Today we’d like to introduce you to Britt Cole and Francie Dorman.
42 North is a full-service planning and design firm founded by Francie Dorman and Britt Cole – two seasoned creative event producers with a specialty in distinctive weddings at private estates and non-traditional venues around the country. As dedicated partners, we customize the wedding planning experience to best suit each client’s demanding lifestyle. We conceptualize a unique vision from the ground up, interpreting our client’s taste for a thoughtfully designed and flawlessly executed celebration.
Britt and Francie met several years ago while working in the industry. Both founders have diverse backgrounds in the hospitality and events world, ranging from restaurant and venue management, full service wedding planning, catering sales and event management with a combined 25 years of experience.
As 42 North, Britt and Francie have had the opportunity to work with clients based all over the country to plan their destination weddings in New England. Their work has been featured by Vogue, Martha Stewart Weddings, Huffington Post, Style Me Pretty, Boston Wedding Magazine, Dear Gray Magazine, The Boston Globe, BRIDES and more.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Starting and running your own business is never a smooth road! The advantage we had in the beginning was that we did not need anything more than our time, a website and some business cards to get started. Both of us were still working full time jobs when we launched 42 North, so we had to fit in working with our clients in the early morning or evenings around our work schedules. It was grueling!
As our business grew, we realized it was time to start taking some risks. We invested in a professional photo shoot to get our portfolio started, as well as hiring a PR team to assist us in building our brand, outreach, and positioning us as experts and leaders in the industry.
Eventually, we both decided to leave our jobs, rent an office, and hire a team. It was a big leap to make our “side hustle” into a full time job. It’s a lot of pressure! We both have families and balancing running our own business and being a mom is challenging every single hour of every day.
We created 42 North because we have a set of skills that we knew could be translated into a business. We have a unique perspective on our clientele in that we are the same generation; we understand how our clients tick. It’s an advantage to us that we understand how our clients make decisions, what kind of experience they want for their wedding planning, and how they decide to invest their money. We feel like we have really been able to create an experience for our clients that is forward-thinking and fits into their lives very well.
42 North Weddings – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
42 North is a full-service luxury wedding planning firm based in New England. Our team works with a limited number of clients per wedding season to ensure we can offer a high level of service, taking care of every little detail of a client’s wedding plans.
We specialize in planning un-conventional weddings in off-the-beaten-path locations. We excel at logistics, especially when it comes to mapping out event infrastructure such as tenting, flooring, electricity, transportation, safety, and weather contingency plans.
In addition to all of the logistical challenges, we take on the design aspect of wedding planning as well. It’s a unique challenge to make the un-pretty part of an event look beautiful and effortless, and what sets our firm apart is that we excel at both. Our diverse backgrounds as founders allows us to bring our previous experiences together (Francie’s design eye and Britt’s knack for logistics).
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success for us right now is feeling happy in our work, and feeling like it is always moving forward. Every three months or so, we sit down together and check in on where our business is, and where we want it to be three months from now. That process has truly propelled us forward. We set goals throughout the year, and when we hit them we feel successful. Its how our business has grown from something we did on the side during our full time jobs three years ago, to an acclaimed full time operation.
Pricing:
- Our planning services begin at $35,000.00
Contact Info:
- Address: 55 South Main Street
Unit 1
Ipswich, MA 01938 - Website: www.42northweddings.com
- Phone: 978-233-8119
- Email: hello@42northweddings.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/42_north/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/42NorthWeddings/
Image Credit:
Norman and Blake
Henry and Mac
Lisa Rigby
Lindsay Vann
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