When OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public in late 2022, the generative AI chatbot immediately went viral, sparking the rapid adoption of AI tools that changed workflows in nearly every industry—including wedding planning.
“It’s been a game changer,” says Thomas Bui, Founder and Creative Director of Thomas Bui Lifestyle in San Diego and San Francisco. “I started dabbling last year, asking some questions here and there. And it got interesting and fun.”
AI is becoming increasingly common in wedding planning. According to Zola’s 2026 First Look Report, 54% of engaged couples now use AI in some way to plan their wedding, marking a 150% increase from the previous year.
In its 2026 Trends to Watch Report, The Knot says 30% of engaged couples are using AI imaging tools for inspiration. To harness this growing adoption, the company recently launched a ChatGPT app designed to help couples find vendors and plan more efficiently.
How Wedding Planners Are Using AI
Planners and designers are incorporating the technology into their workflows, using it for copywriting, timelines, proposals, payment reminders and even translation.
Ali Phillips, President of Engaging Events by Ali Phillips in Chicago, recalls her first experience with AI. She was reviewing a menu for a destination wedding, and although she is fluent in Spanish, the complexity of the menu was daunting.
“AI translated a seven-page menu in seconds,” she says. “I wondered, ‘What else can it do?’ So, I started asking it questions. I immediately fell in love with it.”
Later while on a long flight, Phillips watched a six-video series on how to integrate AI into workflows. From there, she began using it for administrative tasks, such as revising emails.
“It’s a nice way to get started on a task,” she says. “But I always want to start with what I want to say.”
Bui uses a similar approach with his marketing writing.
“I write it myself, then I use AI to edit it,” he says. “Our brand is ultra-luxury but approachable, so I always want to sound human, not like a computer—or phony.”
Nahid Farhoud, Founder and Creative Director of Nahid’s Global Events in Los Angeles, San Diego and the Bay Area, says she’s been using AI to automate her CRM, but “I wasn’t using it that much,” she says. “Everyone was telling me, ‘It will help a lot in your workflow.’”
In addition to her automations, Farhoud is now using AI tools to polish her website copy and proposals. When it is time to craft personalized ceremony speeches, she directs her clients to Provenance, an AI tool designed to help couples with their vows and toasts.
“Clients struggle to make vows professional and polished,” she says. “Provenance helps participants craft their speeches and vows, which elevates the ceremony. It makes them more excited about their day.”
Planners Urge Caution
Farhoud urges caution when using AI with clients.
“With AI, you need to manage expectations—what’s possible in real life,” she says. “AI can generate an unrealistic expectation. It doesn’t know the precise logistics of real life.”
Megan Lentz, Owner and Founder of Vida Events in Washington, D.C., agrees.
“AI generates beautiful photos that cannot exist in the real world,” she says. “It can give clients a false idea of what’s possible in the real world, but that’s not to say it doesn’t offer great inspiration.”
Lentz admits she is “on the fence” about AI, but she does see good in what it can do. “We use it more to get the wild and wacky ideas on paper to help the client envision our vision when we’re presenting them with ideas that are out of the box.”
Even so, “I try not to lean on it as far as the creative process goes,” she says. “I don’t see it as a necessary tool to run a design company. Human designers with their brains still pull through with the best products for the clients.”
Bui, who uses Midjourney to help clients visualize venue layouts and room designs, agrees creativity begins with the planner. “As a human, you still have to come up with the vision yourself,” he says. “A client is hiring you for your vision. You can’t rely on AI to do everything for you.”
AI Doesn’t Work for Everything
There is a lot of work that planners will not entrust to AI. Phillips says she always writes her own proposals, while Farhoud takes time to personalize the responses to inquiries received through her website. “You can’t automate everything,” Farhoud says.
Lentz says she still relies on “old school” design tools that she has used for years, but her focus is always the client.
“We grow outward and onward because of our experiences with our clients,” she says. “Not because of a software that is keeping us going.”
AI Can’t Replace Personal Relationships
For all the buzz around AI’s capabilities, the client-planner relationship simply cannot be delegated to a chatbot.
“We’re the experts; we want to advise them on things,” Farhoud says. “I still want that personal relationship.”
“The human connection is very important,” Bui adds. “My modern tech is meeting the people, learning the names, making the connection. People still want to deal with people. No matter what they say.”
Besides, Bui says, “AI is not going to light candles for you or put linens on the tables. It’s still the people doing legwork on wedding day, not AI.”
Phillips says hiring a wedding planner is about “hiring someone you trust to take you across the finish line on the biggest day of your life. For me, the client relationship has been and always will be the most important part.”
“AI is a tool,” Lentz says. “I don’t think it will take away the human connection that people crave when it comes to wedding planning and event planning. That human connection will always win.”
Learn more about Destinations Weddings by ALHI and subscribe to our newsletter.