I Tested an AI Wedding Planner: What the Prompts Got Right & Wrong

Wedding planning is incredibly labor-intensive — and stressful. However, hiring a full-service planner can cost 10%-20% of your wedding budget. When you’re already spending literal thousands on your wedding, it can be hard to shell out the extra cash for something that you know you could do yourself. According to The Knot, on average, engaged couples do 80% of their wedding planning. 

But now, we’re living in the era of artificial intelligence. Although I planned my wedding before AI took off, recently I’ve been wondering if it would have been easier with an AI wedding planner. I asked the question: could engaged couples who don’t want to hire a full-service wedding planner use ChatGPT to help plan their special day?

Since my wedding already happened, I decided to do some testing to see if ChatGPT could have helped plan my wedding — or if I was better off on my own. I tested nearly 100 ChatGPT wedding prompts covering every category of wedding planning, and I’m excited to share the results with you.

General Tips for Using an AI Wedding Planner

Before I dive into the prompts I tested, here are a few quick tips for getting the most out of ChatGPT as a wedding planner.

1. Be Specific & Detailed

When using an AI wedding planner, keep in mind that being more specific and detailed will generate better responses. This is a general rule of using large language models (LLMs): the more information you give them, the better they will perform. 

However, this does include giving ChatGPT personal information, and it will work better if you’re using a persistent chat with memory turned on (available to most users, but not in private/incognito mode). If you’re uncomfortable with this, you can simply copy and paste a basic blurb about your wedding every time you use ChatGPT. To save your progress, you can have ChatGPT update this blurb as you plan your wedding.

You can also limit the information you share, such as withholding specific financial details. It’s totally up to you, but just keep in mind that more information will improve the results your AI wedding planner gives you.

2. Ask for Options, Not Decisions

Although ChatGPT will perform better with more information, it still can’t be relied on to make decisions for you, especially those that are subjective or involve regional real-time data. Since it acts (sometimes eerily) human, ChatGPT might feel like a wedding planner, but it’s important to treat it more like Pinterest — a platform that can gather options for you to choose from. 

Although you can ask for decisions, try to keep those decisions smaller and narrower (e.g., which place setting aligns more with my chosen style of x) rather than larger and more subjective (e.g., which wedding dress should I choose).

Generally speaking, AI will work best as a wedding planner when you are serving as the primary decision-maker. 

3. Verify All Information for Accuracy

Believe it or not, an AI wedding planner is even more prone to hallucinating than a stressed-out engaged couple. ChatGPT is a little scary because it can be so blatantly, so confidently wrong. Even when it performs well 99% of the time, don’t get comfortable. Check its work, always — especially when it comes to hard details like budget calculations. Otherwise, you might end up with more problems than solutions.

My Experiment: How I Would Have Used ChatGPT to Plan My Wedding

Here’s how I tested whether an AI wedding assistant like ChatGPT could have helped me plan my wedding. In this experiment, I ran nearly 100 prompts covering every stage of the wedding planning process. 

Intro Prompt for Using an AI Wedding Planner

To start, I created an intro prompt that I used as the initial basis for all my test prompts. I didn’t want to use my exact wedding numbers, so I used a realistic mid-range wedding budget ($50K) for a 100-person guest list in the Bay Area.

Here’s the prompt I used: 

I’m testing how well ChatGPT can help plan a wedding by running prompts through a fictional scenario that’s loosely based on my real experience.

Here’s the fictional wedding profile I’m using:
-Guest count: 100
-Budget: $50,000
-Location: San Francisco Bay Area
-Season: Fall
-Vibe/Aesthetic: Classic, Elegant, & Minimalist
-Planning Style: Day-of Coordinator only 

Notes:
-I’m on a budget and am looking to save/DIY where I can, but I still want it to be nice and not too stressful. 

I’ll be asking a range of wedding planning prompts — from budget, design, and invitations to timeline, guest logistics, and coordination. Please treat me like the bride and give specific, thoughtful answers as if I’m making real decisions.

Planning your wedding using AI? Copy and paste the prompt template below as a starting point, then customize it to your needs. 

ChatGPT as a Wedding Planner: Prompts Tested by Category

After creating the intro prompt, I then tested nearly 100 prompts in every category of the planning process. I’ve chosen a couple from each area that I felt were most helpful or revealed the most about the pros and cons of using an AI wedding planner. 

Feel free to jump to the category that interests you for more information on those prompts, or keep scrolling to read them all!

