At Plannerd, we spend a lot of time helping couples navigate to-do lists, vendor management, budgeting, and the beautiful chaos that is wedding planning.
But today? The spotlight is on one of our own.
Sarah, Plannerd’s Head of Marketing and a professional wedding photographer with over a decade in the industry, is officially six months out from marrying her fiancé Trevor.
With just six months to go until their big day, we sat down with Sarah & Trevor to talk wedding planning, surprises, lessons learned, and what it’s like planning a wedding when you work at Plannerd. 👀
Q: Okay, six months out — how are we feeling right now?
Sarah: I feel like we’re almost in the home stretch where I can do fun things and just soak in the time we have left being “fiances”. We really wanted to get all vendors and logistics locked in before the holidays so that we could have more fun in this second half of the year!
Trevor: The worst is behind us (hopefully). Working together on such a big project has taught us so much about each other and what we want for our big day. I feel very lucky to be doing this with Sar by my side.
Q: What’s been the most fun part of wedding planning so far?
Sarah: Seeing my Pinterest board come to life. I’ve shot over 300 weddings and since my first one I’ve kept a running note in my phone of things I loved & loathed about each event. I really feel like our wedding is my Superbowl because of it haha. We’ve put so much creativity and fun into the guest experience and I am beyond excited to see it all come to life!
Trevor: Getting to meet up with our vendors in Montana! It was like a little mini vacation and I think more people should go experience where their event will be and what their guests will experience. It should be encouraged more! You don’t hear of people doing that.
Q: And the most unexpectedly challenging part?
Sarah: Planning an event in the middle of nowhere! We’re getting married at a gorgeous horse ranch in Montana, but there’s very little infrastructure. We’re bringing everything in…and I mean everything. I never thought I’d have to look up the sprinkler plans of a ranch to figure out the layout of a reception, but here we are.
Trevor: The politics of a guest list when you want to keep the wedding small without offending people. Budgeting too! We didn’t know how much goes in to planning a wedding in the middle of a field lol. We essentially have to create everything from scratch which has been a challenge!
Q: Be honest, Sarah, does working at Plannerd make planning easier or harder?
Sarah: Both. It’s a blessing and a curse. I feel like I was over-prepared in some ways. I definitely knew exactly what to do and who to hire first. I had our vendors locked in almost immediately, had our checklist imported, and rough guest count complete. The budget page in Plannerd was imperative to getting our ducks in a row. I also knew the importance of hiring a wedding planner – Shoutout Flawless Events by Chels! We booked her immediately.
On the flip side of that…We live and breathe weddings every single day. Hannah and I send each other inspo and trends all the time, so actually pausing to figure out what we wanted our day to look like and which direction we wanted to go in that felt like US instead of just a trending Pinterest board was tough!
Q: Trevor, what’s your favorite Plannerd feature so far?
Trevor: I think it’s the guest management tab and how it keeps track of all their info and RSVP's. The budget tab is also SO user friendly and I loved being able to put in our total budget number and watching it break down all the expenses and how we should allocate it to stay on track.
Q: Has using Plannerd changed how you approach planning as a couple?
Sarah: Yes! It keeps us aligned. We can both see tasks, deadlines, and the budget breakdown, so it feels collaborative instead of one person carrying everything.
Trevor: I mean, when both of us are able to sit down together and look at the same screen and have that clarity…Having one place where we can go and view literally the entire event together has made it so easy to stay on the same page (no pun intended).
Q: Have you had any “this is really happening” moments yet?
Sarah: When we flew up to Montana to meet with vendors, do tastings, and experience the city how our guests would. It was surreal thinking about having all our friends and family in that place in just six months’ time and made us SO excited!
Trevor: YEAH. The first time I had the “Oh my god this is happening” moment was when we met with our wedding planner face to face and started going over the day. That made it REAL.
Q: What are you most excited for on the wedding day?
Sarah: Literally just seeing all our people in Montana. Montana is such a huge part of my life but I grew up primarily in California & Washington. It feels so cool that all the people from all the different iterations of our life get to experience one of my happy places!
