Since founding OFD Consulting 17 years ago, Meghan Ely has brought her wedding-industry and PR expertise to the stage, first in Virginia and then across the United States and around the world.Over the subsequent years, she’s spoken at myriad wedding industry conferences. She also regularly speaks at local NACE and WIPA chapters, and was a speaker at the inaugural WIPA National Conference in 2026.
Meghan’s most-requested speaking topics include wedding PR, editorial strategy, reputation management, wedding industry trends, and navigating press in the digital age. For a decade, she represented speakers helping her coaching clients secure spots at Landlocked Luxury, Wedding MBA, Cater + Event,, RSVP Club, DWP Congress, Be Sage, Engage! Summits, and many more.
In 2021, she launched the Wedding Industry Speakers course, which teaches wedding vendors and B2B service providers within the industry how to land speaking engagements and deliver dynamic, informative talks.
Meghan was named NACE Speaker of the Year in 2021 and RSVP Educator of the Year in 2025. Within her local community, she was awarded Speaker of the Year by ILEA Virginia and Speech of the Year by PRSA Virginia, in addition to multiple local NACE speaking awards. Meghan is a past national president of WIPA. She has also chaired the NACE National Education Committee and has trained chapter education directors on how to select and book speakers.
In addition to her work as a speaker, Meghan runs OFD Consulting, a public relations agency for event professionals, and OFD Collective, a membership community for wedding pros who aim to increase their visibility in the press.
She recently published her first book, 20 Wedding PR Lessons for 2026.
About Meghan’s work as founder of OFD Consulting
About Meghan’s work as founder of OFD Collective
RECENT EVENTS
Working with Meghan in preparation for her talk was an absolute pleasure.
As a speaker, there’s a lot that can happen behind the scenes: nerves, habits, and the pull to do what’s familiar. But Meghan came in with genuine curiosity and excitement to explore new ways of presenting. She was always prepared, open to feedback, and consistently professional throughout the process.
Her talk was fantastic! It was engaging, thoughtful, and delivered with real confidence. It was wonderful to see her ideas come to life on stage and to watch her connect so naturally with the audience.
– Jackie Chan
Speaking Coordinator, RSVP Club
Meghan Ely is a true gift to the wedding industry.
As an amazing speaker by herself or as the moderator of a panel, she knows how to engage a room as well as keep a panel on track. Meghan does her homework and keeps up-to-date and relevant on current topics and trends, while pulling from her years of personal experience to personalize every speaking event that she is present at.
– Mark Addington, WIPA Director of Education
Q&A with Meghan
What are your favorite topics?
The wedding media landscape is constantly shifting, and at the beginning of each calendar year it’s fascinating to take a deeper look and break down the data on who’s getting published, where, and how long it takes real weddings to appear.
In Q4, I also love speaking about wedding trends for the forthcoming year. Each fall, my team and I spend a lot of time on social media (especially TikTok!) surfacing what’s going to be impossible to avoid over the next 12 months.
What would you like to speak about in the future?
I recently completed coursework in Crisis Communication and Reputation Management through the Public Relations Society of America.
Now I’m taking what I’ve learned and teaching event professionals how to protect their brand through reputation management.
In an era when a wedding professional can suddenly go viral because an unhappy client makes a series of TikToks, reputation management is something we all need to know.
When heading to a wedding industry conference, I never leave home without my….
Full (and I do mean full) tech travel kit—it often gets compliments from the on-site AV team.
How would you describe your speaking style?
Over 15-plus years of speaking, I’ve discovered that audiences learn best through stories—and a dash of humor. I also love to incorporate a case study to show, rather than tell.
What’s the furthest you’ve traveled for a speaking engagement?
Doha, Qatar for the Destination Wedding Planners (DWP) Conference in 2024. It took 15 hours of flying to get there from my home base in Richmond, VA—and it was completely worth it.
Where would you love to speak next?
I’ll go back to London as many times as I’m invited. I’m also interested in visiting new-to-me states—right now I have my eye on Montana and Wyoming.
That said, I also always welcome the opportunity to return to somewhere I’ve spoken before and see familiar faces.