• Planning & Timeline
• Budget & Guest List
• Venue & Vendors
• Design & Decor
• Guest Communication & Hospitality
• Ceremony & Photography
• Logistics & Backup Plans

Planning & Timeline

Planning a wedding is overwhelming. One of the first questions I asked ChatGPT was about how to prioritize. 

Prompt: What are the first 5 decisions I need to make?

According to ChatGPT, these are the first five decisions you need to make when planning a wedding. 

1. Set your top 3 priorities
2. Draft a guest list
3. Set a budget breakdown
4. Research and tour venues
5. Choose a date (or range)

It provided some additional context and tips as well. 

Verdict: A-. 

I found this response surprisingly helpful. However, drafting a guest list in its entirety is overwhelming and doesn’t need to be finalized so early — you just need a ballpark number. Also, given the large size of my family, we realized that we needed to set a guest limit and then invite as many people as we could fit.

Another task I gave ChatGPT was to create a planning timeline.

Prompt: Create a [X duration] wedding planning timeline.

While ChatGPT gave me a pretty comprehensive timeline, it forgot quite a few key tasks: sending save the dates, acquiring a marriage license, attire alterations, writing vows, planning the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner, gifts, favors, planning bridal shower/bachelor/bachelorette parties, and purchasing wedding bands. 

Verdict: B-. 

AI can give you a good starting point, but wedding planning is such a big topic that you can’t count on it to be totally comprehensive.

If you want something more thorough, you can use this prompt template: 

Create a comprehensive [x duration] wedding planning checklist for a 100-person wedding in California with a [$x] budget and a day-of coordinator. Include everything — vendor bookings, attire, legal/paperwork tasks, pre-wedding events like the bridal shower and bachelorette party, guest communication, personal preparation (like writing vows or packing), and post-wedding wrap-up. Organize it by both category and timeline. Do not skip any typical tasks or milestones, even small ones.

However, I still wouldn’t rely on it as a fail-safe — instead, treat it like a solid starting point and build on it. 

Fun fact: if you’re stressed about your wedding, the only thing you should be worried about is getting your marriage license! As a close friend of mine told me, this is the only thing you definitely need to get married on your wedding day. 

Getting a marriage license isn’t always straightforward, so I ran a prompt with my AI wedding planner to see how helpful it could be with this process.

Prompt: How do I get a marriage license in [state], and what’s the timeline?

ChatGPT provided a helpful and detailed step-by-step guide, including general info about appointment requirements in California and a suggested timeline.

Verdict: A+.

Although it’s always important to verify AI content, it’s great at answering this type of prompt. While ChatGPT can struggle with accuracy regarding real-time, local information (more on that later), it excels in an area such as obtaining a marriage license, a process that is consistent statewide and doesn’t change often. 

Budget & Guest List

Finances have always been a point of tension for me and Spence, so when we created a budget for our wedding, we agonized a lot over it. We spent weeks researching typical costs, asking friends who had recently gotten married, and trying to understand what expenses are unavoidable vs. which ones are inflated by the wedding industry. We also created a spreadsheet to help track our expenses. 

I was curious to see if ChatGPT could have helped simplify this process for us. 

Prompt: How do I estimate a realistic budget for [x] guests in the [region]?

ChatGPT gave me two choices of a budget breakdown: estimating average local costs for each category vs. a tiered budget framework with allocations made based on our values, with ideas for areas to save. 

Verdict: A-. 

The first option would have caused me to automatically write off some things and, therefore, would have been an overall negative. However, the second option with the tiered budget framework aligned pretty closely with some of the decisions we made. 

Had I used ChatGPT to help with this part of the planning, I could have arrived there a little faster. However, I still think that we would have had to figure out our priorities on our own. 

One caveat: ChatGPT can give you a general ballpark based on past averages, but it doesn’t have access to real-time or hyperlocal pricing — so don’t rely on it for actual quotes. Think of it as a starting point for rough planning, not a substitute for real research.

I also asked ChatGPT to help me recreate my budget spreadsheet. 

After a decent amount of back and forth, it got pretty close, but I’m not sure it actually saved me time. If you’re particular (like me) or have a clear vision for what you want, I recommend creating your own or starting with a template.

Next, I asked for help creating the guest list. Dun dun dun…what engaged couple hasn’t sweated over this one?

Prompt: How can I build a guest list without feeling overwhelmed?

My AI wedding planner gave me a step-by-step strategy for building a guest list, including setting a total, dividing the list into three buckets, using a tiered system, deciding on some key rules (kids, plus ones, coworkers, etc.) early, using a shared Google sheet or app, and being honest about emotional weight. It also gave some key tips for staying sane, such as spending defined chunks of time on the guest list and color-coding. 

