Purpose Driven & Intentional Wedding Planning

Let’s be honest: too many weddings start with the logistics. The date. The venue. The “we need to do family photos before cocktail hour, right?” kind of thinking. The moment you get engaged, the default questions tend to be when, where, and how many guests — but rarely why.

But what if we flipped that?

What if instead of starting with traditions and expectations, we started with purpose?

Because no, “to get married” isn’t a full purpose statement. That’s the legal and emotional milestone — it’s not the reason to bring your people together in this way.

A wedding is, at its heart, a once-in-a-lifetime gathering of your inner circle. People you love. People who shaped you. People who will cheer you on in your next chapter. It’s a rare and sacred moment in time when the collective energy is completely focused on you and your partnership. That’s the power. So the question becomes: What do you want to do with that power?

When couples don’t pause to define the true purpose of their wedding, they tend to default to tradition. You know the format: ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner, dancing. Toasts. Cake. But just because that’s how it’s always been done doesn’t mean it’s how you need to do it.

Maybe you want to create a weekend that feels like an intimate retreat for your chosen family. Maybe you want to inspire joy and release through a wild, late-night dance party in the woods. Maybe you want to build new family traditions from scratch. Maybe you want your community to help bless and affirm your union in a totally unplugged, deeply spiritual ceremony.

Whatever your wedding is meant to do, the purpose is your North Star — the thing that will guide every decision, from the venue to the vibe to the flow of the day. It's how you decide whether that elaborate seating chart is necessary, whether you really need a first dance, or whether the whole thing is better off with a welcome dinner instead of a wedding party.

And honestly? It’s also the best defense you’ll have against outside opinions. When you’re rooted in a clear why, it’s easier to explain to your aunt why you’re not doing a bouquet toss or to your dad why your guest count is capped at 40.

How to Intentionally Approach Wedding Planning?

Here’s a tool I use with couples who want to design a wedding experience that’s both deeply personal and wildly memorable. We start with some big questions:

1. What is your desired outcome?

The easy answers here are “to get married” “to have fun” “to not be stressed” but let’s go deeper than that. What do you want your guests to feel, remember, or carry forward from this experience? 

2. What’s the need your people have that this gathering can meet?

(Yes, your wedding can meet needs beyond your own!) Maybe it’s connection, celebration, healing, joy, permission to rest, or inspiration.

3. Who is this wedding for first?

You and your partner? To honor your parents ? To bring friends together from different circles? To honor your cultures coming together?

4. How is this wedding different from all the other weddings like it?

Think genre, energy, intention. Is it a maximalist feast of indulgence? A quiet, reverent ritual? A radical act of love in a world that doesn’t always affirm it?

5. What traditions are you keeping — and why? What are you choosing to change? Here’s the thing: tradition isn’t the enemy. But blind tradition? That’s where we start losing the magic. Every tradition — from the white dress to the first dance to cutting the cake — started because someone, somewhere, decided it meant something. The question is: Does it mean something to you?

A Sample Purpose Statement

Once you can articulate the purpose everything else flows more naturally. Your timeline. Your design. Your location. Your guest list. Your music. Your food. Your everything.

Our wedding is a weekend-long celebration of chosen family, joy, and storytelling — designed to create space for connection, catharsis, and indulgent fun in a way that feels soulful, stylish, and just a little unexpected.

See what I mean? You'll notice that we use these buzzwords to describe the weddings featured in our portfolio - they are our north star, and inform every decision we make along the planning process.

Let’s move beyond checklists. Let’s create weddings that feel like portals to the world you're creating together. That intentionally serve your relationship, your people, and your future.

Intentionality is everything here. The goal isn’t to be different just to be edgy — it’s to be honest. Every choice you make should have a reason, a feeling, a resonance. That’s what creates a wedding that feels unmistakably like you.

So as you plan, get curious. Keep what’s meaningful. Ditch what’s performative. And remember: the most memorable weddings aren’t the ones that follow tradition perfectly — they’re the ones that reflect the couple courageously.

Ready to throw out the rulebook? Connect with us today!