Organizing marriages for high profile clients
When most people are 15, they are thinking about whom they want to marry, not about planning other people’s weddings. For Julianne Young, it was just the opposite. Young was thinking about being a wedding planner, something she now does for high profile clients.
Her first wedding memory was her sister’s wedding when she was 12.
“I just remember being so overwhelmed with emotion walking down the aisle — as a bridesmaid — and just crying,” she said.
Describing her decision to become a wedding planner in her teens, Young said, “I made a list and I thought, ok, what am I really good at, what do I really love.”
Every step of her career from that point on was in the intent of opening her own business to do such planning,
Young spent four years volunteering for other established wedding planners, working at a floral shop throughout school and getting a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Calgary.
She opened Julianne Young Weddings in 2011 when she was only 22, her office a little boutique shop in Kensington. 
Young spends a lot of time at her desk scheduling and planning.
Photo by: Katherine Huitema
There are two main reasons why people hire wedding planners Young said. Clients want to have a luxurious wedding as well as someone to take care of all of the logistical details.
She says the average wedding can take more than 250 hours to plan — time that isn’t practical for most engaged couples to set aside to dedicate to a specific task in today’s society.
However, Young says it takes her significantly less time, 100 to 150 hours depending on the wedding’s size.
Among the services she offers is the Dom Perignon program, an intensive and custom planning program — and Spritzers, which offers clients assisted planning and hourly consultations.
Young added that all of her weddings have a very specific, modern look to them.
This attracts a very specific clientele: “The minimum budgets I deal with are about $60,000 to $80,000, depending on how many people will be in attendance. Higher budgets are closer to $200,000 or $300,000.”
“I’m priced higher because I provide them with a better service because I don’t have a million other clients. I’m pretty dedicated,” Young said.
Young plans an average of 15 weddings per year whereas other wedding planners can plan up to 50.
“I’ll be doing this until I’m old and grey. It’s literally who I am, it’s what I love doing.”