If you’re looking for wedding planning tips and advice that are practical, creative, and no-nonsense, you’re in the right place.
I consider myself lucky to have spent decades helping couples bring their wedding dreams to life — and now I get to share that experience with you.
Photo Credit: Special Events Magazine, May/June 2009 issue
Meet Jean: Your Wedding Planning Guide
What I Do (and Why I Love It)
Hi, I’m Jean Neuhart with Weddings From The Heart. I’m a wedding specialist who spent 27 years as a wedding planner and coordinator, and now I help engaged couples plan their weddings through practical advice, resources, and guidance. Through my blog, books, digital guides, and consulting sessions, I share the lessons I learned from working with couples for decades so you can make informed decisions, avoid common mistakes, and create a wedding that feels like you.
I feel incredibly lucky. I’m happily married (over 37 years), have a grown son and one furbaby, and I’ve had the privilege of being part of some of the happiest days in couples’ lives.
Looking back, I was never the little girl dreaming of her wedding day — in fact, the only staged wedding I ever did was for Barbie and Ken (and yes, Ken’s head popped off right after their first kiss). Even though that happened over 55 years ago, I still remember scrambling on the living room floor with my friend, trying to get him back together. Barbie must have been one heck of a kisser!
It was planning my own wedding that sparked my interest in wedding planning as a career. Back then, I had no idea what I was doing — we planned much of our wedding on lunch breaks, vendors sometimes didn’t show, and our reception venue even changed ownership mid-contract. But surrounded by family and friends, it all came together. More importantly, I realized something: I loved the process of helping create a meaningful celebration.
My approach has never been “one size fits all.” I start with tradition, then help couples personalize it so their day feels like their love story, not just a checklist — what I call “tradition with a twist.” Long before personalization became popular, I encouraged couples to put their unique stamp on every detail.
No cookie-cutter weddings here. I’ve planned in ballrooms, backyards, museums, and barns — including one at the very beginning of the barn trend, when the bride wanted a real barn, not a polished “barn venue.” This was a working barn — complete with barn cats doing very barn-cat things. One of them was even happily eating a dead mouse right in front of the bride as she waited for her turn to walk down the aisle. (Fortunately, she thought it was funny — the circle of life, barn edition).
Every wedding brought something new — new ideas, new challenges, and new ways to personalize the day. That’s exactly what I loved most about being a wedding planner.
Looking back, I can see a few weddings where details later became “popular,” but that was never the goal. One bride loved daisies at a time when you couldn’t find daisy-themed anything in wedding stores, so we created it ourselves — including a custom cake motif and a flower verse for the invitations. Another year, a bride chose yellow when it was nearly impossible to find in wedding décor.
We weren’t chasing trends. We were simply honoring what mattered to each couple. And that’s still my approach today: forget what’s “in” and focus on what feels right for you.
From Wedding Planner to Wedding Guide
I started my blog back in 2009 to share planning tips, inspiration, and advice I had gathered over years in the industry. Here, you’ll find practical tips and advice you can actually use — whether you’re just beginning your planning journey or putting the finishing touches on your big day.
When I retired from hands-on planning and coordinating in 2021, I didn’t step away from weddings. Instead, I shifted my focus to writing, consulting, and creating helpful resources, including my books:
• Wedding Invitations, RSVPs, and More! Oh My!
• From “I Will” to “I Do”
Both are filled with real-world wedding guidance and suggestions to help couples plan with more confidence, joy, and less overwhelm.
Beyond Wedding Planning
Over the years, my wedding expertise has taken me beyond planning weddings and writing about them. I’ve been a guest on podcasts, appeared on a local morning television show, and have been a finalist twice in an international tabletop design competition.
The first time I was a finalist, my reaction went from “Yay!” to “How do I get a 32-inch-tall wrought iron Eiffel Tower on a plane from Ohio to San Diego?” Somehow, I managed to pack it in my carry-on. I fully expected TSA to take one look at my bag and decide it needed a closer inspection.
They didn’t. Not only did they not inspect it, they didn’t even seem remotely interested in the fact that I was carrying a giant wrought iron Eiffel Tower through an airport.
I’m still a little surprised.
The second time I just shipped the items to my hotel room.
Those experiences have given me opportunities to share my knowledge, creativity, and love of weddings in ways I never imagined when I first started in the industry in 1994.
Why This Website Exists
Planning a wedding can feel overwhelming — but it doesn’t have to be.
My mission is to give you the tools, ideas, and guidance you need to create a wedding day that feels authentically you. Sure, there’s wedding planning advice and information all over the internet. Some of it is great, some okay, and a lot is…well, misleading.
Because I’ve spent decades working in the wedding industry, I’ve learned how to separate helpful guidance from unnecessary noise. Through checklists, timelines, etiquette advice, and planning tools, I focus on clarity and practicality.
From inspiration to real-world guidance, this space is here to support your wedding planning journey with information you can actually trust. I’ll tell you what you need to know, not what you want to hear.
What I Do Now
While I no longer work as a hands-on wedding planner, I’m still deeply involved in the wedding world.
Over the years, I’ve participated in countless training courses, seminars, and workshops to keep up with trends and best practices — and now I channel that experience into my writing, consulting, and digital resources.
Here’s what I focus on now:
• Writing wedding planning blog posts grounded in real experience
• Sharing practical planning tips and advice
• Creating digital tools, checklists, and printables
• Writing books designed to simplify wedding planning
• Sharing content from my dog Stark, our “Chief Barketing Officer,” through his weekly Wedding Paw-spective and CBO Memo
• Creating helpful content for couples planning their weddings
Let’s Chat
Have a question or a wedding challenge you’d like help with?
Email me at jean@weddingsfromtheheart.net — no question is too small. Sometimes the smallest details make the biggest difference in wedding planning.
Client Love Notes
My past clients often say I made their wedding day smooth, stress-free, and personal.
“Working with Jean was an awesome experience! Whenever I felt overwhelmed with anything, she was there with a solution.”
~ Brittney
You can see more client love notes here.
Whether you’re just starting to plan or finalizing the last details, I’m here to help with ideas, wedding planning tips, and inspiration — and to share a little of what has made me feel so lucky to be part of so many incredible weddings.
Dive in, explore the blog, and let’s make your wedding day truly unforgettable.
Hearts, Joy, Love!Jean