Wedding Planner Society Podcast

What’s the one wedding planning “what if” we all think about and almost never say out loud? Not rain. Not a flaky vendor. Not a wardrobe malfunction. The scary one: what happens to your couple’s wedding day if something happens to you. That question gets real fast, and it changes how you build timelines, store documents, choose assistants, and define professionalism. Host, Laurie Hartwell, is join...

Silence can feel like a personal rejection when you’re the one staring at an unanswered email but most of the time, it’s just overwhelm. We sit down with Krisy Thomas, Master Certified Wedding Planner and the owner of Southern Sparkle Wedding and Event Planning, to talk about the real reasons couples stop replying, why vendor ghosting is a bigger deal than people admit, and what to do when communi...

The air shifts, someone snaps, the timeline slips and suddenly every vendor and family member in the room is looking at us to fix it. Laurie Hartwell sits down with Venisha Walker of Cloud9 Events to talk about what separates a steady wedding planner from a reactive one: the ability to see the human underneath the stress and respond with calm, not ego. We get personal and practical, starting with...

Your calendar is stacked, your weekends are gone, and from the outside it looks like you’ve made it. Then you check your bank account and feel that gut-drop moment. We’re naming the problem wedding planners rarely say out loud: being fully booked is not the same as being profitable, and the “busy but broke” cycle is often fueled by emotion, avoidance, and cash flow that is never planned on purpose...

Do you want to know the secret to evolving into a better wedding planner year after year? Not busier. Not more booked. Better. More efficient, more confident, and more in control of your workflows, processes, and client experience. That question sets the tone for a candid conversation between Laurie Hartwell, and longtime friend and CWP Society educator, Krisy Thomas of Southern Sparkle Wedding an...

The father-daughter dance is happening, the dance floor is packed, and then the fire department walks in with lights flashing. Outside, a flash flood is rising so fast that cars are sitting in water and the roads may not be safe by the end of the night. As brand-new business owner Christina Collins learns in her very first wedding under STEP Events, wedding planning isn’t about forcing the timelin...

“Effortless” weddings are usually the ones with the most happening behind the curtain, and we’re finally saying the quiet part out loud. We sit down with returning guest Rima Shah of Big Guava Events, a certified wedding planner and educator known for running wedding days so smoothly that couples and guests think the magic just happens on its own. It doesn’t. It’s built through planning systems, c...

The wedding industry loves the word “balance,” but nobody tells you what it looks like when a wedding weekend collides with a school event, your partner works overnights, and your body is running on fumes. We’re sitting down with Nikki Rogers, a 23-year wedding planning pro and owner of The Serendipity Collective, to talk about what “all in” really means when you’re building a wedding planning bus...

Weddings do not fall apart all at once. They unravel in tiny moments: a late delivery, a missing linen, a vendor who vanishes when it is time to cue a key event. The reason so many couples never see the chaos is because a tight vendor dream team is quietly fixing it in real time, and that kind of calm is built long before the wedding day ever starts. We sit down with Emma Cockerham of Infinity Eve...

One missed detail in Times Square can ripple across a million people, but Vicki Amar says the emotional stakes of a wedding can be even higher. She spent nearly a decade producing major NYC citywide events, then walked away to become a full-time wedding planner and the owner of Amarvelous Event in South Florida. That career pivot forces a bigger question: is “big” really about headcount, or is it...

A South Asian wedding can mean five events, hundreds of guests, sacred ceremony timing, and a timeline that shifts the moment an elder remembers "one more tradition." That's not chaos — it's culture, and it's exactly why preparation matters. In this episode, we're joined by Rima Shah of Big Guava Events, a planner with more than 14 years of experience, to talk about w...

We're the calm in everyone else's storm — the ones with a backup for the backup and a contingency for every "what if." But we almost never stop to ask what happens if the unexpected lands on us. In this one, Brianne and Laurie catch up as old friends and get honest about that blind spot — not to scare anyone, but to talk through what's actually changed for each of them, an...