Trevor: Dude, dinner. I’d be lying if I said anything else. We were very intentional with all of our vendors and the guest experience as a whole and I think that really shines through in the food and gives nods to the location.
Q: Any surprises about each other during planning?
Sarah: How many breakdowns I would be having definitely shocked me lol. I went into this thinking I was a pro who could plan a wedding in a day. It’s a lot harder than that! Trevor surprised me with how much he wanted to own certain aspects of the day. Seeing him get so excited about the menu, the table settings, certain vendors…that made me really happy and made it feel like we were equally contributing to all the decision making.
Trevor: I learned that although Sarah is good at making decisions she can become very overwhelmed very fast with wedding planning haha. A wedding is so centered around the bride, so it makes sense that she’d be the one to get bombarded with questions from both guests and vendors constantly. We were definitely surprised and challenged when we had to make wedding planning such a priority in our day-to-day.
Q: What’s next on your 6-month checklist?
Trying to focus on us and more date nights – less logistics!
Scheduling fittings
Building out the day-of timeline
Our amazing planner (Flawless Events by Chels) has been a godsend so we know she’s got it covered and will keep us on track!
Photo Credit: Kyra Beatty - Risky Exposure Photography
Q: If you could give one piece of advice to couples who are 12+ months out, what would it be?
Sarah: Start earlier than you think you need to. Future-you will be grateful and you’ll get all the vendors you want! AND join Plannerd – duh. The way it lays out specifically what to do month-by-month REALLY will keep you on top of everything...and I'm not just saying that because I'm part of the team. I'd be passionate about this regardless.
Trevor: Elope. Lol. No, no, no… I truly believe having a big event with those closest to you is a once in a lifetime opportunity. There’s no other time to do something this grand.
Starting out, I’d say make yourself a roadmap month by month and delegate all the tasks so you don’t feel overwhelmed. Sarah was great about this by immediately putting all steps into our Plannerd To-Do list tab.
Q: Trevor, What’s something you’ve learned from Sarah’s years in the wedding industry?
Trevor: I’ve learned that every wedding is unique and special. She knows what works well and what doesn’t because of all the events she's seen. It’s so important to have a well laid out timeline so that everything goes off without a hitch. I’ve really seen this in working alongside her at her client’s weddings and knowing what a successful day looks like to vendors.
Q: Sarah, Has your industry experience changed how you’re using Plannerd?
Sarah: Yes!! I’m probably overusing the timeline tool — but that’s because I know how important it is to add buffer time. I also LOVE having the budget tracker. I preach about the budget page all the time on our meetings and in our podcast, but it's truly because I’ve never seen one better than Plannerd’s, and I will die on that hill.
Q: Trevor, does it add any pressure knowing Sarah has photographed so many weddings?
Trevor: No, it’s actually the opposite! One of the things that initially drew me to Sarah is that she knows exactly what she wants. I trust her. Trusting the process only gets you so far if you don’t have a vision for your day. Sarah had a vision from day one and that made me excited. She’s seen so many unbelievable weddings and I know she’ll do everything in her power to curate something even greater for ours.
Q: So, just for fun...Who cried first after the proposal?
Trevor: She did, for sure. I didn’t cry…
Sarah: He totally cried. We both cried lol.
Q: Who’s more likely to stay up late working on wedding details?
Sarah: That’s a joke, right?
Trevor: Sarah.
Q: Who’s most likely to be late on the wedding day?
Sarah: Couldn’t be me if I tried lol…5 minutes early is my “on time”.
Trevor: Me. It could never be her. Even though I won’t be late either…she’d never allow that.
Q: Okay. Final thoughts: In one word, how would you describe this season of life?
Sarah: Chaotic (but in a good way)
Trevor: Overflowing
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A huge thank you to Sarah and Trevor for taking the time to share their story, insights, and a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s really like planning a wedding together. It’s been such a joy hearing how they’re navigating this exciting season.
With the countdown officially on, their journey to the big day is only just getting started. We can’t wait to see how everything comes together! Be sure to follow along as Sarah and Trevor continue planning, celebrating milestones, and sharing moments leading up to “I do.” 💍