Carolina Wedding Design

Carolina Wedding Design is more than just a company...they are family, your confidant, and friend through the entire wedding planning process. They really care about their brides and take time to get to know you personally to make sure your wedding is catered to what you like. I cannot imagine planning my wedding without Cortenay Matters! She made the process so painless and REALLY fun! All of the stress of planning a wedding never phased me because I completely trusted Cortenay and the Carolina Wedding Design team. Hands down best experience possible! They go above and beyond and I would recommend them to any bride! They are the BEST in Charlotte and made my fairy tale wedding come true!!!

Hiring Heather Bryson and Cortenay Matters with Carolina Wedding Design was THE ABSOLUTE best decision my fiance' and I ever made when it came to our wedding! After getting engaged and starting the process of planning our wedding, we thought we could save money and plan it ourselves. That thought lasted about 5 minutes. I was completely overwhelmed and didn't have a clue where to start. So, we looked into hiring a wedding planner, met with a few, and just completely clicked with these two women. These girls know what they are doing!!! I trusted them so much that I was willing to just show up that day and get married. Her vision and creativity for our multi-cultural wedding was second to none. I cannot say enough good things about CWD...not to mention, they saved us thousands of dollars in the process! We worked mostly with Heather, who is just a doll! We had a blast every time we got together to do wedding stuff. Seriously, if you are engaged and planning the most UNFORGETTABLE day of your life, CWD can take your dreams to the next level. I cannot imagine our wedding without them. They will always be a part of our life! BEST MONEY EVER SPENT! hands down. So happy to be able to write a review on their behalf. THANK you CWD! Love you girls!

Hands down, the best first decision my husband and I made together after we got engaged was to hire Heather Bryson to plan and coordinate our local wedding. We chose the full service package and cut back in other areas of our budget to accomodate because we knew we wanted someone other than our mothers (and us) to "stress" over all of the details so that we could just enjoy the experience. Never once did I see Heather seem stressed over anything and it freed us all up to focus on the things we really wanted to. For that alone, Heather and her team were worth more than what we paid. We had peace of mind the entire time that everything would turn our great, and it truly was beyond our expectations. Kirk and I highly highly recommend the full service package, but at minimum the mend-the-end service. You won't regret it for a second. Heather did everything she possibly could to make sure Kirk and I had the best experience leading up to the wedding and on the day of, and we couldn't be more thankful. Aside from all of that, we definitely benefited from vendor discounts and favors because of Heather! Worth every penny.

Heather thought of details that we never would have thought of. She was adept at keeping the event moving at a great pace. Such a pleasure to work with. Amazing job!

Heather was amazing to work with. We started planning our wedding long distance, and once I finally moved to Charlotte, I was extremely busy in my new job as a physician. Heather did EVERYTHING in her power to coordinate and maximize the productivity of the time we could actually work on the wedding. I cannot recommend Heather enough - she is PERFECT for the busy bride who has limited time for wedding planning. She utilizes your time efficiently, turning even car rides into productive meetings. She understands when things come up and you're busy. Heather quickly and easily grasped what was important to us in our wedding day, so I could completely trust her with our vision. It allowed me to focus on my family, my friends, my fiance, and my job. And, I got to relax and enjoy the wedding itself and the creativity of our vendors without managing anything - because Heather was already doing that! And our wedding was MORE amazing than I could have imagined it. Heather also had amazing contacts and helped us get top notch vendors. But she wasn't limited to what she already knew, she's willing to be flexible and try different things to make her bride and groom (and mother of the bride) happy. We actually went with a fabulous venue that she hadn't worked with previously. Additionally, she was a great resource when we had trouble making our decisions. She never pushed her opinions - instead, she'd thoughtfully reflect back comments we'd made and helped us make decisions based on what we had already told her about our vision for the wedding. Finally, Heather is a great person, a great friend, and a great human being. I don't think she's ever met a stranger. My entire, VERY crazy family loved her. She's extremely personable and made the entire process very fun. On one of our more crazy wedding planning days, Heather made a point to pull over and help out when we witnessed a car wreck on - proof that Heather's generous and kind spirit isn't just an act - it is who she is.

