Cork businesswoman: ‘Networking can give people the ‘ick’, but it’s about making connections’

Networking can sometimes give people the ‘ick’, but I just think of it as making a connection instead of ‘working the room’.

That’s according to Ciara Crossan, who was named Networker of the Year at the 2026 Network Cork Businesswomen of the Year awards.

Ciara, who lives in Carrigaline, set up her business, WeddingDates.ie, 18 years ago, and is the first to admit she’s impressed with its longevity.

Her clients are hotel and wedding venues, and with her team of six, she works with them to increase their wedding revenue.

“We do that through WeddingDates.ie which is a consumer-facing website where couples can find venues and suppliers based on their date. We also have WedPro, a wedding Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, for hotels and venues to manage their entire wedding business,” she said.

This relatively new element of the business came out of covid, a period which all but decimated the industry she serves.

“It was a really tough time, but it did allow us the time to develop the idea, which we’d had for a while. It was born from listening to customers and their frustration and struggles. Previously, they may have had spreadsheets, didn’t know which of their marketing activities was leading to bookings. There were sticky notes, things written down in a book… effectively, they were losing business because their follow-ups and system weren’t slick.

“WedPro manages all their enquiries in one place, automates the responses, tracks interaction and gives them competitive benchmarking. We’re a data-driven company and education is one of our core pillars. We support our clients to improve on their performance and you can’t do that unless you measure it first.”

Ciara’s also a sought-after speaker at conferences and events, and before this interview she delivered a live webinar in association with the Irish Hotels Federation on the latest data from the Central Statistics Office around marriages.

“The stats were really interesting – there’s a national decline in weddings but an urban shift with increases in Dublin and Cork cities. Couples are also getting older – the average age of a groom is 38 and a bride is 36,” she noted.

And just like weddings are changing, Ciara has also had to evolve in business, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I love the business, but I’d get bored easily so it has to be interesting and fresh for me, which is why we’re always innovating – we need to make sure we’re relevant to the current market, which is very different to what it was 18 years ago.”

That involves constantly looking to the future.

“With WedPro, we’re constantly improving features, for example we just added text messaging capabilities. As well as looking at feature functionality, we also look at the geographic markets that we service. Currently, 60% of our business is in the UK, but there’s huge opportunity for software like ours to go global which is very exciting.”

She calls her business her ‘first baby’, and she’s also a single mum to 12-year-old twin boys.

“It’s important to me to be a role model for the boys, and they can see hard work and a strong work ethic, which is something my parents drilled into me, and I’m proud to pass to them. But since becoming a mum, I’ve become better at creating boundaries and putting in guard rails around work.

“It’s just the three of us. There isn’t anyone else to make the dinner, or to drop and collect to school, I’m doing all of that so I do have to be quite strict with my time, but I’m not a one-woman band, I’ve a great team who have been with me a long time, which gives me huge confidence when I am away from the business and then I have fantastic family support when I am away from home.”

Ciara has been a member of Network Cork since 2018.

“When I first started out in the early years, I was a total loner, hustling away. No one else in my friend group had their own business, it was really isolating. When I joined, it was the first time I realised that other people might be able to relate to what I’m going through, and I started opening up to the power of networking and joined other groups.

“I’m now also part of the EY Winning Women programme, for female founders all over the world, and I find great strength in the power of connecting with other business people, women in business, and sharing the burden, the struggles and the wins with my peers,” said Ciara.

She feels so grateful to have had that positive experience and she now mentors new Network members.

“Winning the award meant a lot as it’s not just about the business, it’s about me personally. I think in networking, the most important thing is to give back and help others – that’s how people remember you, and you build your network over time.

“Being recognised as someone who is good at that, meant a lot to me. It’s not just, ‘gosh, she can work the room,’ it’s way more than that,” she said. Ciara feels some people are quick to describe themselves as ‘bad at networking’, but all you need is to be able to talk to people. It’s about connection.’

“When it’s framed as connection, people can relate to that. I think of it as business matchmaking, I love doing that!”

She’s worked fully from home since the pandemic, and said the power of Network Cork events has been even more obvious to her since.

“I’ll always come home either having learned something, had a laugh, made a connection, there’s always some positive from a Network event, and you always come out better than you went in.”

Ultimately, Ciara is proud of the longevity and sustainability of her business.

“When I was starting out 18 years ago, I could never have imagined I’d be where I am. I was shocked to make it to 10 years, not to mind 20. I was so young, 25, starting out, so clueless and full of youthful enthusiasm, but the opportunities the business has given me, places I’ve travelled to, people I’ve met... it’s completely shaped me who I am as a person. I still love it, and am so grateful to be able to do it every day.”