ABOUT us
I'm not a wedding planner who also does design. I'm a creative director who builds your vision from the ground up and handles every detail required to make it real. Most planners operate off of a checklist, and that's just not me.
I take on a small number of weddings each year, not as a sales tactic, but because that's what it actually takes to do this right. 500+ hours per wedding is the standard, and by the end of our time together I'll know what you'd order at a restaurant before you arrive.
From private ranches in Texas to colonial convents in Mexico City, I build weddings in places that don't come with a package. You know what you want, and I know how to build it.
“The closest thing to a true creative director—not just someone who executes a checklist. That was the ultimate differentiator.”
— robyn & travis
“You were the only planner who really listened and wanted to know us on a real level. I knew we'd have fun working together.”
— christi & Alex
Our Style
We think like architects before we think like planners. Space and flow first, how guests move through a night, how a room actually works and then comes the design.
Every wedding we take on is built around the specific people getting married. What you actually care about, what your guests will remember at 2am, what couldn't belong to anyone or anywhere else.
Our Story
The Nouveau Romantics started in 2010. I came from the architecture world, and that technical and design brain is what drives every decision I make. I got into weddings because I was drawn to the complexity: the logistics, the design, the way a single evening has to function as both a streamlined production and an effortless experience at the same time.
I've been doing destination weddings for most of that: Mexico City, Portugal, Santa Fe, New Orleans, Texas, California, blank canvas venues, private properties, historic estates. 15 years later I still take on a small number of weddings each year so every client gets the full version of this.
Our Method
I start by listening, longer than most planners do. The couples who work with me well tend to have strong ideas they haven't fully articulated yet, and part of my job is helping them find the thread. Once we have it, everything else gets built around it.
I work with the space, not against it. A traditional venue with incredible bones gets treated differently than a blank-canvas private property. The design should feel like it belongs.
Once we're in execution, you won't feel the weight of it. That's fifteen years of knowing exactly where things go wrong before they do.
MEET ELIZABETH
I'm Liz.
I came up through the architecture world, which trained me to think about space, flow, and how a night actually unfolds before I think about anything else.
I've been doing this since 2010, destination weddings for over a decade. I take on a small number of full-service weddings each year, and I built The Destination Edit for couples who aren't ready for full planning yet but need honest guidance before they commit to a destination or a venue.
My clients tend to be people who know what they want but not how to get there. They don't want a wedding that looks like everyone else's. They want to actually enjoy the process instead of drowning in it. And they want someone who gets the vision and can build it without making them project-manage the whole thing.
That's exactly what I do.
“What always stands out about Liz’s weddings is that they were consistently different. Each one felt entirely customized to the couple, setting, and season. They weren’t just fitting, they were memorable.”
— shira savada, former editor martha stewart weddings
underrated destination
guatemala
DESTINATION I'D ELOPE TO:
dolomites
CITY I'D MOVE TO TOMORROW:
MEXICO CITY
splurge on
hotel rooms
ALWAYS ORDER ME
dessert
secret joy
sunrises
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Most couples come to us with similar questions about how we work, what we charge, and whether we're the right fit. Here's what you need to know.
Q. How much do your weddings cost?
Most of our full-service weddings start at $125,000 and scale from there depending on guest count, destination, and how many events are part of the weekend. Per guest that typically runs $2,000 to $4,000+.
The most useful way to think about budget isn't a bottom line number. It's what you want the experience to feel like, and then we figure out what that actually costs and make decisions accordingly. There's a lot of ways to slice the pie, and part of our process is determining which priorities lead the way.
Q. How many weddings do you take on each year?
I take on 3-4 full-service planning and design weddings per year and 4 design-only clients. That's intentional, so that every wedding gets the full version of what I do, not a divided version of it.
Q. How do you structure your fees?
Full-service planning and design runs 15-20% of total vendor costs. Event design only is a flat rate scoped per project. The Destination Edit starts at $2,500. I don't take commissions from any vendor, ever, and I price myself accordingly.
Q. Do you only do destination weddings?
Not exclusively, but destination and non-traditional venues are where I do my best work. Private properties, historic buildings, blank-canvas spaces that need to be built from scratch—that's where the architecture background actually matters. If you're getting married in a hotel ballroom with an in-house coordinator, I'm probably not the right fit.
Q. Where are you based?
Denver, Colorado. I travel for (almost) every wedding I take on, and that's been true since 2010. Mexico City, Portugal, Texas, New Orleans, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, across the US and beyond. If you're planning something somewhere that requires someone who knows the destination, that's what The Destination Edit is for.
The Little Book of Wedding Checklists
I wrote The Little Book of Wedding Checklists —a #1 Amazon bestseller that's helped over 65,000 couples get inside the way my planning brain actually works. Clear, streamlined, more comprehensive than anything else out there.
If you want to see how I think before you hire me, start there.
If you're still working out where your wedding should happen, The Destination Edit is the place to start. If you know where and you're ready to talk full planning, see how we can work together. Or just reach out directly.