Cathy MacRae — a planner obsessed with how the day feels.
I design weddings the way I'd want to attend one: unhurried, personal, and quietly extraordinary from the first welcome drink to the last song.
Almost two decades of planning weddings in the Calgary and the Canadian Rockies, and still moved every single time the light hits the mountains at 8am.
Creative Weddings Planning & Design is a full-service wedding planning and design studio for couples who want a wedding that actually sounds like them. I handle the logistics, the vendor diplomacy, the seventeen-tab spreadsheet and the timeline that keeps the day breathing — so you can be present for it.
Calm hands, high standards.
- One lead planner — me — from inquiry to send-off.
- A vendor roster built on eighteen years of trust, not directories.
- Design rooted in your story, not last season's Pinterest board.
- Budgets managed transparently, in real numbers.
You get me — and a team that has done this hundreds of times.
I’ve spent years cultivating a small team of experienced wedding professionals who join me on wedding days. They aren’t temporary staff or last-minute hires; they’re people I’ve worked beside for years and would trust with my own family’s celebration. The size of the team scales to your guest count, so there are always enough hands to keep the day moving without anyone feeling managed.
Scaled to your guest count
Two hundred guests and a hundred guests are different jobs. We staff to the size and complexity of your day, not to a package.
Experienced, not entry-level
Every assistant is a working wedding professional who has run rooms, handled vendors and solved problems on a live timeline.
Warm with your people
Your grandmother, your officiant, your loudest groomsman — everyone is treated with the same patience and good humour.
Discreet by design
You should feel the day running well without ever seeing it being run. The work happens quietly, in the background.
Detail-obsessed
Place cards straightened, hems steamed, the bouquet handed over dry. The small things guests never notice are the ones they remember.
Calm when it counts
Weather turns, a vendor runs late, a zipper gives out. We have a plan for it, and you’ll usually hear about it after it’s already fixed.
Canada’s only Master Wedding Planner™.
The Master Wedding Planner™ designation is awarded by the Association of Bridal Consultants to planners who have proven years of experience, examination and peer review. I am currently the only planner in Canada to hold it — which, in practice, simply means your wedding is in the hands of someone who has already seen it, solved it, and quietly fixed it before you noticed.
Cathy has also completed wedding and event training with the Association of Bridal Consultants, the Wedding Planners Institute of Canada, and QC Event School.
The learning never really stops. I attend conferences and join webinars throughout the year — not for the certificate, but to see what’s shifting in design, hospitality and the way people gather, so the couples I work with get a wedding that feels of this moment rather than the last one.
I teach what I do. I’ve been invited to speak to planners and event professionals across North America and the Caribbean, and I regularly join webinars and panels for wedding and event organizations.
- Book More Weddings Summit2026 — Online
- Wedding Summit Series — Tech & AI Edition2026 — Online
- Cater+Event2026 — Los Angeles, CA
- Master Wedding Workshop2025 — Jamaica
- World of Weddings Conference2024 — St. Louis, MO
- World of Weddings Conference2017 — Mexico
- World of Weddings Conference2016 — Dallas, TX
“Where do we begin to write about Cathy and her wonderful team to get the message across that she is wonderful and was the MVP of our vendors? Right from day one, Cathy has been there for us, walking us through everything from hiring a planner, to getting us our amazing DJ, to our cake and even to running our wedding rehearsal. She goes above and beyond your expectations of everything you need, and never comes to you with a problem without a solution. She was very respectful of our budget and made everything about us and our day.
Muriel from Creative Weddings Floral department made such beautiful flower arrangements and bouquets. From a bride and groom who don't know much about flowers other than the typical rose, carnations, and “those pink things” from Pinterest, Muriel created something truly beautiful that had all our guests talking.
You can definitely tell that Cathy and Muriel have done this a few times! Cathy has ideas and suggestions I would've never thought about on my own, all I had to do was ask.
We owe so much to Cathy and the Creative Weddings design team for our day being perfect. They worked so hard and well into the night and took every bit of stress off of us. She will be the best decision you make for your wedding (other than your husband/wife)! We can't thank her and recommend her enough for making our day as perfect as it was!”