Question 1

What does a wedding planner actually do?

Accepted Answer

A wedding planner helps you make decisions, stay organized, manage your vendors, and bring all the pieces of your wedding together. At Creative Weddings, we help with much more than making a checklist. We guide you through the planning process, help create a clear design, build your wedding-day timeline, communicate with your vendor team, and watch for details that are easy to miss. On your wedding day, we lead the team, answer questions, manage the schedule, solve problems, and help make sure everything runs smoothly. You can enjoy your celebration without feeling like you need to manage it.

Question 2

Do we really need a wedding planner?

Accepted Answer

Not every couple needs the same level of help. However, a planner can be especially helpful when you are busy, planning from out of town, hosting a larger wedding, working with several vendors, or creating a wedding with many design and décor details. You may also benefit from a planner if you feel overwhelmed or are unsure where to begin. Your wedding should not become a second full-time job. Having an experienced planner gives you guidance, a clear plan, and someone you can trust to look after the details.

Question 3

What is the difference between full planning, partial planning, and wedding-day coordination?

Accepted Answer

Full wedding planning and design is for couples who want support from the early stages of planning through the wedding day. We help with the budget, venue, vendors, design, timelines, logistics, and many of the decisions along the way. Partial planning and design is for couples who have already started planning but need help completing the details, improving the design, or getting everything organized. Wedding-day coordination with design support is for couples who have planned most of the wedding themselves but need an experienced professional to bring everything together. Our coordination work begins before the wedding day so we have time to learn your plans, speak with your vendors, build the timeline, and find any missing details. We can help you choose the service that fits your wedding and the amount of support you need.

Question 4

When should we hire our wedding planner?

Accepted Answer

It is helpful to hire your wedding planner as early as possible, especially if you want full planning and design. Your planner can help you review venues, build a realistic budget, choose trusted vendors, and make important early decisions. This can prevent you from signing contracts or making purchases that may not fit your full wedding plan. For full planning, many couples reach out 12 to 18 months before their wedding. However, every wedding is different. Even if your date is closer, it is still worth asking about availability.

Question 5

What wedding budgets do you normally work with?

Accepted Answer

Creative Weddings works best with couples who value professional service, thoughtful design, quality vendors, and a well-planned guest experience. Most of our full planning and design couples are working with an overall wedding budget starting around $40,000, and many invest well beyond that. What you need will depend on your guest count, venue, location, food, rentals, flowers, entertainment, and design plans. We will always speak honestly about what is possible within your budget. Our goal is to help you spend with purpose and focus on the parts of the wedding that matter most to you.

Question 6

How much does a wedding planner cost in Calgary and the Canadian Rockies?

Accepted Answer

Our fees begin at $9,500 for Full Planning & Design and $5,500 for Design & Wedding Day Coordination. Micro-Weddings begin at $4,500, and Wedding Day Management (aka day-of coordination) ranges from $2,800 to $3,500 for a limited number of weddings each season. Your final fee depends on your guest count, your venue and location, the amount of design and décor involved, how many vendors are on the team, and how much support you want from us. Full planning and design is our most involved service and reflects a year or more of work. Coordination-focused services are a smaller investment because the planning is already largely complete when we begin, and Wedding Day Management is the most streamlined option of all — it begins eight to ten weeks out and does not include design or vendor sourcing. After your inquiry, we'll talk through your wedding and send a proposal with clear pricing and what is included. There are no surprise fees.

Question 7

How many weddings do you take on each year?

Accepted Answer

We intentionally take a limited number of weddings each year. Planning at this level requires time, attention, and a great deal of care, and we would rather do fewer weddings extremely well. It also means popular dates go early. If your date is a long weekend, a peak summer Saturday in the mountains, or a holiday weekend, reach out as soon as you can.

Question 8

Do you help with the wedding design and décor?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Wedding design is an important part of our planning services. We help turn your ideas into one clear and connected wedding vision. This may include your colours, flowers, linens, rentals, stationery, lighting, table settings, floor plan, ceremony details, and guest experience. You do not need to arrive with every detail figured out. You may have a Pinterest board, a favourite colour, a venue, or simply a feeling you want the wedding to have. We help you build from there. Our goal is not to copy someone else's wedding. We want your celebration to feel beautiful, personal, and true to you.

Question 9

Will you recommend and communicate with our wedding vendors?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We can recommend experienced wedding professionals who suit your style, needs, location, and budget. We have worked with many venues and vendors throughout Calgary, Canmore, Banff, Lake Louise, and the Canadian Rockies. We look for people who are professional, dependable, and good at what they do. Once your vendors are booked, we help keep everyone informed. Before the wedding, we confirm important details, share the timeline, answer questions, and make sure the team understands the plan. You are not simply hiring a group of separate vendors. We help them work together as one wedding team.