Cortenay Matters, a partner of Carolina Wedding Design, was our wedding coordinator for my daughter's wedding. As the mother of the bride, I can say that she is an absolute pleasure to work with. She is professional, detail oriented, listens to your ideas and vision for your wedding, will bend over backwards to fulfill them, and will guide you and make suggestions if you need some ideas. She keeps you on track with timing and budget, is always upbeat and genuinely excited about your wedding and devotes 100% of her attention to you, especially in the 2 weeks before your date, finalizing all the last minute details. Cortenay truly takes all the worries "off your plate", handles everything you wish her to handle, and keeps the whole experience positive and happy. The vendors she recommends are excellent and that alone is a relief knowing that those people are known by her and will do a good job for you. As a mother of the bride who really wanted to enjoy the whole wedding planning experience, I do not think I could have coordinated such a beautiful, elegant wedding without her expertise. Many days she kept me sane and worry free, and that to me is priceless! I would highly recommend Cortenay Matters and Carolina Wedding Design.

Wow were to begin to express how we feel about the amazing job that Heather did for our daughters wedding. From the first time that we met we felt so comfortable with her and already felt as though the stress had been lifted. The whole process of planning the wedding was so much fun, and we feel like Heather always was very professional, understanding, and gave us honest and great advice, she always listened to our opinions and guided us as made our choices. Always a pleasure to work with her. We were even more than happy when the "Big Day" arrived, everything went so smooth and in fact we think that the day from beginning to end was PERFECT!!! Thank you Heather for giving our daughter a true "Fairy Tale Wedding".

CWD made my daughter's wedding a fairy tell that surpassed even our expectations. No one likes the expenses that are associated with wedding these days but Heather and Courtney brought great value for the entire experience.

Carolina Wedding Design made this the most wonderful day imaginable. It was definitely the right choice in choosing CWD for the planning and implementing of our daughter's wedding. Everything was perfect from the first day we started working with Cortenay Matters through the end of the evening of the reception. Cortenay listened to what our daughter wanted on her special day and made it come true. CWD is fabulous and we could not have done it without them. Thank you for making this day one we will never forget. Wayne and Kathy Johnson

Carolina Wedding Design provided us with the wedding of my daughter's dreams!!!! Heather was a dream to work with..her vision, knowledge, organization, and communication made planning our daughter's wedding both FUN and stress free! When we first met with Courtney and Heather, we were immediately impressed and put at ease. These girls work with the motto "Get the most bang for your buck!"

Two of the best decisions that we made for the wedding were #1 choosing to have a wedding planner and #2 deciding to work with Cortenay Matters from Carolina Wedding Design. When we first met Cortenay we knew immediately that she was the right fit for us. The reason we chose Cortenay was because she had a great personality, lots of energy, full of ideas, very professional, and seemed very determined to keep us on budget : ) When me & my now husband first started working with her a little over a year ago we knew we wanted the wedding to have a modern feel, be lots of fun, and have great food. Cortenay pretty much took it from there. Her relationships and connections with vendors were great. Wedding day was amazing. One of the things we were apprehensive about initially was the idea of a "reception style" reception with food stations but we knew we could trust Cortenay so we stuck with the idea and I'm so glad we did. It was a hit. Everyone commented on how amazing the food selection was and how much fun they had. The dance floor stayed full the entire night. We had so many guests coming up to us commenting on how impressed they were with our planner and the CWD team. (Their attention to detail, timeliness, professionalism). And all we have to say is "that's our Cortenay". So a big thanks to Cortenay Matters and Carolina Wedding Design for a stress free year and a Wonderful Wedding Day!! xoxo, Talisha & Brian

Our wedding was above and beyond our wildest dreams and that was because of CWD!! They preformed as promised in every area and then so much more! Heather made the wedding planning process easy and so much fun for all of us. Heather is an incredibly talented young woman who gave us fantastic ideas to make our wedding so special ! All of their vendors were fabulous to work with. The vendor discounts she was able to get more than made up for CWD's fees. We most highly recommend CWD!!!

