Let’s have a chat with the best wedding planner in Austin!
Truly Together is an inclusive LGBTQIA+ event planner!!
Photo Credit: Angela King Photography
Let me introduce you to Cassie of Truly Together Event Co., an inclusive wedding planner here in Austin. I met her back in 2016, at our clients Jena and Michael’s wedding. Then we went on a road trip to Marfa It was a fun trip, back when Argo was a wee babe and could fit into my jacket. Fast forward, she’s now doing weddings full time! We are, in my opinion, slowly but surely forming a dream team. We both take our clients extremely seriously, putting them first in every way possible. She’s meticulous, a stellar communicator and very organized! She’s so organized, she was able to plan a wedding in eleven days!! On top of that, she helped me plan The Pride Shindig in a MONTH.
She had found herself doing more offbeat and non-traditional weddings, which is why we are luckily working together more! She is also extremely LGBT-friendly! She’s the most well-known inclusive wedding planner in Austin. I highly recommend that you book Truly Together! So here is the interview!
1. What made you get into wedding planning in Austin and start Truly Together Event Co.?
Well, I’ve always been a planner! I went to college for event planning and wanted to be in corporate events (think conferences, tradeshows, etc) but had trouble finding a job once I graduated. I got my feet wet in non-profit, but it just wasn’t for me to ask for things for free and rely on volunteers that could no call / no show with no repercussion. For the time being, I was bartending at a restaurant and private events and one of the weddings where I was scheduled to be a bartender had a wedding planning assistant (intern) no call / no show so they asked me to step in and I loved every minute of it. I begged for the internship and when she sold her company a while later, I started out on my own and never looked back. That was over 10 years ago.
2. What is your favorite thing about your job? Least favorite?
My favorite thing – it’s always different. There is no monotony with wedding planning in Austin – each wedding has so many details, so many stories, and a few complications (it goes with it). Thinking outside the box, and getting to the “why” has always been something that I find stimulating and loving it! I thrive on puzzles, so it’s no surprise that wedding planning helps me thrive!
For specifics, I love the moment that the couple walks out of the ceremony and I get to greet them. I get to be the first person to wish them congratulations (and hand them a glass of water) and see this intimate moment where they hug and have that “holy crap, we’re married” look pass between them. It’s absolutely freaking amazing.
For least favorite, gosh, I’d have to say family drama. I try to reduce drama in my own life and while I’m happy to help my clients through anything, I dislike drama and manipulation for its own sake. Weddings have the ability to bring out all the emotions, and sometimes I am on the front lines of those. While I’m glad I’m able to shield my clients at times, it’s probably my least favorite part of it all and it makes me hurt for my couples to see how people treat them sometimes.
3. Who is your ideal client?
We love working with offbeat or non-traditional couples. That might mean valuing priorities over etiquette. It might mean lesbian, gay, poly, or any other minority that breaks stereotypes. We start our planning with the ground up of “why.” Once we understand priorities, we plan. So, I guess that means that our couples value their own priorities over their perception or following etiquette.
4. What is the most fun wedding you’ve ever planned as a wedding planner in Austin?
This is actually a hard question because the level of fun definitely has to do with my relationship with the couple! I get to know these couples so well over the course of the planning and I get to participate in some of the meaningful moments that I wouldn’t understand are meaningful if I didn’t know them.
Most of my favorite memories at weddings have to do with a sense of community, here are a few of my top stories!
For one wedding, the groom was estranged from his family and none of them attended the wedding. Instead of a mother/son dance, a close friend had opted to plan a surprise “chosen family” dance and she started and then each and every close friend (and some of her family) cut in by tapping the shoulder of that dancer. It wasn’t long before every. single. guest. was on the dance floor creating a circle around the groom and the raw emotion and love that was exuded made almost every vendor in the room break down in tears. We go to a lot of weddings – it’s hard to make us cry.
At my very first lesbian wedding, they played “born this way” and the couple was in the middle and all the family and friends formed a circle around them and everyone sang at the top of their lungs. It was such an amazing experience to see the love and support of their community surrounding them in such a visual way.
Recently, I learned a family tradition of a couple was to have a bunch of hats of all kinds (mostly embarrassing) passed out to all the guests and then play an absolutely ridiculous song (think cotton eye joe, but it was a custom mashup) and they all formed a conga line throughout the wedding. This is almost 200 people, all wearing ridiculous hats, dancing their way through the venue. It was a sight to behold for sure!
5. Name three weird facts about yourself that might surprise us!
I love adrenaline. I try to skydive once a year, and I regularly take my car to a track for competitive driving.
I love Harry Potter but could never get into Lord of the Rings.
Shouldn’t surprise anyone that knows me, but I love the color teal. From my water bottle to my car, it definitely makes me smile!
6. What is the number one thing you wish engaged couples would consider when hiring/not hiring a wedding planner in Austin?
There’s a misconception that planners make each wedding their own instead of letting the client have their say and that’s just not true. We don’t make your wedding fit in our box, we work through the logistics of your idea and make suggestions to make sure that it is successful! That means thinking outside the box to make sure there’s a backup plan and we’ve thought about everything!
Thanks for reading! Again, go and hire Truly Together Event Co. for your Austin wedding planning needs! You won’t regret it!
