Our Core Values

Above all, we have a ZERO tolerance policy for hate of any kind. We believe LOVE is LOVE and all humans are beautiful. We believe in inclusion, diversity, representation, and equality for all.

We wrote these core values together as a group back in 2017, sitting together in Meredith’s living room. And while we've evolved past being an all-women business, we still have a strong affinity for the word "sisterhood" and our very first core value: The Sisterhood first. Always.

In the context of construction, "to sister" refers to the practice of adding additional support to an existing structural element by placing another element alongside it. This is often done to strengthen the original component, especially if it has weakened over time or if it's unable to bear the load by itself.

Just as adding a sister beam strengthens a structure, our "sisterhood" provides support, encouragement, and reinforcement to our team members. At the end of the day, our solidarity and connection as a group is what binds us together—and we are each stronger because of it.

Our connection with our venue clients is based on relationships. We have a no-commission salary structure specifically so that this can be the case. When our account managers don't have to worry about making a sale to make their mortgage, they can build trust with their clients—and that means long-term relationships.

We make decisions every day about how our website is built, how it's organized, and how it functions. With every decision, we ask "What's best for the couple?" We know that a website that works best for couples planning their wedding will work well for the venues and wedding pros who are featured on that website.

When our clients are booking weddings, whether through Here Comes The Guide or not, that's success—and that's all we care about. So not only do we root for that success, but we offer real advice to help our clients achieve it, whether that means an investment with us or not.

Sometimes all a co-worker or client or couple needs is to be heard. We always think it's a good idea to be in "listener mode", and we're committed to making things better where we can. We're also huge believers in Random Acts of Kindness.

Being happy—and comfortable—makes us our best selves. So we share our funny memes and dance to each other’s Spotify playlists and wear yoga pants every damn day. Whatever makes us smile wins.

Our team is incredibly goal-driven. We know how to set goals and we know how to meet them. But what we really love to do is exceed them. Like, blow them out of the water. THAT makes us smile.

Our team is teensy-tiny compared to our competitors, and that's a good thing. It means we're always pushing ourselves to learn new things. Sometimes those things seem daunting, but we've found that everything can be figured out with smarts, teamwork, and a willingness to ask questions.

We believe our employees will be better at work if they spend plenty of time away from it. For that reason, we keep hours reasonable and flexible and we always, always encourage fresh air, sunshine, exercise, and showing up for your kids' school performances. Being a grownup is about wearing a lot of hats—and we've created a culture at Here Comes The Guide that allows us to wear all of them. Ok, that's a strange visual, but you get our meaning.

We don't have a real "office". Weird, right? We're what's called a "fully distributed team", which is business jargon for "we have figured out a way not to pay crazy-expensive rent". The upside is that our employees work from all over the country and they can move without having to worry about finding another job. (That's what's enabled so many of us to work at HCTG for a decade or more.) The downside? Not much of one, turns out. We've come up with lots of tools to make sure we still feel like a cohesive team, including our "virtual office" (which is super fun and even has a beach and a Starbucks!), remote team-building events, and bi-annual all-company retreats.

We believe in being our nerdy, overachieving selves—and we're proud of it! We also believe in full transparency and radical candor, because we know that being honest with each other makes us stronger. And we believe vulnerability is a superpower.

We've created the company we've always wanted to see in the world. How did we do it? Through our collective personal investment: we each have ownership in the company. That's right. Here Comes The Guide is 100% employee-owned. That means we create the culture we want to work in, we create the goals we want to work for, and we're in charge of our own destiny. It's pretty sweet.