Planning 300+ Weddings—and Then My Own

Mammoth Lakes Wedding

As a wedding planner, I’ve helped bring more than 300 couples’ dream days to life. But when it came to planning my own wedding, I knew I wanted it to feel different, personal, and nontraditional. Here’s how I approached planning as both a wedding professional and a 2025 bride.

Starting Early (Really Early)

I started planning a year and a half out. Why so early? Two reasons:

1. I didn’t want my wedding to compete with my existing clients’ events.

2. I didn’t want to choose an off-season date that I wasn’t excited about just for the sake of convenience.

Giving myself plenty of time also meant I could be intentional about every choice instead of rushing through decisions.

Choosing the Location

Southern California never felt quite right for us. I already knew I didn’t want a traditional venue, and nothing local stood out. As a family, we landed on Mammoth Lakes, a meaningful place we’d visited before, and somewhere I had actually planned a wedding in 2023.

At first, I discovered that many of the restaurants and venues were run under one umbrella company. After receiving their quotes, it became clear they were way out of budget. That’s when Plan B kicked in: reaching out to vendors I’d worked with in the area. “Friendors” (vendor friends) were incredibly helpful in pointing me toward hidden-gem options that wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg.

Finding the Reception Spot

Through those connections, I was referred to a restaurant not tied to the big Mammoth Weddings group. After a few months of back and forth, we drove up one year before our tentative date to check it out.

On that same trip, we also scouted ceremony spots and believe it or not, we found the perfect location on the very first try. Add in an amazing food tasting, and we were sold. We put down our deposit for June 8, 2025, our official date!

Locking in the Guest List

With the restaurant’s capacity capped at 100 guests, we aimed for around 87. Since this was going to be a destination wedding, we decided to do something a little different with our Save the Dates: we included a required RSVP in September 2024, nearly nine months before the wedding.

The strategy was twofold:

• To give guests plenty of time to plan for travel and expenses.

• To see who could realistically attend, so we’d know if we could extend additional invites.

By November 1, 2024, our RSVP deadline, nearly everyone said yes, something we hadn’t expected but we're thrilled about.

The Dress Hunt

If you’ve seen hundreds of dresses, you’d think finding one for yourself would be easy, right? Wrong. I had tried on countless gowns and scrolled endlessly through Instagram and Pinterest, but nothing felt right.

Finally, I went (solo!) to a local boutique in Temecula called Love Era. The owner, Alex, could tell I wasn’t impressed with the first round, so she asked me to come back after a new shipment arrived.

I almost canceled my second appointment, but I’m so glad I didn’t. The moment I saw the dress, I knew. It was a Barbara Kavchok ballgown with a backless design, 3D rose appliqués, and the kind of romantic details I’d never seen before. For the first time, I had that “this is the one” look I’d seen so many brides experience before me.

What’s Next?

With the big pieces in place: date, venue, vendors, guest list, and dress, the rest is all about the details. And since this is a nontraditional wedding, there are plenty of fun surprises still to come.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where I’ll share the creative choices that will make our wedding truly ours.