Question 10

What will you handle on our wedding day?

Accepted Answer

On the wedding day, Creative Weddings becomes the main contact for your venue, vendors, wedding party, and family. We help manage the setup, watch the timeline, guide the ceremony, check important details, cue key moments, answer vendor questions, and adjust the plan when needed. Weddings are live events, and small changes can happen. A delivery may be late, the weather may shift, or someone may need help finding where to go. We handle these situations calmly and quietly whenever possible. Instead of asking, “Who is going to deal with this?” you can feel confident knowing it is already being handled.

Question 11

Will Cathy be at our wedding, or will someone else?

Accepted Answer

Cathy is your lead planner and is on site for your wedding. Depending on the size and complexity of the day, she is supported by members of our team, all experienced wedding professionals who have worked with us for years. You will always know exactly who is on your wedding-day team before the day arrives.

Question 12

Do you plan weddings in Banff, Canmore, Lake Louise, and the Canadian Rockies?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We plan weddings in Calgary, Canmore, Banff, Lake Louise, and throughout the Canadian Rockies. Rocky Mountain weddings are beautiful, but they can also include extra details. Couples may need to think about travel, guest transportation, hotel rooms, weather, park rules, vendor access, delivery times, and backup plans. This is especially important when you are planning from another province, the United States, or overseas. We provide local knowledge and experienced support so you do not have to figure everything out from a distance.

Question 13

Can we plan our wedding from another province or country?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it is one of the things we do most. Many of our couples plan from elsewhere in Canada, the United States, the UK, and beyond. We meet by video call, tour and vet venues on your behalf, send photos and video walkthroughs, and manage every in-person detail here at home. You are never guessing what something really looks like or whether a vendor can be trusted. We also help with the guest side of a destination wedding: hotel blocks, transportation, welcome events, and the small touches that make travelling guests feel looked after.

Question 14

How do we get married legally in Alberta, and do we need a permit?

Accepted Answer

An Alberta marriage licence can be purchased from a registry agent in the province, and it does not require residency or a waiting period. It is valid for a set period, so timing matters and we will tell you exactly when to get it. Ceremonies in Banff National Park, Lake Louise, and other national park locations usually require a Parks Canada special-event permit, with limits on guest counts, chairs, décor, and timing at each site. We walk you through the requirements for your specific location and make sure permits and paperwork are handled well before the wedding.

Question 15

What happens if it rains or snows on our mountain wedding day?

Accepted Answer

Mountain weather changes quickly, and snow in June is not unheard of. Every outdoor ceremony or reception we plan has a genuine indoor or covered alternative, not just a hopeful one. We set a decision time with you and your vendors in advance, so nobody is debating on the day. Umbrellas, blankets, heaters, and guest comfort are part of the plan from the start.

Question 16

Do you offer wedding content creation?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Wedding content creation can be added to select services or booked as its own package, depending on availability. Wedding content creation captures natural, behind-the-scenes photos and short video clips from your day. This may include your preparations, décor details, guest reactions, candid moments, ceremony highlights, and the energy on the dance floor. Your content is created for easy viewing and sharing soon after the wedding. This service does not replace your professional photographer or videographer. It gives you another view of the day and captures some of the real-time moments happening between the larger events. Because Cathy has more than 18 years of wedding planning experience, she understands wedding timelines, vendor teams, important details, and how to capture content without getting in the way of your other professionals.

Question 17

How is content creation different from our photographer or videographer?

Accepted Answer

Your photographer and cinematographer capture the day beautifully, and their work arrives weeks or months later, edited and timeless. That will always be the heirloom. Between The Moments works alongside them, filming vertically on a phone and delivering fast. You get the getting-ready chaos, the toast nobody expected, the dance floor at midnight, ready to post while the day is still fresh. Between The Moments is booked independently of our planning services.

Question 18

What happens after we send an inquiry?

Accepted Answer

You'll hear back within two business days. If your date is available, we set up a call or a coffee to talk through your wedding, your guest list, and what kind of day you're imagining. After that conversation you'll receive a proposal outlining the recommended service, what's included, and the investment. When you're ready, a signed agreement and retainer hold your date.

The questions couples ask us first.

Planning

Booking & Budget

Design & Vendors

Canadian Rockies Weddings

Content Creation

Still have a question?