If you’re planning a wedding in Texas or Arizona, I have two words for you: Krystal Gardenia.

Tl;dr: Krystal and her team saved our wedding. They bent over backwards to find us vendors that fit our values, budget, and timeline, which was no small feat given that we hired them a mere 3 months before our wedding date!

My spouse and I were originally slated to get married in 2020. Over the course of three years of uncertainty and rescheduling, the pandemic sucked all the joy out of wedding planning. As our final date got closer and closer, we were miserable any time the topic of wedding planning came up and realized we needed help to get over the finish line.

Krystal helped us get our joy back. She took over our vendor search and handled logistics so thoroughly that we were able to stop stressing and start dreaming again. (We were also able to stay focused on our own jobs, which are demanding and require our full attention.) Working with Krystal and her design colleague Bri gave us confidence that we weren’t missing anything and helped us lean into the details that felt personal or important to us.

As a queer couple, my partner and I told Krystal that we hoped to support businesses that were queer-owned or that otherwise aligned with our values. I’m still amazed by the wonderful options she and Bri found within our short timeline! I never thought that one of my favorite things about our wedding would be our vendors, but it brought me so much joy to know how many of our vendors were queer-owned, POC-owned, woman-owned, locally-owned, or some combination of all of those. Even our flowers were locally and sustainably grown. I feel so good about the businesses we were able to support and the people who were there for us on our wedding day.

When I say Krystal and Bri went above and beyond for us, I TRULY mean it. No joke - on top of all the work we hired her for, they also saved us from a horrible venue experience by tracking down an incredible alternative, doing the legwork to make the change fit our budget, surprising us with the new option (so we didn’t have to stress along the way, which was so kind), and making the venue change absolutely seamless and easy from our perspective. I mean…truly. I can’t tell you how grateful we are for the work that they put into that endeavor, not to mention every other detail of the event. (And if we had hired Krystal earlier, I’m pretty sure we never would have been in that position in the first place because of how carefully she vetted every vendor she presented to us.)

While hiring a wedding planner wasn’t an investment we originally planned to make, I want anyone who’s on the fence to know that working with Gardenia Weddings was worth every single penny and then some. In fact, we had less financial stress about wedding decisions because Krystal helped us stay within our budget without getting bogged down in the details. Every dollar we spent had a bigger impact because of the careful decisions Krystal helped us make.

Thanks to Gardenia Weddings, we had a beautiful wedding that reflected us and our values, and we were entirely free to focus on the love surrounding us on our wedding day rather than stressing about logistics. I only wish we had hired them sooner!!

(Photos by Leah Muse Photography)

My Wife and I are at a loss for words at how amazing Gardenia Weddings was to us! Every single staff member was so caring, warm, and eager to help. Our journey with them started a few weeks into our engagement, when Krystal paid for us to come to the AZ Wedding expo! We met with her and the team and immediately knew they were the ones for us. They were extremely organized, professional, and exceeded every expectation we had. Their organization with Aisle Planner made our planning process incredibly easy and stress free. We always felt that we could trust all the staff members with their advice and expertise. They were very easy to work with and we loved having them there every step of the way. We absolutely could not have asked for a better team than Krystal, Rachel, Karina, Hanna, and Elsa! Every one of those ladies is a powerhouse and you'd be so lucky to have them plan your wedding. I not only gained a Spouse that day, but I felt like I gained amazing friends with memories to last a lifetime!

Krystal was amazing as our day-of-coordinator. I thought I was a planner but she figured out so many small details that I hadn't even considered. She also went above and beyond to help us find our gift cards after we lost them on the way to our mini-moon. I highly recommend her!