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Hey, I’m Kate!
Your wedding planning coach, cheerleader, & chaos coordinator.
I’m a Detroit-based wedding planner, educator, and the founder of Planning Collective, home of The Wedding Planning Blueprint, where I help couples plan their weddings with confidence (and way less chaos).
Since 2004, I’ve had the joy of helping more than 400 couples bring their wedding visions to life. My work has been featured in The Knot, Style Me Pretty, Metro Detroit Bride, and WeddingWire, and while I love the shiny awards, the real highlight is hearing couples say things like:
“Oh, I never would’ve thought of that!”
“That makes things so much easier!"
Those lightbulb moments — when a tiny tip saves hours of stress or a few hundred dollars — are exactly why I started Planning Collective.
How it Started
I launched my first business, Purple Clover Events, back in 2004 with little more than a label maker and an obsession with organization. I didn’t know much about the wedding industry then, but I was hooked immediately.
Over the next 20 years, I've:
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Planned hundreds of weddings and events
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Led education and networking programs for wedding pros
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And realized most couples didn’t need a full planner — they just needed a roadmap.
That’s how The Wedding Planning Blueprint was born — a virtual system that helps couples anywhere plan their weddings step-by-step, with guidance from an actual planner.
When I’m not talking timelines or vendor contracts, you’ll usually find me at the lake with my family and my pack of furry assistants — Maisie (our super-mutt), and my cats Gus and Theo, who are contractually obligated to crash my Zoom calls.
I’m a big believer that wedding planning shouldn’t feel like a full-time job — and that a little humor (and the right checklist) can fix almost anything.
Cileste Crosby
Well hi there! I’m the 20-something year old Assistant you have probably noticed works for Kate. She hired me in 2021 to help with social media, wedding day activities, and other tasks behind the scenes. If you see me on the FB page, make sure to say hi!
I decided to get into weddings long before I even knew what a career was. As a little girl, being a wedding planner and fashion designer were my 2 dream jobs. One of those desires may have slowly faded out, but clearly the other one stuck. I went to college to study Hospitality (the closest program I could find to Event & Wedding Planning) and was blessed enough to get an internship with my event planning professor. Later she introduced me to her wedding planner friend who also offered me an internship, and thus the journey began.
Other than helping people marry the love of their life, I love playing video games, discovering random small restaurants, and I’m absolutely enamored with traveling. Vacations are my favorite form of therapy. My relationship with God is such an important part of my life, and I hope to change the perception of Christians through love and support. Love is love, and I am thrilled to help marry couples of all kinds.
PLANNING COLLECTIVE
Virtual and in-person wedding planning services for modern, busy couples. Based in Metro Detroit and available anywhere online, we help you plan with confidence through expert support, planning templates, and our step-by-step membership. Led by seasoned wedding planner Kate McClellan, we make wedding planning simple, stress-free, and (dare we say) fun.
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