Selecting a wedding planner in Nashville carries real consequence. The right partner shapes the timeline, guards the budget, and converts a private vision into a coordinated production across vendors, venue, design, and day-of logistics. Nashville’s wedding market is dense with planners, yet only a handful pair decade-plus track records with the press features, design depth, and operational rigor that high-stakes weddings require.
This guide profiles three Nashville wedding planning studios that meet a strict threshold. Each has been planning weddings in or from Nashville for many years, each offers tiered services that span full planning through coordination, and each has built a portfolio that bears outside scrutiny. Press features, service tier disclosure, founder continuity, and Nashville geographic focus were weighted heavily. Couples comparing planners will find clear differentiation across these three: a floral-anchored full-service studio with a quarter-century history, a tightly held luxury practice with national press in Martha Stewart Weddings and Vogue, and a four-planner team whose ownership transition preserved a planning lineage dating to 2002.
The order below is not a ranking. Each entry stands on its own merits, and the right match depends on guest count, budget posture, design ambition, and how much creative direction a couple wants to retain.
Quick Comparison #
| Firm | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Big Events, Inc. | 25-plus-year Nashville-area planning record from Brentwood studio with in-house floral design as primary discipline and dedicated floral team and studio space. | Full-service planning with in-house floral, decor, vendor selection, and timeline management from a Brentwood studio. |
| Fete Nashville | Founder Sara Fried with 15-plus years; deliberately limited annual roster keeping principal directly involved; national press in Martha Stewart Weddings, Vogue, BRIDES, Elle Decor, The New York Times, and HuffPost Weddings. | Limited-roster full planning with principal involvement and destination capability in Napa Valley and Bordeaux. |
| EBJ and Company | Planning lineage to 2002 (originally Events by Janie), Casey Cannon ownership since January 2019, four-planner team, Wezoree Top 5 Tennessee recognition, and Martha Stewart Weddings, The Knot, Bridal Guide, and 100 Layer Cake press. | Three published tiers (coordination $3,500, partial $7,800, full-service $14,800) across Nashville, Franklin, and Middle Tennessee. |
1. Big Events, Inc. #
Big Events, Inc. operates from a Brentwood studio at 1710 Gen. George Patton Drive #103, just outside Nashville, and has been planning weddings in the Nashville area for more than 25 years. The studio’s signature is an in-house floral design service layered into full-service planning, which means couples engaging the team for planning also receive design and floral direction from the same roster rather than coordinating two separate vendor relationships.
Full-service planning with integrated floral design #
The full-service planning engagement at Big Events covers unlimited client contact, custom timeline construction, event layouts, budget management, decor direction, floral design, and vendor selection across venue, catering, entertainment, and photography. Couples working at the upper end of the Nashville market often value the single-vendor structure because it reduces the number of creative directors involved in the wedding. Floral design here is treated as a primary discipline rather than a sub-contracted line item, and the studio’s dedicated floral team and studio space support events that lean heavily on installations, ceremony arches, and reception centerpieces.
Vendor network built across two-plus decades #
A wedding planner’s vendor network is one of the load-bearing assets a couple acquires when they hire the planner. With more than 25 years of Nashville weddings behind it, the firm has long-standing working relationships with regional venues, caterers, rental houses, and entertainment booking, which translates into faster sourcing, negotiated terms, and reliable backup options when a vendor falls through close to the date.
Brentwood studio with weekday operating hours #
The studio operates Monday through Friday, 10am to 5pm, with weekends reserved for events. Initial inquiries route through [email protected] and the main line at (615) 371-1223. Lacey and Angela handle client communications, and consultations are typically scheduled by appointment rather than walk-in.
Contact:
- Address: 1710 Gen. George Patton Drive #103, Brentwood, TN
- Phone: (615) 371-1223
- Hours: Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm; Saturday and Sunday closed
https://www.bigeventswedding.com/
2. Fete Nashville #
Fete Nashville, founded and led by Sara Fried, is a luxury wedding planning studio with 15-plus years of operating history and a national press footprint that few Nashville planners match. The practice plans a deliberately limited number of weddings each year and serves a client base that includes athletes, entertainers, and high-profile families, with both Nashville-area weddings and destination productions in locations such as Napa Valley and Bordeaux.
Limited annual roster and high-touch planning #
The studio’s stated approach is to take on only a small number of weddings annually, which keeps Sara Fried directly involved in each engagement rather than delegating lead-planner duties to associates. Couples who want the principal in the room at vendor walk-throughs, design reviews, and rehearsal will find that structure aligned with their expectations. Full planning is the primary offering, with destination capability available for couples taking their event outside Tennessee.