Verdict: A-. 

Although the prompt I used had some emotional context, I felt like it created a very solid framework with criteria for building a guest list. Also, since creating a guest list is arguably the most stressful part of wedding planning, I found the tips for staying sane quite helpful. 

Could ChatGPT have created the guest list for me? No. However, I think it could have reduced some of the inherent stress/conflict associated with this area of planning.

ChatGPT also offered to create a guest list spreadsheet for me, but it took a lot of finessing to get something workable.

Pro tip: If you want your AI wedding planner to give you spreadsheet templates, be sure you specifically ask, “Can you create a downloadable CSV or Google Sheet I can upload?” However, even so, you will likely need to fine-tune anything it gives you. As someone who is particular and loves pretty spreadsheets, I’d prefer to create my own.

Venue & Vendors

Although ChatGPT did a good job comparing the types of venues (all-inclusive, a la carte, and partially inclusive), I also tested it to see if it could have helped me choose my actual wedding venue. 

Prompt: Help me compare venue A vs. venue B for vibe, cost, and logistics.

When I asked ChatGPT to compare our top two venues, it did include some helpful information about the two. But it also pulled completely inaccurate pricing information.

Verdict: F. 

If I had used ChatGPT to try to decide between our venues, I might have written ours off completely! ChatGPT’s strong point is not regional, real-time information — especially when judgment calls are needed. It won’t necessarily be able to help you find the hidden gem of a venue that is perfect for your needs. 

I wouldn’t rely on AI for finding a venue. Instead, focus on doing local research, especially getting recommendations from friends who have recently gotten married, as they’ll have the most updated information (and inside scoop).

Vendor communication was another area where I wondered if AI could help keep me organized. Although our venue was partially inclusive, I handled a decent amount of communication with vendors. It wasn’t completely overwhelming, but I felt disorganized throughout the process and haphazard about my strategy.

Prompt: Draft an outreach email to a photographer that includes all key info.

In response, ChatGPT created an email draft for reaching out to a photographer with all my event information. 

Subject: Wedding Photography Inquiry – [Your Date] at [Your Venue]

Body:

Hi [Photographer’s Name],

I’m planning a wedding for ~100 guests on [Wedding Date] at [Venue] in [City], and I’m currently looking for a photographer who aligns with a classic, elegant, and minimalist style.

A few quick details:

• Date: [Wedding Date]
• Venue: [Venue Name] (Venue City)
• Guest Count: ~100
• Coverage Needed: Getting ready through reception (likely 8 hours)
• Planning Style: DIY with a day-of coordinator
• Aesthetic: Clean, timeless, and documentary-style overposed

We’d love to know your availability, pricing/packages, and to see a recent wedding gallery — especially if you’ve shot at [Venue name] or a similar outdoor venue.

Let me know if you need anything else from me, and thank you so much!

Best,
[Your Full Name]
[Phone Number (optional)]
[Instagram or wedding website link, if you want to include]

Verdict: Solid A. 

The one thing ChatGPT didn’t get exactly right was my aesthetic — although I like clean and timeless, I wasn’t looking for documentary-style overposed. However, that could be easily edited to align more with my style. Considering I didn’t share anything about my photography preferences, it did a pretty great job right off the bat. 

You could easily have it create similar outreach emails for other vendors (caterer, florist, makeup artist, etc.) as well. My opinion: as an AI wedding planner, communication is ChatGPT’s sweet spot. Instead of creating emails from scratch, have it use everything it knows about your wedding to create templates. I wish I had been able to use ChatGPT for the majority of communication around the wedding, including vendor outreach. 

To have your AI wedding planner create templates for vendor communication, copy and paste this prompt template: Draft an outreach email to a [vendor type] that includes all key info.

Design & Decor

There’s so much about wedding planning that is intangible and emotional. I’m pretty opinionated and tend to know what I want, but even I was surprised by some of the decisions I ended up making. 

I thought I wanted a simple long-sleeved Kate Middleton-style wedding dress; I ended up choosing a sleeveless sweetheart tulle ball gown. I thought I wanted soft neutral colors; I chose vibrant seasonal colors. 

Having previously tested ChatGPT’s ability to handle interior design (in this experiment with AI home styling), I was curious to see what it would suggest for wedding aesthetics.

Prompt: Suggest a color palette that matches my aesthetic and fits October in the Bay Area.

ChatGPT suggested a color palette with soft neutrals: ivory/warm white, champagne/taupe, dusty rose or mauve, and charcoal or soft black. It suggested adding accent colors of olive or sage green and brushed gold or antique brass (used sparingly). It also offered to share some mood board images with me. 

