Nikita Thorne

Nikita Thorne is a UK wedding marketing strategist, consumer behaviour specialist and Head of Strategy at Guides for Brides. She is recognised as one of the UK’s leading wedding industry experts, specialising in how modern couples discover, evaluate and book wedding venues and suppliers. Her work focuses on digital visibility, including search, social media and AI-driven platforms, helping wedding businesses attract and convert today’s generation of couples. Nikita is a regular speaker at major industry conferences, an Advisory Board member of the UK Wedding Association, and a trusted media commentator on the UK wedding market.

About Nikita

Nikita Thorne is a recognised wedding industry expert, consultant and Head of Strategy at Guides for Brides, the UK's leading wedding planning directory. With over six years of hands-on experience across content, strategy, venue marketing and consumer research, she is one of the UK's most prominent wedding industry voices - advising businesses, speaking internationally and shaping how couples plan their weddings.

In 2025, Nikita was appointed as Consumer Insights, Media & Digital Advisor on the UK Wedding Association Advisory Board - a founding role established to set standards and drive the future of the UK wedding sector.

Nikita's passion for small business marketing began long before she entered the wedding industry. While studying for her first-class degree in BA (Hons) English Literature and Film & Theatre at the University of Reading, she served as the inaugural Secretary of the University's English Society, volunteering to run its marketing - her first experience of building an audience and growing a community from scratch. That led her to a marketing internship at a small agency in Oxfordshire, working directly with independent businesses to help them find their voice online. Supporting small businesses has remained a thread running through everything she has done since.

After a year travelling and working abroad (including three months in Brisbane as a Content Producer for a recruitment marketing and SaaS company) she joined Guides for Brides in 2020 and has been part of every major development since. This included serving on the communications team working alongside the UK Weddings Taskforce during the pandemic, delivering rigorous, fact-checked updates that helped thousands of couples and businesses navigate an incredibly uncertain time.

Beyond Guides for Brides, Nikita consults on wedding marketing strategy through Big Day Agency, where she has managed the marketing for several UK wedding venues. Most notably, she led the launch of Xenia Venues - building the marketing strategy from the ground up and managing the full marketing function for two years.

Her commentary and research have been featured in Hello! Magazine, OK! Magazine, Good Housekeeping, the Mail Online, The Sun and Yahoo! Life. She has appeared on GB News as a wedding industry expert, and is the host of Guides for Brides - The Wedding Podcast, which she has hosted since its launch in 2021. She is also a guest lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, where she speaks to event management students about the structure and dynamics of the UK wedding sector.

Nikita brings a genuine consumer perspective to everything she does. She has planned her own wedding in the UK and served as a Maid of Honour - giving her direct insight into what modern couples need, what they worry about, and what it actually takes for wedding businesses to reach and resonate with them.

Speaking & Credentials

Areas of Expertise

Core Areas of Expertise

• Wedding marketing strategy
• Consumer behaviour (Millennial & Gen Z couples)
• AI, search & digital visibility
• Wedding venue and supplier growth strategy
• Business analysis and gap analysis

Additional Expertise

• Wedding planning and budgeting
• UK wedding law and logistics
• Cultural and religious weddings
• Wedding industry trends

Get in touch with Nikita

For press enquiries, speaking bookings, marketing consultancy or business partnerships:

• Email: nikita@guidesforbrides.co.uk
• Call: 01235 770078
• Connect on LinkedIn