Real wedding planning, by people who actually did it.

We planned our $15,000 backyard wedding in 2017 with no coordinator, no venue, just us. Now we help other couples skip the venue markup and spend their budget intentionally.

How this site started

In 2017, my wife and I were engaged and deep in wedding-planning mode. She kept saying the same frustrated thing: “There’s no link to buy what I want for the wedding…” The inspiration content was everywhere. The actual path from “I want that” to “I bought that” was missing.

So I started building one. What I didn’t expect was the other thing that happened that year: we figured out we didn’t want a traditional wedding either. The venue quotes we were getting were anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 just for the venue, forget about food, drinks, or anything we actually cared about.

All in, the wedding cost us about $15,000. That includes food, an open bar, our photographer, my wife’s dress, my suit, the rings, the rentals, the flowers: absolutely everything.

This site is what we learned from doing that, applied to every other wedding decision a couple has to make.

Dustin de Koekkoek and Cassondra sharing a quiet moment with foreheads touching after their backyard wedding ceremony, 2017
THE NUMBERS

Our entire wedding cost $15,000

$15,000

Total Cost

0

Coordinators Hired

100+

Guests in the backyard

6

Months of planning

Why this site exists

Most wedding content is written by people who have either never planned a wedding before, or planned one over a decade ago. The big publishers like The Knot, Zola, and WeddingWire all run on vendor databases. They make their money from partnerships with $10,000+ wedding venues, sponsored results in their listings, and all-inclusive packages that quickly turn a fun and simple wedding into a stressful five-figure invoice before you’ve even made a single real decision about what you want.

There’s nothing wrong with spending that money if you want to. But almost nobody is telling couples what it actually looks like to not do it that way, and what good alternatives can be so you can keep more money in your pocket to plan your life together.

That’s the gap this site is working to fill. Every product recommendation here is filtered through the same question we asked ourselves in 2017: is this worth it, or is there a better way to spend the money? We quickly realized that for every $500 we can save, we could stay an extra night in Sardinia, Italy… the tradeoff made sense to us.

That being said, why even read our articles? Basically, if we’d send a product to a friend planning their own wedding, it goes on the site. If we wouldn’t, it doesn’t, no matter what the affiliate commission is.

Dustin on his wedding day in 2017

About The Founder

I’m Dustin de Koekkoek, based in San Diego, California. My wife Cassondra and I got married in June 2017 in my parent’s backyard, after about 6 months of planning. About 100 people came, and the entire day cost us roughly $15,000.

Before launching this site, I have worked in marketing for over 15+ years. I’m not a wedding planner by trade or pretend to be one. I’m a regular person who planned a wedding, kept the spreadsheets and pricing data, learned what worked and what didn’t, and decided to keep writing about it. I know how expensive weddings can get, so I wanted to share my experience with you.

in
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustin-de-koekkoek-1b440633/

✉
Email: dustin.d@mosaicdigitalllc.com

📍
Location: San Diego, CA

How we cover products

A few things to know about how the site works.

R

We test what we recommend

For individual product reviews and roundups, we’ve either bought and used the product ourselves, borrowed it from someone who has, or we say so up front and explain how the pick was vetted.
R

We give specific dollar amounts

“Affordable” is a useless word in the wedding industry. When we recommend a product, we say what it costs.
R

We name the cheaper alternative

For most categories there’s a $300 option and a $30 option. We’ll tell you about both, and when the $30 one is actually fine.
R

We update product roundups twice a year

Wedding inventory turns over fast. We re-review every listicle every six months and replace anything that’s been discontinued or surpassed.
R

We disclose affiliate relationships

Many links are affiliate links: we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We don’t accept payment for positive coverage.
R

We say "I don't know" when we don't

If a question is outside what we’ve planned or experienced, we’ll decline to write about it, not bluff through a 2,000 word post with no value.

What we don't do

A short list of things you won’t find on this site

Q

Sponsored posts disguised as editorial. We don't do sponsored posts, period. Everything on the site is written by us, for you

Q

AI-generated product reviews. Tools help with research and editing but they don't write the recommendations

Q

Vendor lists with hundreds of options and no point of view. We pick a small number and tell you why

Q

"Affordable" recommendations that aren't actually affordable. A $400 product is a $400 product

Q

Pop-ups, autoplay video, or anything else that gets between you and what you came for

LET’S TALK

Get in touch

Have a vendor recommendation, a correction, a question, or a wedding story you want to share?

Reach out to me anytime and send me an email.

If you’re a brand: pitches go to the same place. Read the editorial standards above first, it’ll save us both time.

Email Dustin