National press features across major bridal and lifestyle titles #
Fete Nashville’s work has appeared in Martha Stewart Weddings, Vogue, BRIDES, Elle Decor, The New York Times, and HuffPost Weddings. Press placements at that altitude function as third-party validation: editorial teams at those publications vet the photography, the design, and the production quality before running a feature. For couples weighing planners against one another, a verifiable Martha Stewart Weddings or Vogue placement is a meaningful signal that the studio’s portfolio holds up to outside editorial scrutiny.
Destination weddings beyond Tennessee #
The practice handles international and out-of-state weddings in addition to its Nashville work, with portfolio examples in Napa Valley and Bordeaux. Couples planning a wedding outside their home region typically benefit from a planner who has already navigated cross-border vendor sourcing, travel logistics, and the timeline compression that long-distance planning imposes.
Contact:
- Phone: (615) 482-4555
- Email: [email protected]
- Location: Nashville, TN
3. EBJ and Company #
EBJ and Company, now owned and led by Casey Cannon, traces its planning lineage to 2002 when Janie Varn founded the original studio as Events by Janie. Casey Cannon took ownership in January 2019 and rebranded the practice as EBJ and Company while preserving the planning approach Janie had built. The team today operates with four lead planners, which gives the studio capacity to run multiple weddings in a season without compressing attention on any single client.
Three planning tiers with published starting prices #
Service tier transparency is a differentiator in a market where many planners decline to disclose pricing publicly. EBJ and Company publishes starting prices for all three tiers on its services page: coordination starts at $3,500, partial planning starts at $7,800, and full-service planning and design starts at $14,800. Published starting prices help couples self-qualify before the first consultation and reduce the number of pricing-mismatch conversations that consume calendar time on both sides.
Four-planner team with named lead planners #
The studio lists Casey Cannon, Anna Claire Bass, Presley Sadler, and Gabi Embry as lead planners. A multi-planner roster matters when wedding dates cluster in peak Nashville months because couples receive a named lead rather than rotating coordinators, and the studio can hold multiple Saturdays in October or May without overbooking a single planner. Each lead carries her own roster of weddings rather than splitting duties across one combined calendar.
Press features across national bridal publications #
The studio’s work has appeared in Martha Stewart Weddings, The Knot, Bridal Guide, 100 Layer Cake, Wedding Chicks, Nashville Lifestyles, and StyleBlueprint. The mix of national bridal titles and Nashville-market publications reflects a portfolio that has been published both for design merit and for regional relevance. The practice also appeared on the Wezoree Top 5 Planners in Tennessee list, which is a regional vendor-directory recognition rather than a paid placement.
Contact:
- Phone: (615) 513-6762
- Email: [email protected]
- Service area: Nashville, Franklin, and surrounding middle Tennessee
How to choose among the three #
The three studios profiled above sort cleanly along three axes that matter most when couples are making a final decision.
Floral integration vs. external sourcing. Big Events runs floral design in-house as a primary discipline, which suits couples who want a single creative direction across planning and florals. Fete Nashville and EBJ and Company source florals through partner vendors, which gives couples more flexibility to select a separate floral designer whose aesthetic they prefer.
Principal-led vs. team-supported. Fete Nashville keeps Sara Fried directly involved across a limited annual roster, which fits couples who want the principal in every meeting. EBJ and Company runs four named lead planners and assigns one per wedding, which fits couples comfortable with a strong associate lead. Big Events runs through a small core team with longstanding internal continuity.
Pricing transparency. EBJ and Company publishes starting prices for all three service tiers, which lets couples qualify themselves quickly. Big Events and Fete Nashville handle pricing through consultation, which is standard for full-service and luxury studios but adds a step to the initial qualification process.
Credentials, awards, and what they signal #
Wedding planning has several industry credentialing bodies that surface in planner bios and press: the Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC) maintains a four-tier credential ladder running Professional, Accredited, Certified, and Master Wedding Planner (MWP), with MWP as the top designation. The Wedding International Professionals Association (WIPA) is a membership organization for luxury wedding professionals. The National Association for Catering and Events (NACE) issues the Certified Professional in Catering and Events (CPCE) credential. The Knot Best of Weddings Hall of Fame recognizes vendors who win Best of Weddings in five or more consecutive years, and WeddingWire’s Couples’ Choice Awards function similarly.
