
Katie's been in business for 13 years, having won awards inside the wedding industry and been nationally recognised as the UK's Entrepreneur of the Year, she brings a ton of knowledge, passion, and experience to the businesses she works with.
When she's not working you'll find her in some trendy gastro-pub or new dining spot, looking up her next holiday destination, walking her dog, and hanging with her two young children Oliver and India. Katie has a huge love for business and entrepreneurship and also volunteers and mentors for The Princes Trust, a charity supporting young people starting their own businesses.
Kristy Rice
We're In This Together: Selling Comfort, Compassion, And Culture In Weddings
Kristy Rice is indeed a storyteller of style; communicating for her clients in paint and pen, paper and prose, very personal stories with attention to detail and an unmistakable sense of hand. Kristy’s intuitive skill in combining her distinctive watercolor technique with her exquisite style offer an artistic experience that is unmatched. Spanning over two decades, her journey of creating art has evolved into an innovative international brand, which garners attention from top wedding publications around the globe. Along with her team of artists, Kristy has transformed wedding stationery into a persuasive and compelling medium that brings an artistic experience to couples worldwide.
Lindsay J. Williams
$25k In 24 Hours: The Power of Wedding Shows
Meet Lindsay! A mom, wedding stationer, and educator based in Niagara Falls, NY (yes, people actually live here). Through personality packed content, and out of this world customer service, Lindsay has grown her wedding stationery company, from $30k to $300k in yearly revenue in just 5 years. As host of the ‘Build that Business’ podcast and creator of ‘The Wedding Booking Blueprint,’ she now shares tips, tricks, struggles, and triumphs from her experience building, growing, and scaling a successful wedding business.
Her goal is to empower wedding professionals to use their own voice and story to create meaningful connections. To build the confidence they need to recognize the unique value they bring, and to then share it with their customers. Through a mix of step-by-step strategies and simple content ideas, she’ll be your biggest cheerleader and tough-love coach.
Mark Chapman
Use TikTok Ads To Attract & Convert The Right Couples
Mark is the wedding industry's leading expert on advertising. His team at The I Do Society helps wedding pros reach and convert the right couples - at scale - using Google Ads, Meta Ads and TikTok Ads.
While hustling and working hard to grow his family's wedding business in his early 20s, he discovered advertising. Over time he learned how to use ads to reach and convert the right couples. He turned this new skill into a system so he could help his friends in the industry succeed with ads too.
Today, thousands of businesses in the wedding industry have been helped by Mark's expertise in advertising.
Meagan Culkin
TikTok 101: A Guide To Getting Started
Meagan is the owner of Magnolia Collective, a wedding planning and design company in its 13th year of business, with teams serving both North Carolina and Virginia. She is the Director of Programming for the NACE Richmond chapter, as well as the Design Chair for the NACEYs gala. She is currently working towards her CPCE certification and has developed a training course for newly engaged couples to better prepare them for the process of wedding planning.
When not designing event spaces, Meagan spends her time offering consulting for wedding businesses, discovering foodie haunts and searching for the perfect gin cocktail, and trying to get her dogs to cooperate for Tiktok videos.
Nikisha King
Getting Un-Stuck In The Sales Process
Nikisha King, MBA, who is audacious and passionate about supporting women business owners. Throughout her fourteen years, Nikisha has built three successful companies within the NK Brand: Nikisha King Design House (a graphic design agency), Nikisha King Focus Formula (a business strategist firm that helps women business owners scale), and Nikisha King Podcast, Leading H.E.R.Way (a podcast teaching you how to build your business system).
Through Nikisha's coaching, over fifty women business owners have gained confidence in their leadership skills, discovered how to close gaps in their business systems, acquired the ability to build a supportive team, &, most importantly, learned how to unplug from their laptops during vacation.
Nikisha gets it! She remembers how lonely, confusing, & stuck she felt in her journey. She is excited to be at our summit & teach you how to stop playing it small and live the life you truly desire.
Roxy Bond
SUBSCRIBED Part Two: How To Create An Irresistible Lead Magnet That Your Ideal Clients Will Actually Sign Up For!
Roxy Bond is a passionate and creative individual who entered the wedding industry seven years ago. From a part-time assistant to a full-time shop manager, she gained valuable experience in resilience, team management, marketing, sales, and customer service. Her dedication led to the shop's remarkable success, gaining recognition on platforms like Netflix and "Don't Tell the Bride." Roxy's involvement in a "Women Supporting Women" campaign showcased her commitment to empowering mothers and women in employment and entrepreneurship.
