Today we’d like to introduce you to Ellie Gordon
Hi Ellie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My sister Mariana and I (Ellie) were born and raised in Hamilton, OH just 2 miles from our storefront. Despite our 4 year age gap, we shared a bedroom, attended high school together and have been glued at the hip for most of our young adult lives. We were raised by extremely hardworking parents and have entrepreneurship in our blood so we always knew we wanted to open some sort of business but we never considered bridal until we both got into the workforce and found our passions. Mariana studied fashion and started working as a hairstylist, styling women to feel the best most confident versions of themselves! I studied film and photography and started working in the wedding industry in high school as a freelance wedding filmmaker then went on to become a wedding coordinator guiding wedding parties through their perfect day! When we both felt we had found the niche career path that we excelled in we finally decided to combine our talents and mix styling with weddings to open our very own bridal boutique. We were quickly very confident in this idea for many reasons and immediately jumped on the idea working day and night to business plan. We spent about a year and a half searching for the perfect storefront space, renovating the space to match our high-end luxury vision, meeting with designers, curating gown collections, and educating on ourselves on every bridal topic you could think of until we opened October of 2024, just about 4 months ago. It was the busiest and most rewarding time for us! And thinking back to that planning period, the first and easiest decision we made was naming our boutique: Frannie & Joe Bridal, the names of our maternal grandparents who were married for almost 70 years and opened a Hamilton business themselves!
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?
Just about every week Mariana and I hit a new obstacle we have to work through, but each time we gain so much experience to help us with the next hurdles! We will always be expecting highs and lows in this journey but we’re big believers that consistent hard work will always pay off. Each high and each low we go through I feel so lucky that I get to work with my sister, someone I can be brutally honest, transparent and vulnerable with. Many people kindly warned us about doing business with family, and while I completely understand the problems that could create I know my sister and I have the perfect relationship to make this work. Our similarities help us make design choices and our differences help us divide and conquer the ownership tasks. With all of this said, the brides of our area have completely understood and loved our vision for a luxury yet private and peaceful shopping experience and we take this as a huge success! We truly feel so blessed for our first 4 months in business and cannot thank God and our community enough for supporting us!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
At Frannie & Joe we have created the ideal space to give the most confident yes to the dress! We found a beautiful storefront on High Street, downtown Hamilton, and spent almost 8 months designing every inch of the space to give off that high end and peaceful environment I keep mentioning. Our space is set up for private appointments so each bride gets the store completely to herself with the opportunity to look through every single gown in the store. No rush, no pressure, no extra eyes or opinions other than a small group of their favorite people. We created and extra large dressing room and cozy lounge to host your guests, featuring a beautiful 7 foot mirror and natural bright lighting to see every detail of potential gown choices! As sisters we specialize in treating each bride with the care they deserve, and based off community response we are very proud to be known for our beautiful space, peaceful shopping experience, and luxury gowns! And we’re proud to offer a unique experience like ours to give women the chance to feel confident in their choice. Each F&J bride leaves here with our full support for life. From the moment they said “yes” to the dress, to zipping that gown up on their wedding day and dancing the night away, to their 70th wedding anniversary, and so on.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Just coming out of our planning stage and fresh into owning a fully operational business, my biggest piece of advice is to take the leap! Without the support of advisors, the chamber, friends and family, etc. I think we would’ve put off opening a lot longer than we did from fear. However, jumping into this and making sacrifices to make it happen was the best choice we could’ve made! If I could speak to anyone in my shoes a year and a half ago I would encourage them to brainstorm like crazy, write up goals and a business plan and immediately meet with a business advisor. You do not need to have every detail figured out to get started you truly learn the most through experience, and as I mentioned before highs and lows are bound to happen but with the right mindset and work ethic any dream can come true!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://frannieandjoe.com
- Instagram: frannieandjoebridal
