READING TIME: 3m 48s
PUBLICATION DATE: 06/12/2026
UPDATED: 06/12/2026
There are wedding planners, and then there are people who have spent sixteen years quietly redefining what the job can look like. Ashley Smith is the latter. California-based and working everywhere from the Caribbean to the heart of Mexico City, Ashley Smith Events operates with a philosophy that is disarmingly simple: get the people right, and everything else follows. We've been following Ashley's work for a while now, and the more we learn, the more we understand why her couples trust her completely.
Ashley began planning weddings sixteen years ago - before the industry looked anything like it does today, before wedding planning was the well-charted profession it has become. She was one of the early ones, figuring it out in real time, and that pioneering spirit is still very much present in how she works.
What keeps her energised after all this time?
I draw a huge amount of inspiration from travel, hospitality, architecture, and design, which keeps the creative process constantly evolving. No two projects are ever the same, and I love the challenge of creating experiences that feel deeply personal, immersive, and entirely unique to each celebration.
Ask Ashley what she loves most about her job, and the answer comes immediately. "What I love most about my job is the people. Our couples become such an important part of the process, and I really value the relationships we build and nurture not only with them, but with the incredible vendors and creative partners we collaborate with along the way."
This is not a throwaway answer. It shapes everything about how Ashley Smith Events operates - from the way she communicates with couples throughout the planning process, to the vendor network she has spent years carefully curating. When your planner genuinely cares about the relationships, the whole experience of planning a wedding changes. It stops feeling like a transaction and starts feeling like something you are building together.
Ashley Smith Events offers full service planning and design - and then goes a step further with a travel concierge for both couples and their guests. "We handle all of the details." That is the entirety of her answer on the subject, and honestly, it tells you everything. There is a confidence in that simplicity. No lengthy list of caveats, no asterisks. Just a quiet, assured promise that everything is taken care of.
The team plans six to eight weddings per year - a deliberate, considered volume that ensures every project receives the depth of attention it deserves. This is a studio that chooses its couples carefully, and that selectivity works in everyone's favour.
California is home base, but Ashley Smith Events is genuinely global. Mexico, Europe, the Caribbean, the Midwest - the portfolio stretches across climates, cultures, and continents.
When it comes to venues, Ashley's taste is specific and considered - and her reasons for loving each place say a great deal about her design sensibility.
Amanzoe in Greece draws her in for "the landscape, food, serene slow-paced setting." Casa Wabi in Mexico captivates for "the architecture, art, and an off-the-grid experience." And General Prim in Mexico City holds a special place for "its unhurried manner, thoughtful hospitality, and being in the heart of CDMX." There is a clear thread running through all three: an appreciation for places that feel considered, that have a genuine identity, that offer something beyond a backdrop. Ashley is not drawn to venues that perform luxury - she is drawn to venues that embody a particular way of living. That distinction is everything.
"The first wedding I ever did in 2009 or 2010 in Madrid, Spain. It was a four-day destination wedding and so many things happened that weekend that opened my eyes to the world of destination weddings. I recognised the connection and shared experience of bringing people together across the world."
There is something deeply telling about a planner whose most formative wedding memory is also her very first. That Madrid weekend didn't just launch a career - it revealed a vocation. The destination wedding world, with all its complexity and all its magic, claimed her immediately. And sixteen years later, she is still doing exactly that work, still chasing that feeling of bringing people together somewhere extraordinary.
Ashley is candid on a subject that can make or break the planning experience: "Expectations vs budgets and what things really cost." It is the most consistent challenge she names, and one she faces with honesty rather than evasion. At Wezoree, we deeply respect planners who have this conversation clearly and early - because the couples who go into the process with a realistic understanding of what their vision actually costs are the ones who enjoy the journey. Ashley creates that understanding from the start.
On timelines, Ashley keeps it warm and practical: "Give yourself and everyone extra time." After sixteen years, she has seen enough mornings unspool in both directions to know this is not a small thing.
And when couples ask how to choose the right planner? Her answer is one of the most honest pieces of advice we have ever heard in this industry:
Hire a planner whose personality matches yours.
Not whose portfolio you love most, not whose client list impresses you most - whose personality matches yours. Because you will spend months, possibly over a year, making hundreds of decisions together. That relationship needs to feel right. It needs to feel easy. Ashley knows this because she lives it - and the couples who find her tend to find that it does.
