Expertly Engaged Chats with Kellee Khalil, CEO and Founder of Lover.ly

If you’re a bride-to-be chances are you’ve stalked Lover.ly, the highly addictive new resource where brides and grooms can "search, save, shop and share all things wedding all in one place."

Recently, I sat down with bridal maven Kellee Khalil, CEO and founder of Lover.ly, and chatted about her website, trends in the bridal industry, and wedding world domination.

What motivated you to start Lover.ly?

KK: I was inspired to start Lover.ly after going through the wedding planning process with my sister. I was her maid of honor, and I jokingly say sometimes the ‘Slave of Honor’ because it was 18 months of work – really hard work! We spent hours searching for inspiration and ideas and once we figured out the theme and color palette for the wedding, it was impossible to find a bridesmaid dress or accessories or hire the right florist to do the job. Most women experience this pain when planning a wedding, but our situation was unique. My sister runs Be Inspired PR and has access to some of the top wedding vendors in the industry yet we were STILL experiencing a hard time organizing it all! Everything in wedding planning requires a lot of detail and planning.

What should brides-to-be know about Lover.ly? How do you get on the website and search?

KK: Loverly is set up to simplify the process. We want it to be a delightful experience and not overwhelming for our users. Our homepage is updated five or six times a day with highly-curated content to help users get inspired for their wedding. One of the most popular features is exploring different color palettes and options from the color bar. Another fun new feature that just launched last week is a shuffle button called “Surprise Me.” Lover.ly’s shop portal has over 200,000 products from 1,800 brands to allow brides to shop directly from the website. It’s a great way to dive in and get inspired.

I recently downloaded the Lover.ly app onto my iPad. How important was it for you to move into the mobile market?

KK: For Lover.ly, we want to be where our brides are. Last year, 20% of our users accessed the website via their mobile phones. This year that amount increased to 30%.

What are the top three wedding trends this week?

KK: The color mint is still quite popular right now. There has also been a general shift back to traditional and classic weddings. The art deco and 1920s look (thanks to the movie, Great Gatsby) is still quite popular, too!

One of my favorite articles on you was in Forbes where you discussed the notion of being a woman in the tech world and tearing down the ‘pink ghetto.’ What does being a woman in the tech world mean to you?

KK: When I first started Lover.ly I was really naïve to the fact that women were seen differently than men. I came from the world of finance where it was all about performance – you sold the most, made the most, and it garnered you the most respect. Initially, when I first entered the tech world I didn’t realize there was such a disconnect between me walking into a meeting and people instantly discounting me because I am a girl and because I like to wear pink lipstick and stilettos. I had to push that much harder so that people could think that I was credible. I believe in the importance of mentoring, especially other women who may be starting out as entrepreneurs. Often times it’s just about being visible and showing people that you are out there doing the work.

What does the next six months and beyond hold for Lover.ly?

KK: We’re on a mission of total wedding world domination! So, that’s the long-term plan. In the next six months our focus is to continue to make our product more useful and helpful for women. We want to simplify this overwhelming process. We are constantly listening to our users, vendors, and partners to get feedback on what they would like to see to make the site better. We are continuing to work on updates to the mobile app. As far as the website, we plan to onboard new brand partners and layer on new features and tools to enhance the user experience. We are focused on making wedding planning easy for all parties involved: guests, relatives of the couple, and all the non-bride super users out there.

Bridal besties, the days of lugging around that dinosauric 3-ring binder are over. Dive in and get inspired by Lover.ly today!

Kelli, thank you for an amazing interview.

Readers, be sure to check out my ‘loves’ and ‘bundles’ at The Bridal BFF on Lover.ly.