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I can't say enough positive things about Heather, Cortenay and Carolina Wedding Design. They exceeded my expectations in every respect and helped make my wedding day gorgeous, classy, seamless, and stress-free. Heather was always very responsive and as my mom said "worth her weight in gold". She incorporated all of my must haves, but at the same time provided great advice and recommendations. Her personal touches, especially on the design front, made my wedding one of a kind. CWD's vendor contacts were all great and I had no complaints - from the officiant, photographer, DJ, ceremony musician, and florist. The industry connections are a big plus because it saves time, money and the headache of doing your own research. Looking back, I can't imagine planning my wedding without Heather and Carolina Wedding Design. Heather is not only an awesome planner but the utmost professional, and most importantly, a great friend. I highly recommend CWD!

Jessica Phillips Schneickert, Bride

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Cortenay Matters, a partner of Carolina Wedding Design, was our wedding planner for my daughter's wedding. As the mother of the bride, I can say that she is an absolute pleasure to work with. She is professional, detail oriented, listens to your ideas and vision for your wedding, will bend over backwards to fulfill them, and will guide you and make suggestions if you need some ideas. She keeps you on track with timing and budget, is always upbeat and genuinely excited about your wedding and devotes 100% of her attention to you, especially in the 2 weeks before your date, finalizing all the last minute details. Cortenay truly takes all the worries "off your plate", handles everything you wish her to handle, and keeps the whole experience positive and happy. The vendors she recommends are excellent and that alone is a relief knowing that those people are known by her and will do a good job for you. As a mother of the bride who really wanted to enjoy the whole wedding planning experience, I do not think I could have coordinated such a beautiful, elegant wedding without her expertise. Many days she kept me sane and worry free, and that to me is priceless! I would highly recommend Cortenay Matters and Carolina Wedding Design.

Debbie Arena, Mother of Bride

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Hands down, the best first decision my husband and I made together after we got engaged was to hire Heather Bryson to plan and coordinate our local wedding. We chose the full service package and cut back in other areas of our budget to accommodate because we knew we wanted someone other than our mothers (and us) to "stress" over all of the details so that we could just enjoy the experience. Never once did I see Heather seem stressed over anything and it freed us all up to focus on the things we really wanted to. For that alone, Heather and her team were worth more than what we paid. We had peace of mind the entire time that everything would turn our great, and it truly was beyond our expectations.

Liz and Kirk Ward, Bride

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Hiring Carolina Wedding Design was the best decision my husband and I made during our entire wedding process. We knew Cortenay and Heather were amazing planners due to a friend's recommendation and flawless wedding that they had planned. What we were not expecting was how much attention was paid to every detail of our wedding and how much less stressed we were immediately after hiring them. Cortenay and Heather truly took the time to know us during the process, as evident our event was beautiful and uniquely "us." The big day was perfect and relaxing. With the expertise of Carolina Wedding Design my husband and I were able to enjoy the best day of our lives without a worry.

Courtney Walsh, Bride

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Having had the distinct pleasure of working with Heather Bryson on other occasions, it gives me great pleasure to prepare this letter of recommendation on her behalf. As an Event Specialist at the Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge, we work with hundreds of brides and are always eager to meet and work with talented and conscientious wedding & event planners.

Heather is trustworthy, a person of integrity and excellence. With a direct head for business savvy and a winning personality, this entrepreneur is sure to make your event a spectacular one. Her knowledge of resources, networking and ability to work while maintaining budget guidelines and time constraints are sure to impress anyone who contracts her services.

I am confident that anyone who retains her services will have a stellar event. Heather would be an invaluable service to any organizational establishment. So when looking for a stroke of genius in your party planning processes, who will deliver an enjoyable affair for everyone, you would do well to select Ms. Heather Bryson as your event planner /consultant.

Kelly Randazzo, Director of Catering

The Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge

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Cortenay Matters is what every bride (and groom!) SHOULD dream about when they think of planning their wedding! Working with her was exciting, fun and stress-free.

From the first meeting, she soaked in our thoughts and ideas, reviewed our budget and then literally designed a day that was perfect, amazing and truly representative of our personalities. Friends and family members all commented on how the wedding showcased our personalities and love for each other, which is exactly how I wanted it to be.

Cortenay did all of these things with us living 3,000 miles away in California! She was able to create our dream wedding with only a few in-person meetings with us. Even if we couldn't be there in person, I always looked forward to our conference calls and emails that were full of updates and details. She made sure that the distance never made me feel like I wasn't an intimate part of the process.

Andrea Core Harris

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Heather was amazing to work with. We started planning our wedding long distance, and once I finally moved to Charlotte, I was extremely busy in my new job as a physician. Heather did EVERYTHING in her power to coordinate and maximize the productivity of the time we could actually work on the wedding. I cannot recommend Heather enough - she is PERFECT for the busy bride who has limited time for wedding planning. She utilizes your time efficiently, turning even car rides into productive meetings. She understands when things come up and you're busy. Heather quickly and easily grasped what was important to us in our wedding day, so I could completely trust her with our vision. It allowed me to focus on my family, my friends, my fiance, and my job. And, I got to relax and enjoy the wedding itself and the creativity of our vendors without managing anything - because Heather was already doing that! And our wedding was MORE amazing than I could have imagined it.

