Today we’d like to introduce you to Cara Neff
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My life partner and I, Scott Sorochak, moved to Miami Beach in 2022. We fell in love with Miami, the people, the food, the cultures, the beach. We knew that Miami was the perfect place to start our next chapter together, as empty nesters. Scott spent 30 years in California working in Venture Capital and I spent my whole life in Pennsylvania, primarily working in the insurance industry. We both were both ready to make career changes and had never really considered starting a business together.
At the end of 2023 I left my career and took a much needed, what I call a “Radical Sabbatical” I had no idea what the future would bring, I just knew I had to take a leap of faith, a long exhale, and find something new and exciting for the next and final chapter of my professional career. About 4 months into my sabbatical and soul searching, still with no idea what my next chapter would look like, Wed Society literally found me. The Wed Society Network – is a collection of trusted, community-focused wedding media brands. We focus on helping couples find wedding planning inspiration and simplify their search for the best wedding vendors by featuring beautiful local weddings and the talented vendors who bring them to life. We feature preferred vendors through an active online digital platform, a luxury annual print publication along with powerful social channels & in person events. They were looking for entrepreneurial minded, self driven professionals to help them grow nationally through a franchise model. In June 2024 we bought the Miami franchise and launched Wed Society Miami. Scott and I are buildings something really beautify for the wedding community here in Miami-Dade county and its been so wonderful to do something new, learn a new industry, meet new people while building our very own business together.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We loved everything about Wed Society and knew it was a business that we wanted to bring to the Miami wedding industry. There was no one else doing what we do here and that was so exciting to us. Although starting a new business brings exciting possibilities, it also comes with challenges.
Any entrepreneur will tell you that building a new business and your brand takes time. While Wed Society is so very well known & valued in the mid-west, we’re bringing something new to the Miami market that not many in the wedding industry have heard of before. A lot of our time and focus has been doing introductions, learning about and understanding the needs of the local market & vendors, and showing them what makes Wed Society Miami special. We’re so grateful to have been welcomed so warmly by the wedding professionals we’ve met. They are also entrepreneurs, building their own businesses and brands, so the alignment & synergy has been so fantastic to experience.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Wed Society Miami?
Wed Society is a membership-based advertising, marketing & promotion platform that was born out of the two female co-founders frustrations, planning their own weddings. 17 years ago, there was no Instagram or Pinterest to give ideas and inspiration for brides and grooms. Google searching for vendors was a daunting task, and still is today. And there were no locally focused wedding magazines to source inspiration. They launched their business with a luxury magazine that featured beautiful local weddings and the local vendors that brought them to life. Since then, we now have so many other digital and social opportunities, where couples come to find inspiration and find local vendors. Our omni channel approach starts with Instagram, Pinterest & our online website. Where couples who are planning their wedding, can come to find inspiration and see the actual work of the local talented wedding professionals. We still publish to Facebook, but we’re not finding that to be a primary source for today’s brides and grooms anymore. We also have expanded to TikTok, because we know that the next generation of brides and grooms are spending a lot of time sourcing on this platform and it will be just as integral as the other social platforms in the coming years. In a addition to our social and digital platforms we are hosting 2 in person networking events right here in Miami. Wed Society Miami’s first in person event will be in April 2025 and the second will be the release party for our luxury print magazine in September 2025, which is also our one year anniversary. To have a local social media and digital presence, local in person events and a local luxury magazine celebrating the beautiful Miami wedding community is truly so exciting. Miami-Dade County is the 8th largest wedding market in the US (by county) and it can be very difficult for brides and grooms to navigate such a large market when planning their wedding. We are simplifying the process, featuring the best weddings and showcasing the work of our talented wedding professionals.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Most of our wedding community here in Miami are surprised to find out that Wed Society has been around for 17 years. They started in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and then expanded into Dallas, Austin and Houston Texas. They have built a successful business and brand in the mid-west and knew they had something special. Wanting to expand nationally, they chose to use a franchise model, to stay true to their hyper local focus in each market. Today there are 15 markets that have or will launch nation wide and Miami is the second franchise in Florida. Wed Society Tampa + St. Pete Beach launched in May 2024. Wed Society Miami launched in September 2024
Contact Info:
- Website: https://miami.wedsociety.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wedsociety.miami/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wedsocietymiami
Image Credits
Kimberly Harrell Photography, Amanda Michelle Photo & Film, Sarah Marie Photography, Shaimaa Photography