Verdict: B. 

ChatGPT captured what I thought I wanted — but not what I actually wanted. One of my biggest lessons learned: when using AI as a wedding planner, don’t count on it to make your decisions for you.

I discovered that although I love neutral colors, I wanted something warm and vibrant that more fully embraced the fall season. I ended up choosing terracotta as my primary wedding color, supported by ivory, black, and gold. And no, I did not use gold “sparingly” as ChatGPT suggested!

Want some ideas for a color palette from ChatGPT? Copy and paste this prompt template:
Suggest a color palette that matches my aesthetic and fits [season] in [city/region].

Of all the decisions I made, figuring out whether to DIY my flowers or hire a florist was one of the hardest. I wanted to see if ChatGPT would’ve led me to the same conclusion. 

Prompt: I want to save money by DIYing my own flowers but they’re really important to me and I’m getting stressed by all the work involved. I’m also not sure I will save that much money since flowers are expensive even if you DIY them. Can you help me figure out a good solution?

ChatGPT’s solution was to DIY some of the flowers, skip some of them, and have a florist do the really important pieces. Although this isn’t necessarily bad advice, it didn’t pick up on the fact that I was stressed about it and was looking for a way to reduce that stress. ChatGPT also didn’t understand just how important flowers were to me, even though I specified it in the prompt. 

Verdict: C-. 

DIYing some of the flowers would still have caused me a lot of stress, and wouldn’t have saved me much money. Also, I probably would not have been happy with the result. 

Fortunately, for my wedding, I ended up finding a great florist who was able to work with my budget and help me prioritize my flowers while still getting the effect I wanted. In my research, I had read that florists can work with you, but online vendor quotes can be sky-high and intimidating. However, there are indeed great vendors out there (shout out to Yoli!) who can work with your budget. 

Just keep in mind that AI tools like ChatGPT aren’t great at picking up on this kind of nuance. I’m so glad I made my floral decision on my own and didn’t have access to AI for this! Remember, while ChatGPT can give you suggestions, only you can make your decisions for wedding planning.

Guest Communication & Hospitality

Another piece of wedding planning that was fairly labor-intensive was guest communication and hospitality. 

Anyone who’s ever planned a wedding knows those dreaded three words: thank you notes. I was too stressed about wedding planning to tackle this in advance, but I wish I had.

I asked ChatGPT for some help on this to see how it would respond. 

Prompt: What’s the etiquette for thank-you notes — and how do I write them efficiently without sounding generic?

In addition to giving me concise information about etiquette, ChatGPT created a helpful step-by-step process for writing thank-you notes. It also offered to create templates for different types of notes (physical gift, cash gift, no gift, someone who helped out with the wedding). 

Verdict: A+. This would have been so helpful — thank-you notes were such a point of stress for me! Although I think it’s more meaningful if you write your notes yourself, getting AI’s help with the process would have been a game-changer. Utilize ChatGPT for this task if you’re feeling overwhelmed!

Another thing that I procrastinated on was getting a courtesy block at a hotel near the venue. Although I have experience in event planning, getting a hotel room block for a wedding still felt daunting. The research I did online was inconclusive and just added to my stress — the last thing you want when planning a wedding is to be on the hook for paying for unused guest rooms!

I asked my AI wedding planner for some insight on this task. 

Prompt: How do I block hotel rooms for guests without assuming liability?

ChatGPT created a step-by-step process for booking a courtesy block, broke down the difference between a courtesy block and a contracted block, included sample questions to ask hotels, pointed out common pitfalls to avoid, and offered sample wording for a wedding website. It also offered to write a script or email to hotels inquiring about a courtesy block. 

Verdict: A+. 

Using AI for this probably would have saved me at least half a day of time and stress!

One of the more delicate parts of wedding planning is communicating dress code expectations. I ran a prompt to see how ChatGPT would handle the topic of wedding guest attire — specifically for our semi-formal wedding.

Prompt: How do I communicate a semi-formal dress code to wedding guests — and what should I include?

ChatGPT offered sample wording and suggested places to communicate the dress code: the invitation, our website, and an optional attire FAQ card. It also recommended adding a note about heels for an outdoor ceremony, which was genuinely helpful. That said, the tone skewed a little snooty. One line suggested that, due to our wedding’s classic and minimalist aesthetic, “solid colors and refined styles will feel right at home.”

Verdict: B-.