Heather also had amazing contacts and helped us get top notch vendors. But she wasn't limited to what she already knew, she's willing to be flexible and try different things to make her bride and groom (and mother of the bride) happy. We actually went with a fabulous venue that she hadn't worked with previously. Additionally, she was a great resource when we had trouble making our decisions. She never pushed her opinions - instead, she'd thoughtfully reflect back comments we'd made and helped us make decisions based on what we had already told her about our vision for the wedding.

Finally, Heather is a great person, a great friend, and a great human being. I don't think she's ever met a stranger. My entire, VERY crazy family loved her. She's extremely personable and made the entire process very fun. On one of our more crazy wedding planning days, Heather made a point to pull over and help out when we witnessed a car wreck on - proof that Heather's generous and kind spirit isn't just an act - it is who she is.

Maneesha Agarwal Kirsch

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A MAGICAL DAY…..that is only one of the many ways to describe my daughter’s and her husband’s wedding day on April 8, 2011! THE most beautiful, lovingly, well planned day with attention to every detal that I could ever hope to imagine! All due to Cortenay Matters, a partner of Carolina Wedding Design (CWD), who patiently and expertly guided the couple from the planning stages to the most well organized and beautifully orchestrated day and evening imaginable!

I cannot recommend enough Cortenay Matters and Carolina Wedding Design! With her partner, Heather backing her up on THE DAY, they make a great team! Thanks so very much, Cortenay…. you and CWD are PRICELESS!!

Terry Bayne, Mother of Bride

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What a terrific team of planners with style, vision, creativity and experience. You two give Charlotte something to talk about. As a wedding cake vendor, it is extremely important that I have accurate information for planning, designing, delivering and setting up wedding cakes. Heather & Cortenay are THE BEST!!!

They are professional and prompt with their appointments, detailed in their planning, easy to work with and super creative with their ideas. Cortenay and Heather can work with a bride with a wide range of budgets and always deliver the wedding of their dreams. The CWD timelines are flawless yet flexible. I would HIGHLY recommend Heather to any bride looking for a wedding planner. I can't wait to work with the you and the smart and lucky brides who book you!

Gail Ciriello Buff

Cheesecake Etc.

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Two of the best decisions that we made for the wedding were #1 choosing to have a wedding planner and #2 deciding to work with Cortenay Matters from Carolina Wedding Design. When we first met Cortenay we knew immediately that she was the right fit for us. The reason we chose Cortenay was because she had a great personality, lots of energy, full of ideas, very professional, and seemed very determined to keep us on budget : ) When me & my now husband first started working with her a little over a year ago we knew we wanted the wedding to have a modern feel, be lots of fun, and have great food. Cortenay pretty much took it from there. Her relationships and connections with vendors were great. Wedding day was amazing. One of the things we were apprehensive about initially was the idea of a "reception style" reception with food stations but we knew we could trust Cortenay so we stuck with the idea and I'm so glad we did. It was a hit. Everyone commented on how amazing the food selection was and how much fun they had. The dance floor stayed full the entire night. We had so many guests coming up to us commenting on how impressed they were with our planner and the CWD team. (Their attention to detail, timeliness, professionalism). And all we have to say is "that's our Cortenay". So a big thanks to Cortenay Matters and Carolina Wedding Design for a stress free year and a Wonderful Wedding Day!!

Talisha and Brian Middleton

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Carolina Wedding Design provided us with the wedding of my daughter's dreams!!!! Heather was a dream to work with..her vision, knowledge, organization, and communication made planning our daughter's wedding both FUN and stress free! When we first met with Courtney and Heather, we were immediately impressed and put at ease. These girls work with the motto "Get the most bang for your buck!"

Karen Starbuck

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Carolina Wedding Design is more than just a company...they are family, your confidant, and friend through the entire wedding planning process. They really care about their brides and take time to get to know you personally to make sure your wedding is catered to what you like.

I cannot imagine planning my wedding without Cortenay Matters! She made the process so painless and REALLY fun! All of the stress of planning a wedding never phased me because I completely trusted Cortenay and the Carolina Wedding Design team. Hands down best experience possible! They go above and beyond and I would recommend them to any bride! They are the BEST in Charlotte and made my fairy tale wedding come true!!!

Megan Cross Ham

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Our wedding was above and beyond our wildest dreams and that was because of CWD!! They preformed as promised in every area and then so much more! Heather made the wedding planning process easy and so much fun for all of us. Heather is an incredibly talented young woman who gave us fantastic ideas to make our wedding so special ! All of their vendors were fabulous to work with. The vendor discounts she was able to get more than made up for CWD's fees. We most highly recommend CWD!!!

Beverly McLamb, Mother of the Bride

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