2013 Year in Review

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2013 was a massive year for the Tide team. Here are some highlights: The team grew to from three to five strong with the additions of Emily Straubel and Liz Smith (soon-to-be Liz Kirby). Both are Maine natives who lived away before returning to Maine to live, work and play. Emily and Liz bring a millennial perspective to everything we do and have helped move the team forward in great ways.

Alina and her husband Brian welcomed their son Arlo into the world.

My wife Emilie and I welcomed our daughter Clara June into the world.

Johann helped his brother Nick plan a wedding in a week at Mountain House. He is a sea captain, she is a Brazilian ballerina, and they were engaged and married in one week at Mountain House.

The Tide team welcomed three new full service clients under our wings:

  1. Hardy Farm, a new rustic barn wedding venue near North Conway, NH,
  2. Mountain House on Sunday River, a new venue overlooking Sunday River in Newry, ME, and
  3. BESWOON, a curated bridal showcase at the new Westin Portland Harborview Hotel.

Our top 5 Tide blog posts of the year were:

  1. We are hiring!
  2. Venue branding: consulting, marketing and media.
  3. How to reach brides-to-be with Pinterest.
  4. Market to newly engaged couples on Facebook.
  5. SEO for wedding venues.

We launched Wedding DJ App. This app enables couples to crowdsource iTunes playlists for their wedding.

We launched Wedding Countdown App. The app allows couples to enter their wedding date and count down to it while sharing images on Facebook and keeping notes about the process.

We grew out  VenueApp client base to 9. From coast to coast, 9 wedding venues and catering companies are using a customized VenueApp to impress their clients on Apple devices.

We raised a $300K seed investment to develop a new wedding vendor directory: lulawed.com. This vendor directory will stand out among others because it leverages partnership with photo editing and photo proofing companies to help get wedding businesses the professional images they need to market their businesses.

We revived Love & Lobster. This blog captures the quintessential everything of Coastal New England wedding style and trends.

We launched The Wedding Life, for advice and authentic discussion in the wedding business world.

We partnered with friends to conduct the 2013 Maine Wedding Survey. The survey results will help us better understand the challenges and opportunities facing Maine wedding businesses.

Cheers to all of our friends and colleagues in the New Year!

J Sandifer and the Tide Creative Team