Planning a wedding can feel like juggling a thousand tiny details at once. In a world overflowing with information (hello, Pinterest rabbit holes), it’s easy to get overwhelmed.
Technology has transformed many parts of our everyday lives, but it has left some traditional industries such as wedding planning untouched—until now.
Busy brides and wedding professionals are increasingly using generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools to automate mundane tasks and simplify complex parts of the planning process. AI is the new secret weapon for making wedding planning a whole lot easier—and way less stressful.
Fast-track wedding planning
To jumpstart the process, use AI apps to suggest style ideas and provide inspiration photos to help you capture the vibe you’re seeking on your wedding day. Are you envisioning a luxurious black-tie ceremony in a Roaring Twenties theme? Type that description into the chatbot, and AI recommends color palettes and suggests design details, such as pearls, sequins and feathers, to help you style bridesmaids’ dresses to fit the scheme.
Tell AI what time of year the big event is taking place, and it will refine its feedback to include suggested color palettes that work with both your theme and the season. Ask it to create a mood board, and it will respond with flapper-style bridesmaid dress images.
Some AI tools are geared toward travel planning, such as MindTrip, iMean and BookedAI. They provide more personalized and organized bookings than the more text-centric ChatGPT. These AI travel agents create itineraries, link to reservations, provide directions and advise about dress codes. The beta version of BookedAI allows users to book flights through the app, but be aware that beta versions are not final solutions. Like the use of all AI tools, it pays to double-check results, as AI is still in development. But there are benefits; these tools bring more options to your attention and save hours of time in research and decision-making.
General AI tools, such as ChatGPT, are proficient at some tasks such as curating design inspiration and sourcing vendors, but they lack the ability to pull from industry-specific knowledge. That’s where AI tools designed specifically for the wedding industry come into play. Specialized AI assistants can speed up cumbersome wedding planning tasks. Do you need a timeline for a specific activity? Ask Nupt.AI or Pearl Planner, for example, for a detailed and prioritized timeline and to-do list for throwing a flawless rehearsal dinner. Have your mind set on an African wedding? A specialized AI tool such as African Wedding Planner can create a tailored experience.
Entrepreneur Jen Glantz, founder of Bridesmaid for Hire, booked herself out to brides as a handle-the-details bridesmaid for a decade. When she had her first baby, she realized that spending six hours writing each maid of honor’s speech was no longer viable with a busy family life. She turned to a tech-savvy friend to help develop her first AI wedding app—a maid-of-honor speechwriting tool—and never looked back.
“This tool pulls content from all the speeches I have written in the past and is much better than ChatGPT,” Glantz explains. “Our tool works in reverse of ChatGPT. It extracts key personal details from brides by asking dynamic questions, so the final result is personalized.”
In addition to maid-of-honor speeches, Glantz’s company offers a suite of custom tools for writing wedding vows, best man speeches, wedding officiant programs, and family members’ toasts to the bride and groom. The tools pull from her personal industry knowledge and ask brides pointed questions like a friend gently leading a brainstorming process. The tools help anyone involved in a wedding craft the right words to say at the big moment.
Today, Bridesmaid for Hire offers more than 100 apps that encompass all aspects of wedding planning. Glantz’s three most popular tools provide speechwriting; wedding planning, including timeline creation; and bachelor and bachelorette party planning. The à la carte tools are affordable; the wedding plan development tool, for example, is priced at $35.
Bride Veronica Ferreiras used Bridesmaid for Hire’s vow writing tool. “The tool gave me prompts like ‘When did you know your relationship developed from friendship to love?’ and then asked follow-up questions based on my answers. The whole process took about five to 10 minutes, and the vows were done,” she says.
The benefits of using AI to help plan a wedding
Using AI can help cut costs, but brides especially love how quickly chatbots can organize to-do lists and map out plans—like crafting a romantic honeymoon itinerary, packing list and travel documents checklist in minutes. Many also use AI to generate customized vendor lists filtered by key details like location, availability and reviews. One of the biggest stress relievers? Realizing AI can take the pressure off writing heartfelt vows or reception speeches—especially if putting words on paper isn’t your strong suit.
Do you consider yourself financially challenged when it comes to managing money? AI has a tool for that. Budgeting tools for weddings can keep you on track and in sync with your future spouse about where the money will be allocated.
Overall, AI is proficient at providing ideas and helping plan budgets, outline timelines, design themes, source and compare vendors, design a honeymoon itinerary, handle correspondence with guests and vendors, create a customized wedding website, write speeches and toasts, and organize RSVPs.
Wait…Do I still need a wedding planner?
There are important things artificial intelligence can’t do: It cannot tap into the vast base of experiential knowledge of a wedding planner, and it cannot add human emotion and empathy to the process.
“For all of the framework provided by planning tools, AI cannot execute the plans or book flights,” Glantz says. “That’s where you need a wedding planner or day-of coordinator.”
Some savvy wedding professionals are using AI tools within their businesses to increase workflow productivity. Event designer Shanina McCregg of SM Style Lounge uses AI to support her creative and logistical services for brides. AI helps her build customized planning timelines, checklists and communication templates tailored to each couple. Creatively, she uses tools to generate visual concepts and mockups—from ceremony layouts to reception design boards—so brides can see their ideas come to life. “It’s like having a super-organized assistant that keeps the planning process smooth and stress-free,” she says. “AI saves me time on the back end so I can focus more on creativity and client experience. It helps me stay organized, explore new design ideas quickly, play with trends and present clear visual plans to my clients.”
McCregg says AI isn’t suited to take over the entire wedding planning and design processes. “AI can’t replace human connection. It doesn’t understand the energy in a room, family dynamics or the sentimental moments that make weddings so special,” she explains. “AI is great for structure, inspiration and efficiencies—but the heart and creativity still come from me.”
AI wedding tools are evolving. Bridesmaid for Hire is in the process of rolling out a new teleprompter tool for mobile phones that helps people deliver the speeches that AI helps them write. “This tool tells people where to smile, pause, etc., and is especially good for those who have a fear of public speaking,” Glantz says.
AI is here to stay. Glantz advises, “AI is a lot easier than you think. Try it; you don’t need tech skills. You can save thousands of dollars and plenty of headaches. If you find a program that you like to use, it feels like you’re chatting with a friend.”