Building a better way
to book a wedding.

Wedding planning has too many
disconnected tools.

Couples coordinate vendors across websites, emails, and spreadsheets. Vendors rely on costly lead platforms and separate tools to run their businesses.

Our hypothesis was that connecting discovery, communication, booking, and business management could deliver value to both sides of the marketplace.

As co-founder and Chief Product Officer, I defined the product vision and roadmap, designed end-to-end workflows, contributed to implementation, and helped recruit founding vendors.

Focus on the booking.
Earn the right to expand.

For the original MVP, we had more ideas than time and resources. We prioritized the smallest product that could validate the core booking experience and deliver value to couples and vendors.

The product connected workflows that are often fragmented: finding a vendor, starting a conversation, confirming a booking, making a payment, and managing the relationship afterward.

Reduce friction.
Then offer more value.

Signup friction prompted us to change our approach: make it free to join, then offer an upgrade for direct booking and additional functionality.

The original product centered on the direct-booking journey. The current model gives vendors a lower barrier to participating in the marketplace, with a paid upgrade path for capabilities beyond listings, inquiries, and messaging.

The goal is to reduce signup friction and support an upsell model. The change is a strategic response to an adoption barrier; conversion improvements have not yet been established in this case study.

Strategy to screens.
Screens to a working product.

Building a startup meant working across product strategy, workflow design, content, technical exploration, go-to-market, and day-to-day operations.

My background is in product strategy and UX, rather than software engineering. AI-assisted development enabled me to contribute directly to implementation and help build and ship a functional product.

We used AI across research, product definition, design, development, and content creation. It accelerated execution while product decisions remained grounded in customer needs and the booking experience.

Build with the people
who will use it.

Before launch, we conducted approximately ten moderated usability sessions with couples and wedding vendors.

In 60-minute sessions over Google Meet, participants completed key marketplace and booking tasks. We observed friction, asked questions, and refined workflows, navigation, and product priorities.

Research continued during development. Major workflows were validated with customers before becoming part of the MVP.

From an idea
to a live marketplace.

• Defined the product strategy and designed the end-to-end platform.
• Built and launched an MVP, with first vendors onboarded.
• Validated marketplace and booking workflows through customer usability sessions.
• Accepted into Chicago startup accelerator 1871.
• Established a foundation for future AI capabilities while prioritizing the core experience.

The platform is live and early vendor adoption has begun. Free listings, inquiries, and messaging now provide an entry point, while direct booking and additional functionality are available through an upgrade. The next step is to learn how the model affects signup and upgrade behavior.