“I want someone who actually cares, not just executes.”
Anyone who has asked planners for quotes knows the transactional version of the process: a form, a questionnaire, a proposal with line items, a deposit, and then a place in someone’s calendar. It suits plenty of couples. Others come out of the first few emails with a quiet suspicion that they are file number forty in a queue, and that the person on the other end would carry out the brief with equal competence whoever had written it.
Couples who feel this tend to put it in similar words: they want someone who actually cares, not just someone who executes. That preference becomes concrete quickly. It shows up in how many couples a planner takes on at once, in what the first conversation is for, in whose interests a vendor recommendation serves, and in whether the contact continues after the last dance.
The three planners below show different ways a relationship-led practice can be visible from the outside. One writes her conduct toward clients into a published code. One builds her process around a limited number of couples and an unhurried start. The third works as part of a small team in Birmingham.
Karine Copur
Brand: Champagne and Macarons Events
Destination focus: Toronto, France and other destinations by arrangement
Instagram: @champagne_and_macarons
Website: https://www.champagneandmacarons.com
Karine Copur was born and raised in Paris, studied at UCLA and now lives in Toronto, where Champagne and Macarons Events is based. Her site lists a background in hospitality, travel and market research, and she is certified by the Wedding Planners Institute of Canada. For a couple trying to judge how a planner treats people, the most informative page on her website may be the one that reads least like marketing: her Code of Ethics.
The code sets out how she says she behaves toward clients and other vendors, and she presents it as binding on graduates of the Institute. She does not accept referral payments from vendors, and vendors are recommended on merit and in the client’s interest rather than her own. Every client receives a detailed contract, prices are stated upfront, and calls and emails are answered within 48 hours. She also commits not to run down other vendors to win business, and she says plainly that she cannot promise a perfect wedding, only that she will do everything in her power to get as close as possible.
Her public activity points beyond individual clients as well:
- she has organized industry events for wedding professionals in Toronto
- she hosts client appreciation evenings
- her Instagram shows her writing to couples on their anniversaries two years after the wedding
For couples, the practical meaning is a relationship with terms you can read before you sign anything. That suits people who worry mostly about hidden incentives, or about being passed to a vendor who pays for the privilege.
Mari Walker
Brand: Mart Mari Bridal House
Destination focus: Italy, France, Greece and Spain
Instagram: @mmbridalhouse
Website: https://mmbridalhouse.com
Mari Walker’s practice is built around intimate European destination weddings. According to her site, she came to planning after more than fifteen years in luxury hospitality, and she accepts only a limited number of couples each year. That is the most structural claim a planner can make about attention: it is finite, and she says so before anyone signs.
The way she brings couples in follows the same logic. The process opens with a 30-minute conversation whose stated purpose is to decide together whether the pairing is a fit. For couples not ready for full planning, she offers a paid advisory step called the Wedding Planning Blueprint, aimed at people who are still choosing a destination or trying to understand what budget is realistic.
Testimonials on her site return to the same points:
- one couple describes her team staying with them for two years before their wedding abroad
- another says she and a colleague were reachable with questions and kept the timeline on track
- she describes her own role as an advocate who raises questions couples did not yet know to ask
The tone of her site is warm and personal throughout. Couples who like that will probably feel at home, and those who prefer a brisker register should say so in the first call.
Sati Saund
Brand: Vogue Luxury Events
Destination focus: UK and destination weddings worldwide
Instagram: @vogueluxuryevent
Website: https://vogueluxuryevents.com
Sati Saund runs Vogue Luxury Events from Birmingham, UK. A published real-wedding feature describes her and Kelly Saund as planners working across the UK and internationally, handling both planning and styling. In that feature the team set up an entire reception room, florals and an eight-tier cake included.
Planning and styling under one roof has a practical consequence for couples:
- the people who hear your ideas are the same people who carry them out in the room
- you can build a relationship with specific people rather than with a studio
- it is worth asking early who will attend your planning meetings and the wedding day, and how the work is split between the two of them
What Connects These Planners
Warmth is easy to claim on a website, so this shortlist leans on features a couple can actually check. Each of these planners shows where care becomes visible in a different place:
- Karine Copur publishes the terms she works to, from vendor recommendations to response times
- Mari Walker states a limit on how many couples she takes each year and starts with a conversation about fit
- Sati Saund works with a partner in a small team, so the people who hear your ideas are the people who carry them out
There is also a shared habit outside client work. All three describe wanting a professional community built on sharing ideas and supporting colleagues. For a couple, that matters because a planner who passes ideas and referrals to peers is usually behaving toward them the way she will behave toward you.
Why This Matters More Than Couples Expect
Most couples begin by choosing a style. Once planning starts, they find themselves in a long run of conversations with one person or one small team: decisions, changes of mind, awkward questions about budget and family. The quality of that working relationship shapes the experience far more than the first impression of a portfolio. A planner who has room for you, who tells you how she earns her money, and who answers when you ask makes the months of planning easier to live with. That is the kind of care this shortlist is about.
How to Use This Shortlist
When speaking with planners like these, it helps to ask:
- how many couples they are working with at the same time
- who will answer your messages, and how quickly
- how they choose the vendors they recommend, and whether they receive anything for it
- who will be at your planning meetings and on the wedding day
- what contact looks like after the wedding
Pay attention to how they answer as well as what they say. A planner’s portfolio shows what she has produced. The first conversation shows what it would be like to plan with her.
WED PRO CLUB Selection
The planners featured in this shortlist are members of WED PRO CLUB, the professional community connected with Wedding Venues Directory. It brings together planners from different destinations and markets who exchange ideas, share experience of venues and destinations, and meet peers across the industry.
The next step is straightforward: explore their work, speak with them directly, and decide whose way of working fits the kind of relationship you want during your planning.