Bryn Khoury remembers experiencing her own challenging aspects of wedding planning — from finding hair and makeup artists to landing a venue and caterers.
At the time, she wished there was a single source she could use to schedule all her desired services for her special day.
"I couldn't find a way to easily explain what I wanted out of a wedding vendor," Khoury said. "And then ultimately explain what I wanted one time."
She created wedding platform Our Day in June 2023 to meet this need for engaged couples. The tool reduces the anxiety-inducing process of planning a wedding by streamlining vendor selection.
Our Day, founded in Charlotte, is free for couples to review and request any of the 12 core vendor categories listed on the platform's marketplace. Those include bakery services, catering, florists, photography and videography, venue selections, music, wedding planners, officiants, rentals, hair and makeup, invitations and calligraphy, and transportation.
Khoury said Our Day recently added a specialty vendor category for unique wedding touches such as fireworks, magicians and other entertainment.
The Our Day process works in four steps. Couples would start by visiting the platform's website and filling out a form, explaining their vision for their wedding. Then, they gain access to the tool's list of hundreds of vendors and request quotes. Couples would next compare their matches to accept or decline an offer. Finally, they connect, ask questions and schedule consultations with their vendors of choice.
Our Day sees its request-for-proposal process as a differentiator in the industry, bringing the ability to streamline the vendor selection task. It also matches vendors with couples that fit their criteria, based on budget, location and date availability.
"So, it saves time for the couples, but it also saves time for the vendors," Khoury said.
Small businesses can either pay to respond to customer leads as they come, or pay $35 per month to be a full-time, listed vendor.
Vendors looking to sign up for Our Day are required to be inclusive for all couple types.
"Diversity is incredibly important for us, and we want to make sure people feel comfortable coming to our platform knowing that they're not going to step on any landmines," she said.
The platform has about 875 vendors across the Carolinas and Georgia. Roughly 440 are based in the Charlotte market. More than 4,300 couples have signed up for Our Day, including at least 1,500 locally.
Khoury said Our Day typically caters to markets with working couples who may not have enough time to plan a wedding. She saw Charlotte as an area with a large population of those couples.
"We felt like Charlotte was a perfect city sizewise, industrywise and to get started," she said.
On Sept. 5, Our Day will expand to Tennessee, Virginia and Savannah, Georgia. It plans to continue to grow its vendor and couple communities, ultimately going nationwide.
"So we're continuing to build our brand, build our vendor network and, most importantly, bring these vendors more business," Khoury said.
