Husband-and-Wife Startup Team Makes Wedding Planning Easy with Bustld

What happens when data technology meets wedding planning?

That’s a question Bustld co-founders, Samie and Ryan Roberts, have actively explored for the past six years. Since planning their own New York City wedding in 2011, this married couple was inspired by the challenge in navigating the litany of available vendors in a place that wasn’t their home.

Drawing from their backgrounds in event planning and data tech, the newlyweds set off to make the wedding planning process less stressful for engaged couples by matching them with the perfect vendors for their special day. Using a proprietary algorithm and a strict vendor vetting process, Bustld takes the investigative work of finding trustworthy, professional, local wedding services out of the planning process.

From Wall Street to Wedding Planning

The Roberts’ relationship spans the past 14 years, with the two branching out from their Southern roots in Alabama (Ryan) and Charlotte (Samie) to experience big-city living in New York. While living in the Big Apple, Ryan worked on Wall Street at Reuters, honing his skills in data technology. Samie, on the other hand, worked in a fashion and events public relations company. And on their off hours, the two began making plans to get married, contacting and vetting local providers on their own.

“It was hard to find the right vendors,” Samie confesses. “We got married in New York, so we didn’t have family or friends to help us. While we ended up having a great vendor team, it was really difficult to find them and trust that they were going to deliver on our special day.”

Despite the challenge, the two were able to pull off the wedding of their dreams. But while Samie’s savviness in event planning may have prevented her from hiring the wrong vendors, she knew there were plenty of couples in similar circumstances who were struggling to plan the perfect day.

So, they decided to leave their New York City careers to launch their new business, settling on Charlotte as the official birthplace of Bustld.

Empowering Engagements with Personalized Partnerships

First, Samie launched a wedding planning company to better understand the local vendor landscape. After two years, Samie decided to branch out even further to officially kickoff Bustld while simultaneously operating her wedding planning company.

As for Ryan, he was able to build an algorithm that's facilitates vendor matching for users.

“Our algorithm takes everything into account, from budget considerations to what style of photography you like,” Ryan explains. “Couples take a quiz with about 15 questions, and they all vary in how they’re assessed based on categories like photography, DJs, florists and so on.”

Samie adds that there's more to Bustld's offering than just providing a resource.

“We’re really trying to give people peace of mind that they’ve selected the best vendor for them,” she says. “It’s unlike the competition where vendors pay to be placed as a match higher up on their list. We’re actually matching the couples to the vendors.”

And, throughly vetting them — the service providers, that is. Vendors are required to have worked at least 10 weddings and must meet certain pricing guidelines to ensure they aren’t undercutting the market.

“At the same time, we still encourage entrepreneurship,” Ryan says. “If you don’t meet the vetting qualifications, we share our resources about the tools we use and make recommendations to those just starting out so they can try again in the future.”

In addition to the matching algorithm and vetting process, Bustld implements a hyper-local approach for all of its vendor offerings. For example, a couple searching in Mooresville will get entirely different results from a couple in Rock Hill, S.C., even though the two are only an hour apart from one another. Competitors’ sites, by contrast, do not deliver results on as granular a level due to the pay-to-play nature of its vendor listings.

Taking Over the South & Beyond

From starting out in the Charlotte market, Bustld has quickly grown its vendor offerings to encompass even more regions, including South Carolina and Georgia. And the plan for further expansion doesn’t stop there, according to the husband and wife entrepreneurs.

“As long as we’re providing value to couples and vendors, we’ll keep working to offer that to them on a broader scale,” Ryan says.

While Bustld will certainly make life easier for engaged couples down South, the Roberts have plenty of advice to give to those just entering the wedding planning phase — even if their service isn’t available in your region.

“Make sure you don’t try to tackle everything at once,” Samie cautions. “Make a clear plan and budget, and give yourself realistic deadlines. Remember, you’ll still have a full-time job, friends and family to take care of, so make that a consideration in your plans!”

“Remember to enjoy it,” Ryan adds. “It goes really fast, and it’s not meant to be a huge project like work. It’s fun and exciting, and — hopefully — only happens once. Try to enjoy it as much as possible and not overwhelm yourself with the details.”

Vendors interested in being considered for the Bustld platform can submit an application online. Engaged couples in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia are free to take the quiz and start receiving their matches today through the web-based platform.