None of the three studios profiled above publicly displays an ABC MWP, WIPA, or NACE CPCE credential on its website, which is consistent with the broader Nashville luxury wedding market where press features, portfolio quality, and operating history often substitute for formal industry designations. Couples for whom a specific credential is a hard requirement should ask directly during the consultation, since planner credentials are sometimes held but not featured.
Pricing context for Nashville full-service planning #
Nashville full-service wedding planning prices between $10,000 and $25,000-plus for the planning engagement itself, separate from venue, catering, florals, and other vendor costs. Coordination-only and day-of services run $2,500 to $5,000. EBJ and Company’s published starting prices ($3,500 coordination, $7,800 partial, $14,800 full-service) sit within the standard range for the Nashville market and serve as a useful reference point for couples comparing quotes from other planners. Luxury practices serving high-profile clients, such as Fete Nashville, price above the standard range, sometimes substantially, and engagements at that altitude quote by event rather than by package.
Final notes #
Couples planning a Nashville wedding should expect to interview two or three planners before signing. Initial inquiries should include a target date, target guest count, target overall wedding budget, and venue if already booked. Planners are typically able to provide a tier recommendation and starting price within the first call. For peak Nashville wedding months (April, May, October, November), the strongest planners book out 12 to 18 months ahead, so couples targeting those months should begin planner conversations well before that window.
The three studios above represent different working styles within Nashville’s full-service planning market. Each has earned the press, the portfolio, and the operating history that justify a serious consultation. The right choice depends less on which studio ranks first and more on which working style fits how a particular couple wants to spend the months leading up to their wedding day.
Selection Methodology #
Wedding planning credibility in the Nashville luxury market tracks against several signals: a portfolio of completed weddings with venue names and vendor team disclosure, press features in regional and national bridal publications, named lead planners with documented operating history, and clear service-tier pricing or qualifying budget bands. Formal trade-body credentials (ABC Association of Bridal Consultants Master Wedding Planner, WIPA Wedding International Professionals Association, NACE CPCE) are recognized in the trade but are not uniformly featured by the top-tier Nashville studios; none of the three planners above publicly displays an ABC MWP, WIPA, or NACE CPCE credential on its website, and the Nashville market commonly substitutes press history, portfolio quality, and years of continuous practice for those designations. The three planners above each ran a continuous Nashville studio for ten-plus years, publish service packages at the planning level (full-service, partial planning, month-of coordination) with vendor team management protocol, tie the business to a Davidson or Williamson County address, and operate against documented venue and vendor references. Pop-up planners without venue references were excluded.
Frequently Asked Questions #
Q: What is the difference between full-service, partial, and day-of planning?
A: Full-service planning carries the engagement from venue selection through wedding-day execution, including budget management, vendor sourcing, design direction, and on-site coordination. Partial planning picks up after the couple has booked the major vendors, handling design refinement, logistics, and day-of execution. Day-of (more accurately month-of) coordination is execution-only, with the planner stepping in four to six weeks out to confirm vendors, run the timeline, and manage the wedding day itself.
Q: How does a planner’s preferred vendor list actually work and what should couples ask?
A: A preferred vendor list reflects the planner’s working history with photographers, florists, caterers, bands, and rental houses where the chemistry, deliverable quality, and timeline discipline have been tested across multiple weddings. Ask the planner whether the list is exclusive (a closed roster) or open (recommendations with freedom to bring outside vendors), whether the planner receives a referral fee from any listed vendor, and how a vendor outside the list is vetted before contract.
Q: Are any of the three planners paid placements?
A: No. The three profiles above are editorial selections drawn from publicly verifiable sources. No firm sponsored placement.
Q: What contract clauses should I ask the planner to review on every vendor agreement, and what is a working Nashville budget range?
A: The planner should review cancellation and reschedule terms, force majeure language, overtime billing structure, deliverable rights, deposit and balance schedule, and a substitution clause naming the lead photographer or bandleader. Full-service planning in Nashville prices between $10,000 and $25,000-plus for the planning engagement (separate from venue, catering, floral, and other vendor costs), with coordination-only at $2,500 to $5,000. On formal credentials, no third-party trade-body credentials are universally displayed by the three studios; ask each firm what professional development credentials its lead planner holds.
Editorial Note #
This guide was published on 2026-05-11 and reflects research current as of that date. Verify licenses, phone numbers, and current business status before engaging any firm.