A close friend referred my family to Carolina Wedding Design when I got engaged last summer. We could not have been happier! We selected the “Marry Me” package and would not have known what to do without Heather Bryson. She went above and beyond with everything and made our wedding the most incredible/STRESS FREE day of our lives. I would tell Heather an idea and she would pull it together with detail in such a way that I could never have imagined. We were engaged for ten months and in that time Heather felt like family. My entire family is forever grateful for all that she did – there are just no words to describe the top notch service that both Heather and Cortenay provide. Thank you both for everything!!! Kellyn McLamb Harrod

Cortenay was amazing to work with as a wedding planner! I honestly can't say enough about her and the services at Carolina Wedding Design. I had come to them thinking I had most things done and really needed help on the planning piece, but I was so unaware of the time how much more there was to do. Even after hiring her, she was able to cut some things from my budget, and I actually ended up paying less for my wedding and added several vendors I didn't think I could afford (transportation, video, etc.). When I started working with Cortenay, I honestly didn't even realize how involved she would be (because I asked her to) and she went with me to dress fittings and hair trial runs. She was even there the entire day of my wedding which was such a comforting feeling. She treated every question or request I had as if it were the most important thing she had on her plate, and would respond to my frantic late night emails as well. I only wished I had hired her sooner in the process before signing with any vendor so she could help me make the best decisions (I started working with her with about 4 months left before my wedding). THANKS CORTENAY!!

A MAGICAL DAY…..that is only one of the many ways to describe my daughter’s and her husband’s wedding day on April 8, 2011! THE most beautiful, lovingly, well planned day with attention to every detal that I could ever hope to imagine! All due to Cortenay Matters, a partner of Carolina Wedding Design (CWD), who patiently and expertly guided the couple from the planning stages to the most well organized and beautifully orchestrated day and evening imaginable! I cannot recommend enough Cortenay Matters and Carolina Wedding Design! With her partner, Heather backing her up on THE DAY, they make a great team! Thanks so very much, Cortenay…. you and CWD are PRICELESS!!

CWD When we first got engaged we were so excited to start planning our wedding.  Soon we realized the amount of work and level of details set before us and decided to hire an expert. In discussing our intentions with several vendors, the name Carolina Wedding Design came up multiple times.  The first meeting was a bit daunting, and my husband had his doubts, but when they laughed at his dumb jokes we were sold! Once we described our vision of a fun, yet elegant, cherry blossom theme, they embraced it with enthusiasm and there was no looking back.  Cortenay Matters is the perfect balance of professionalism, organization, and personality, all wrapped up in a highly energetic bundle of fun. Even the nitty gritty details were addressed in a manner that made the entire process enjoyable, and we looked forward to every meeting with Cortenay.  (I think my husband is a bit sad now that we don't get to hang out her on a weekly basis)  March 19th was upon us in no time, and CWD brought in reinforcements for the big event.  Cortenay was on point, focused and determined to make this an unforgettable day for us and our guests.  She rolled in with two way radios, headset and utility belt, as if ready to lead a platoon of pink commandoes into the jungle of matrimonial ceremony.  Not only was the venue breathtakingly beautiful, the entire wedding was perfect down to the last detail. Everyone had a grand time. When we had originally talked about a cherry blossom theme, Cortenay designed the most incredible cherry blossom vision.  She planned our cherry blossom arbor, custom cherry blossom cake, and our amazing cherry blossom decor for our reception. We had so many compliments on how beautiful the wedding was and we owe it all to Cortenay and Carolina Wedding Design.  Thank you for making our wonderful day so much greater. Much love, Joyce and Chris Bettini

Working with Carolina Wedding Design and Cortenay Matters was by far the best decision my husband and I made in planning our wedding! I personally didn't want to stress about one of the most important days of your life, and I put full trust in CWD and Cortenay! Throughout our planning process we had a few hurdles to get over with our reception location and Cortenay handled the situation with professionalism. She handled every detail with such focus and passion. It was a pleasure to work with Cortenay and CWD for our December wedding! Both my husband and I were pleased with the service we recieved for the value. And will always call Heather Bryson & Cortenay Matters our friends.

Working with Heather at CWD was such a joy. She made the last month of my wedding planning a breeze! She handled everything. I couldn't have done it without her!

Hiring Cortenay Matters at CWD was the best wedding decision we made! Not only was our wedding PERFECT, but our engagement was fun and stress free. For seven months, we had the best time with Cortenay planning our wedding. She is extremely organized, professional, and efficient. It is amazing how much progress we made month after month, week after week. Cortenay is also tremendously creative and skilled at turning wedding dreams and visions into reality. She is someone you can trust to make your BIG DAY better than you've ever imagined!

Rev. Shirley Anne was full of energy and love! She fit the mood of our casual wedding and provided her services with charm and all smiles. I would HIGHLY recommend her officiant services to anyone planning a wedding in OBX! Fantastic! With Love, Nicole and Jonathan