The best weddings have a moment where the couple walks in, stops, and exhales — and that moment is never an accident. In this episode, we talk with Riley Snider of Elegant Affairs by Design in Tampa, Florida, about how real wedding design works when it's built on purpose, not trend-chasing or "more decor." Riley walks through the practical process she uses to find the thread behind...

Nearly 30 years into marriage, Laurie sits down with the person who has watched it all unfold up close — her husband, Phil. The late nights. The hard calls. The moments she carried more than she let on. This conversation is about what it actually takes to support a Wedding Pro — not just the surface-level cheerleading, but the daily reality of loving someone who is expected to be decisive and orga...

You can be the calm one in every crisis and still be quietly running on empty. Today, we’re naming the thing so many wedding planners and coordinators feel but rarely say out loud: we give grace away all day long, then hold ourselves to a harsher standard than anyone else ever could.  I’m sitting down with Tish Clay of Simone Elise Events, a master certified wedding planner and seasoned wedding pr...

A full calendar can feel like the ultimate sign of success in the wedding industry — until you notice your bank account doesn't reflect it. In this episode, we sit down with Matt Mitchell, co-founder and CEO of The Event Ledger , to talk about the quiet money problems that talented wedding planners and coordinators face when their business grows faster than their financial systems. Matt bring...

A venue coordinator forms an opinion about us fast, sometimes before they’ve seen a single timeline or ceremony setup. That snap judgment becomes the difference between being tolerated for one wedding and being the planner they recommend every time a couple asks, “Who do you trust here?” We break down what actually earns venue referrals, and it’s not a bigger portfolio or more years in business. I...

Weddings are one of the only major projects where it's considered normal to skip training and figure things out in real time — and that mindset is quietly costing couples, planners, and the industry as a whole. In this episode, Krisy Thomas and Laurie Hartwell of The CWP Society take on a claim that keeps circulating online: that wedding planning education is optional, certification doesn&apo...

The wedding industry is really good at making capable planners feel like they're not enough. In this solo episode, Master Certified Wedding Planner & Senior Educator, Krisy Thomas, addresses something most planners feel but rarely say out loud: the gap between where you are and where you think you should be. That gap is often created by comparison — polished highlight reels on Instagram,...

Your calendar can be full and your business can still feel stuck. In this episode of The Wedding Planner Society Podcast , Senior Educator Krisy Thomas breaks down three quiet growth blockers that show up in wedding planning businesses at every stage — and they rarely look like problems. They look like decisions you already made. We dig into the pricing structures, service packages, and long-stand...

What Your Couples Really Remember About Working With You A wedding can run flawlessly and still leave couples feeling unsupported during the planning process — and that gap is exactly what we're addressing in this episode. Riley Snider, Master Certified Wedding Planner, Certified Industry Educator, and owner of Elegant Affairs by Design, joins Laurie Hartwell, Founder and CEO of the CWP Socie...

When was the last time you made a decision that was entirely for you — for your business, and for the version of you that's still becoming? That question sits at the center of this conversation, because wedding planning is built on heart. But heart without structure has a ceiling — and a lot of planners hit it before they ever realize what held them back. This industry has a way of keeping yo...

Most couples think they're hiring a wedding planner/coordinator for timelines, vendor coordination, and flawless logistics. And yes — we deliver all of that. But the deeper truth is that they're hiring us for permission to be fully present on one of the most important days of their lives. When something goes sideways, our calm becomes their peace of mind. That steadiness isn't a bon...

If you've ever wondered why some wedding planners earn glowing reviews, steady referrals, and dream clients while others stay stuck in the chaos — this episode goes straight to the root. We're not talking about having a prettier timeline or better software. We're talking about the moment the schedule slips, a vendor is frustrated, the client asks the same question for the third time...

There's a split-second on a wedding day when something shifts — weather, a timeline slip, a vendor delay — and every person in the room reads one thing first: the planner. If we tighten up or sound frantic, stress spreads. If we stay steady, the room steadies too. Quiet confidence isn't a personality trait. It's the visible result of preparation done before anyone is watching. In th...