Knottd

The Challenge

Wedding planning is overwhelming. There are hundreds of decisions to make, dozens of vendors to coordinate, and a timeline that somehow needs to accommodate everyone's availability, budget constraints, and your aunt's dietary requirements. Most couples end up with a sprawling mess of spreadsheets, WhatsApp groups, and browser tabs that would make any project manager weep.

The big wedding planning platforms exist, but they're essentially lead generation machines dressed up as planning tools. You enter your details, they sell them to vendors, and suddenly your inbox is full of emails from photographers you've never heard of.

We wanted to build something different: an AI-powered planning assistant that actually helps you plan, rather than just harvesting your data.

Our Approach

We built Knottd as a conversational AI assistant that understands the context of wedding planning. Rather than presenting you with endless forms and checklists, you simply chat with your planner. Tell it your budget, your venue constraints, your vision for the day—it remembers everything and helps you work through decisions one at a time.

The backend runs on Laravel, handling user authentication, conversation history, and the integration with OpenAI's API. We built a custom prompt engineering layer that maintains context across conversations, so when you mention "the venue we looked at last week," it knows exactly what you're talking about.

The frontend is Vue.js, designed to feel more like messaging a knowledgeable friend than using enterprise software. We deliberately avoided the feature-bloat that plagues most planning tools. No gamification, no unnecessary notifications, no "complete your profile to unlock features" nonsense.

For vendor recommendations, we built an integration with Close CRM to manage relationships with florists, photographers, caterers, and venues. When Knottd suggests a vendor, it's based on genuine availability and fit, not who paid the most for placement.

The Tricky Bits

AI conversations about weddings are surprisingly complex. People don't ask straightforward questions—they ramble, they change their minds mid-sentence, they ask about budgets and guest lists in the same breath. Getting the AI to handle this gracefully took considerable prompt engineering and testing.

We also had to be careful about the emotional weight of the conversations. Wedding planning is stressful, and people share sensitive information: family dynamics, budget anxieties, relationship concerns. The AI needed to respond with appropriate sensitivity, not just information.

Email integration was another challenge. When vendors respond to enquiries, those responses need to flow back into the conversation context. We built an inbound webhook system that parses vendor emails and updates the planning state accordingly.

The Results

Knottd launched in late 2025 and has been helping couples navigate their wedding planning without the usual chaos. Users particularly appreciate the conversational interface—it genuinely feels like having a patient, knowledgeable friend who remembers every detail of your planning journey.

The vendor matching has proven especially valuable. Because we're not selling leads, we can make honest recommendations based on fit rather than commission. Vendors appreciate this too; they receive enquiries from couples who are genuinely interested, not just anyone who ticked a checkbox.

We're continuing to develop Knottd, adding features like budget tracking, timeline management, and guest list coordination—all accessible through the same conversational interface.