Overcoming low self-esteem due to a speech impairment and dyslexia, she is now a cat mom with three children, one having additional needs. Roxy thrives on sharing knowledge, fostering industry connections, and empowering others to overcome barriers and achieve their dreams.
Sarah Chianese
Book UNIQUE Weddings To Appeal To Generation Z
Sarah Chianese is Owner & Exec. Chef of Mangia and Enjoy!, a boutique wedding & event catering company based out of the Hudson Valley, NY & Colorado Springs, CO. Her passion for utilizing local, organic farms & sustainable resourcing while creating customized global cuisine menus for a wide variety of luxury clientele has earned her many industry awards & recognition.
A Wedding Industry Pro for over a decade, Sarah is also an expert in producing many types of events having held a 20-year career as a TV, film, theatre, multi-media, fashion, & music Producer, as well as a Certified Education Consultant for NYC Board of Education & PR Consultant for NY1 News, before returning to her first love: Creating Exceptional Memories through the Art of Food!
Member of WIPA, NACE, ICA & Wedding MBA Speaker, Sarah has been recognized by several industry publications for her insight & expertise, inc: The Knot, Catersource, Bridal Guide, Wedding Chicks, She Finds, Colorado Wedding Magazine, & more.
Sarah's company, Mangia and Enjoy!, is also a Finalist for Best Catered Event of the Year with NACE (National Association for Catering and Events)!
Shaun Gray
5 Tips For Showing Up On Short Form Video!
Shaun Gray is a wedding planner with over a decade of experience in the industry. In addition to his expertise in event planning, Shaun is also well-versed in the world of short-form video, and serves as a strategist in the area for wedding professionals. He is eager to share his tips and insights with fellow creative professionals, to help them “Just Hit Record!”.
When he's not busy helping clients celebrate exceptionally or promoting the importance of showing up on short-form video, Shaun can be found enjoying all that Houston has to offer, from Rockets games and museum exhibits to sunny Sunday Funday spots around the city.
In his free time, he is also a devoted dog dad to his seven-year-old Rat Terrier mix rescue, Bear.
Tayler Cusick Hollman
The Future Is Here: How To Uplevel Your Marketing With AI
A marketing consultant and small-business builder, Tayler is the Founder of Enji—though you might recognize her from one of her other companies: TAYLRD Media and Designs and Sourced Co.
In her newest endeavor, Tayler is taking everything she has learned over nearly a decade of helping small businesses with marketing to design and build a suite of online marketing tools that fit your lifestyle and make sense for you. Because, while you didn’t sign up to be the Chief Marketing Officer of your business, at Enji, we believe becoming one doesn’t have to be so daunting—and our goal is to empower you with the tools and solutions you need to make more informed decisions, use your resources more effectively, get creative with how you connect with customers, and ultimately grow.
Tracey Manailescu and Danielle Andrews
Imposter Syndrome And How To Overcome It
Tracey Manailescu and Danielle Andrews have been consulting on, planning, and coordinating weddings and international events in a professional capacity since 2000.
They have planned events, and conferences in Canada, Colombia, Mexico, The Bahamas, Barbados, Turks & Caicos, and Jamaica. Their wedding insight and expertise is often sought out by resorts and venues. They have consulted with venues and resorts all over the Caribbean, Canada, and Mexico.
In 2003, Tracey and Danielle co-founded The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada (WPIC Inc.), a higher education institute for wedding professionals, and have over 9000 alumni in thirty-six countries.
They train and certify both independent wedding professionals and those employed by venues and resorts, as well as Hotel and several Hotel and Tourism Associations.
In addition to planning weddings, teaching WPIC courses, producing conferences, and planning events for WPIC Alumni, they regularly speak at Wedding and Event Industry conferences.
Heidi Thompson
4 Keys To A Money-Making Marketing Plan
How Doing Less In Your Marketing Will Help You Book More Weddings
3 Big Website Mistakes That Are Costing You Bookings
Making More Sales Even When Things Are Slow
Heidi Thompson is the best-selling author of Clone Your Best Clients and the founder of Evolve Your Wedding Business where she helps wedding professionals book more ideal clients and craft a business that gives them the income, life, and freedom they want.
Her business & marketing expertise has been featured on several wedding and business outlets and events including The Huffington Post, Wedding Business Magazine, Sprouting Photographer, WeddingMBA, Aisle Planner, Honeybook, and WeddingWire World.
She is the creator and host of Book More Weddings Summit & Wedding Business CEO Summit. Over the past 10+ years, Heidi has helped thousands of wedding pros of all kinds across 6 continents grow their businesses without working 60+ hour weeks.
