Dare I call this The Wedding Planning Resource to End All Wedding Planning Resources…?

The Internet has spoken. You can officially throw away that huge binder of wedding planning resources you poached off of Pinterest. 

I don’t know if we’re on this level yet, and if we’re not… well, we’re about to be. But here’s the hand-to-heart truth: you’re not hosting a content shoot. (I know, that’s rich coming from the mouth of the wedding photographer herself.)

You’re hosting a day. One that, allegedly, you’re supposed to remember forever. Possibly even the best day of your life… per popular opinion. 

So yeah, it should feel like your favorite version of yourselves (just with ritizier outfits and a legally-binding document at the end).

Take it from Shelby and Neil, who scrapped their OG, over-the-top, totally-not-true-to-them wedding plans, ditched the fancy venue, opted for a longer engagement, and rebuilt the whole thing from the ground up. With the help of powerhouse wedding planner, Honey B Weddings, they designed a day that was so unmistakably them.

Which is why “how to host a wedding” isn’t really the question. The real question is how to host your wedding— what to prioritize, what to scrap, and how to design a day that looks like you because it felt like you first.

Let’s get into it.

Choose a wedding venue that you can trust with the vibe

After Shelby and Neil admitted (out loud, bravely, no takebacks-style) that a low-key, intimate wedding felt WAY more on brand than the luxe, elevated affair they’d originally booked, they exercised the biggest flex of all time.

They pulled the deposit. 

And then—because committing to the bit is important—they booked a brewery for their I Do Day. Like, I’m sorry, how iconic can you actually be?! 

Forgotten Star Brewing Co. didn’t just vibe with them. It said, okay, bet, and matched their energy. 

The space already felt chill and unpretentious before anyone showed up, but as soon as Shelby and Neil stepped into the fun pops of color and texture already baked into the place, it just made sense that the next chapter of their love story was starting here.

When a venue already matches your energy, you can stop trying to create a vibe and just… exist in it. (Yes, you two DO, in fact, have a whole vibe about you. If you need someone to help you capture it, I may know a girl.) 

Just like that, the day moves easier, the moments land softer, and everything ends up feeling cooler— probably because you weren’t trying so hard. 

Need ideas for the best Minnesota wedding venues? I made a list, just for you! (A list which you can totally ignore if you’re planning on pulling a Shelby and Neil and setting up shop somewhere that doesn’t even define itself as a wedding venue.)

Do your research on Minnesota wedding planners… and then hire one.

Listen, I know you technically CAN plan this whole wedding by yourself. (After all, you do have this Wedding Resource to End All Wedding Resources sitting in your lap, as we speak…)

But the question is: do you actually want to?

Don’t let me stand in between you and a good time, but my best guess is that you have better things to do between now and ‘I Do’. You know, like taking your Save the Date photos, saying yes to the dress, or just casually flaunting the title of Fiancé to anyone within earshot.

Hiring a wedding planner means someone else is sweating the small stuff— timelines, last-minute tablescape swaps, that “wait, did anyone confirm the florals?” panic. She’s the one who has the impressive binder of wedding resources, so that you don’t have to. 

Meanwhile, you get to show up fully in your own story—laughing at the good parts, crying at the even better ones, stealing kisses around exposed brick corners, and actually feeling the day instead of chasing it. Every look, every laugh, every second becomes yours to live, because someone else is carrying the logistics so you can carry the magic (and I can photograph it.)

And because I’m a sucker for a good cheatsheet, here are a few of my personal favorite Minnesota wedding planners to work with: Honey B Weddings, Realm Planning, and Kenzie Heckmann. Hands down, the best in the biz. 

Say ‘yes’ to fun pops of color (and say it with your chest). 

You can Google ‘wedding colors 2026’ until your thumbs fall off, but I promise you: chasing trends is basically a fast track to a wedding that feels like everyone else’s— and nothing like you. 

Here’s a radical thought… Choose colors you actually like! Build your palette around your personality, your vibe, your energy— because, yes, you have free will and, yes, you should absolutely use it.

Take Shelby, for example. She is easily one of the bubbliest, brightest humans you will ever meet. She walks into a room and the whole place lights up like the Fourth of July. Could you imagine if she’d gone for deep emeralds or muted neutrals because some Wedding Colors 2026 trend said so? Total mood murder.

Instead, she leaned into what makes her her and what makes Neil who he is beside her. 

Her colorful wedding bouquet (absolute masterwork designed by local dahlia farmer, Bloomcroft) screamed bold corals and playful pinks, broadcasting her personality without even a hint of hesitation. The bridesmaids wore some of the most fun, vibrant dresses I think I have ever seen (and I’ve seen a few.) Every corner of the space got a little love, too—fun pops of color in the welcome sign, table assignments, ribbed bud vases, and quirky taper holders on the tablescapes.

It wasn’t too much, but it was just enough— enough to be felt through the entire room, enough to shape the energy, and enough to shine through in every single photo.

Add touches that are so you it hurts (in a good way)

There are a million details that go into a wedding day (which is why you’re hiring a wedding planner to actually handle them, remember?).

Why not sprinkle in a whole lot of them that scream ‘us’?

Shelby and Neil ran with this idea like it was a relay baton.

Their caterer? Wrecktangle Pizza, a place where they spend half of their lives when they’re not moonlighting as Bride and Groom. Their DJ? One of their closest friends. Their wedding cake? Baked and designed by yet another family friend. (Shoutout to my girl, Joyce, for making the cake-cutting photos actual chef’s kiss, in every sense of the word.) 

Even Shelby and Neil’s dogs got to make a cameo, because leaving the most important members of the family out of it is simply out of the question.

The best part about layering in the stuff that actually feels like the two of you is not just that it’s there. It’s that the day you say yes to forever is intentionally scattered with all of the details that got you there. 

And how cool is that?

Make ‘joy’ the only litmus test of the wedding day

If joy is what you want, then joy is what you will have.

Shelby and Neil’s only intention for their entire wedding day was to experience and be joy. You can see it in every single photo of every single part of their day— in the vows, in the cocktail hour, in the speeches— and now every single photo lives rent-free in my head.

Shelby and Neil are clearly no stranger to the sensation, and it shows. Every laugh was unforced, every grin was full-on, and every knowing glance between them radiates the kind of happiness that makes you wonder where you can get some of that for yourself.

If it sparks joy, it stays. If it doesn’t, it goes. 

That’s it. That’s the rule. Because at the end of the day, you only get one shot at this. Might as well make it wildly, ridiculously full of joy.

A Wedding Planning Resource That Actually Helps You Create A Canon Event

You’ve hoarded the Pinterest boards, color-coded a binder that could double as a coffee table, and maybe even bookmarked a dozen “inspo” weddings that all look exactly the same. Burn it (figuratively).

This is your playbook for a day that actually lives and breathes like the two of you, curated in one place so you can stop second-guessing yourself and start showing up for your own story.

Pick a venue that gets your vibe, hire a planner so you can actually be present, lean into bold colors and personal touches, and make joy the standard. 

Do all of that, and what you get isn’t just a wedding. It’s a canonical event. 

The photos will show it, the memories will feel it, and fifty years from now, you’ll still be bragging about how flawlessly you pulled off being totally yourselves.