Wedding guest attire is nuanced, and it’s easy for the messaging to come across as either too vague or unintentionally rude. I recommend using ChatGPT as a starting point, but definitely edit the wording to fit your tone and dress code.

You can also use my Wedding Guest Attire 101 post as a reference — it’s written for guests, but it breaks down common dress codes and can help you figure out how to explain yours clearly.

Copy and paste my prompt template for wedding guest attire if you want to try it:

How do I communicate a [x] dress code to wedding guests — and what should I include?

For our wedding, we provided our own wine. One of the things we failed at the most was overestimating the amount needed (if you know me, you know I’m terrified of running out of things — it’s genetic). 

I wondered if ChatGPT would have done a better job on calculating alcohol quantities. 

Prompt: How do I estimate alcohol amounts for 100 guests with beer/wine?

ChatGPT provided a basic formula for estimating beer and wine consumption, along with a shopping checklist.

Verdict: D-. 
If we’d gone with ChatGPT’s recommendation, we would have had even more leftover alcohol than we did! To be fair, estimating alcohol consumption is extremely difficult and crowd-dependent. Just like most online calculators, ChatGPT errs on the side of overestimating — sometimes by a lot. Since this is so nuanced, and you know your guests better than ChatGPT, don’t leave this one up to AI — handle it yourself.

Ceremony & Photography

Next, I tested ChatGPT to see how it would perform regarding some of the details for the ceremony and photography. 

Photography was one of the things that was most important to me, so I asked ChatGPT to help me make a shot list. 

Prompt: Help me create a comprehensive shot list.

Although ChatGPT created a fairly comprehensive shot list, it forgot the send-off — a pretty major omission!

Verdict: B-. 

My take: an AI wedding planner is like a great assistant who’s a little forgetful. It can have great ideas, but don’t count on it to remember something that would devastate you to leave out. 

One of the most intimidating parts of planning a wedding is your vows — particularly if you choose to write them yourselves. Out of curiosity, I asked ChatGPT for help on this task. 

Prompt: Help me write vows that feel personal but not cheesy.

ChatGPT created a basic framework with an intro, core promises, an optional mention of faith or shared values, and a closing affirmation. The result was both cheesy and impersonal, contrary to my request. 

Verdict: F. 

Although I know a better prompt and some back-and-forth editing could have improved this, here’s a hot take: if you can’t think of words to describe why you love the person you’re marrying, maybe you shouldn’t be getting married. 

Just kidding! I know writing vows can feel like a lot of pressure, and it often (if not always) comes down to the last minute, which is stressful. But your vows will sound so much better if they come from you — I promise. You don’t want your guests wondering if you used ChatGPT to write them, do you?

Logistics & Backup Plans

Once you’ve finished the bulk of your planning, there are always some key last-minute logistics. I ran a few prompts around final planning to explore how ChatGPT measured up to a wedding planner. 

Prompt: What should I include in my rehearsal timeline if I have a day-of coordinator?

ChatGPT created a thorough timeline, complete with helpful tips and cues, as well as a list of people who should be at the rehearsal. 

Verdict: A+. 

I’m not sure I’d let ChatGPT run my rehearsal, but this timeline was pretty flawless. 

Finally, I asked ChatGPT about what goes in an emergency kit — the ultimate test of a truly skilled wedding planner who is prepared for anything!

Prompt: What goes in an emergency kit for beauty touch-ups and wardrobe fixes?

ChatGPT created a surprisingly thorough checklist for a day-of emergency kit, broken down by category. It came up with a few things I didn’t have on my list, and even thought of extra earring backs!

Verdict: A+. 

Although you can’t depend on ChatGPT to be comprehensive, it rocked this prompt! I’d recommend using this as a starting point and building on it. 

After evaluating ChatGPT’s abilities as a wedding planner, I can confidently say this: while I’m glad I planned my wedding myself, AI absolutely could have made parts of the process easier.

For couples who don’t want to hire a full-service planner, ChatGPT can be a powerful tool for wedding planning — especially if you’re smart about which AI prompts you use and how you use them. It’s great for specific checklists/timelines, vendor emails, and brainstorming. It’s not great for emotional decisions, real-time research, or nuanced judgment calls.

Used well, an AI wedding planner can help you save time, reduce stress, and feel more organized, without replacing your vision.

Planning your wedding and looking for support? Consider “hiring” an AI wedding planner through ChatGPT — just remember to double-check its work and trust your gut.

More Posts to Plan Your Big Day

• How to Plan a Big Wedding on a Budget
• Wedding Guest Attire 101: Everything You Need to Know
• Terracotta Wedding Colors: A Splash of Warmth for Your Special Day