Photo by: Kim Nodurft Photography

“Hi Susan,
Just want to thank you for all your good work for our last minute wedding. You kept us calm, cool, and collected and were so helpful. Thank you so much.” – Wendy, Bride

As one of the foremost experts in the wedding industry, Susan Southerland is one of the nation’s top wedding planners. Her experience includes planning thousands of weddings around the world in which she and her team carefully execute each detail with passion and precision.

Susan is owner and president of Just Marry™!, with home offices in Central Florida. She focuses on all weddings, from intimate to extravagant, from cultural to destination, making memories of a lifetime.

Susan’s exceptional weddings have been featured numerous times on the Style Network’s “Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?” and TLC’s “A Wedding Story.” Her cutting edge advice has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Orlando Sentinel, Orlando Leisure, and The Orlando Business Journal.

Admired for her depth of knowledge and her easy going personality, Susan boasts the honor of being the official National Wedding Expert for Perfect Wedding Guide. In addition to our blog Susan’s advice can be found in the planning pages of this national magazine and on perfectweddingguide.com.

Where do you gain your inspiration to be unique for each couple?
I get inspiration from each couple’s story. I also read blogs, magazines on design and watch the Food Network!

What makes planning weddings all worth it?
Seeing the vision come to fruition. That still takes my breath away. It’s amazing what a good team of vendors can create.

Photo by: Frances Photography

“Karen [Just Marry™] coordinated everything perfectly; it went so smoothly and exceeded all my expectations. My girlfriend who had married a couple of months before us kept telling us she had ‘wedding envy’. I was very pleased. It was exactly what I had envisioned, wished for and more!” – Veronica, Bride

What makes you get up every morning to plan a wedding?
I believe that I have an amazing job! I get to spend time with people on the happiest days of their lives. Not many people get to say that! So knowing that the end result of my efforts every day is a joyful bride and groom is more than enough to get me going every morning.

What gives you the most satisfaction when planning a wedding?
The thrilled smiles of the happy couples telling me their wedding turned out just as they envisioned.

How do you ensure each wedding is different?
From the personalities of the couples. Everyone is different, of course, so it is important to pay attention to cues from conversations and interactions with brides and grooms when making recommendations for their weddings.

Tell us a little bit about your life outside of weddings.
Outside of wedding planning, my family is my focus. My daughter loves to keep me on my toes, and serves as a way to help me take things less seriously than my Type A personality typically wants to. And my husband of nine years offers me much-appreciated love and laughter.

In my spare time, another passion of mine is writing. Although my favorite genre to write is historical romance, I have recently begun a young adult supernatural novel that has been incredibly fun. Writing serves as a wonderful outlet for my creativity, and wedding planning has truly worked to blend my romantic and creative side with my Type-A planning side.

“I just wanted to send you a quick email to thank you for all your help during the ceremony. I just wanted to express how pleasurable it was working with you. You did an excellent job, were extremely professional, and extremely pleasant. The ceremony went off without a hitch, and we owe a lot of that to you. So, thank you VERY much! -Colleen, Bride

Where do you gain your inspiration when planning a wedding?
I gain my inspiration for planning a wedding from the individual couple. Their story is all the inspiration I need to help them realize their perfect wedding day. All the intricacies and details of their life and love help me to create a unique and special story for each couple.

What gives you the most satisfaction when planning a wedding?
Being part of the beginning of a couple’s married life is the most satisfying part of planning a wedding. Helping make sure that their big day is as happy and stress free as I can possibly make it ensures that their memory will be a great one.

What makes you get up every morning to plan a wedding?
I very strongly believe I have an incredible job. I get to be with people on the happiest days of their lives and you can’t complain about that! My favorite part is getting to know each and every couple on a personal level so those elements will shine on their big day.

What’s something fun for couples to know about you?
Outside of wedding planning, family and friends are my main focus. I would not be the person I am today without the love and support from those closest to me. Laughter and music get me through any obstacle and keeping a positive attitude is key to happiness. I have a loving boyfriend of four years and he makes me laugh everyday and is my rock. Everything happens for a reason and the more you embrace life, the more you get out of it.

Photo by: Frances Photography

“We enjoyed working with Just Marry™ because we always felt at ease and the entire planning process was not stressful. Our phone calls and e-mails were always promptly returned. We always felt like Just Marry™ was on top of the planning process.” – Tina, Bride

What’s the best part about coordinating a wedding?
I cherish the initial meeting with the Bride and Groom, learning about their love story and helping to incorporate little elements that will make their wedding unique to that same love story. The next best part – witnessing the Bride and Groom see each other for the first time and being mesmerized by all of the love they have in their eyes in that moment.

Where do you gain your inspiration when planning a wedding?
Taking the plans of the bride and groom and creatively bringing it all together, while infusing their personality into the details and exceeding their expectations in my execution.

Why did you get into wedding planning?
Ever since I was a little girl weddings were my passion. I planned my wedding and anyone else’s that would let me, no matter their age. I would draw every detail out in my little notebook! Throughout my professional career I’ve had the chance to plan weddings within Disney, Sandals and around the southeast – no matter the venue, it’s always a pleasure!

What’s something fun for couples to know about you?
One week prior to my wedding I wore two pairs of spanx for 4 hours a day in order to tighten up my figure – It worked! I was about one inch looser in my dress!

Photo by: Frances Photography

“Dan and I would like to thank you for doing such a great job at our wedding. It was nice to have somebody in charge of those particular details. Thank you again for doing such a wonderful job.” – Paige & Dan

What’s the best part about coordinating a wedding?
At the end of the day, everything I worked on with all of the vendors, the brides, the parents, the schedules, the phone calls, the emails: always ends with a party. Who can say that about their job?

Why did you get into wedding planning?
Honestly, I knew I would be good at it, and I love it.

What gives you the most satisfaction when planning a wedding?
When the reception is over, I’m exhausted, and the bride tells me, “Thank you; everything was wonderful.”

Tell us a bit about your life outside of wedding planning.
I’ve been married to my husband, Bill, for 14 years. I have a terrific stepson, Nathan, who is 25 and lives here in Orlando. I have a wonderful 1925 bungalow style house in downtown Orlando that I love fixing up and decorating. I enjoy taking walks around my neighborhood, painting, reading, acting, and volunteering. There’s more, of course, but I’d hate to bore anyone with the details!

Photo by: Frances Photography

“I would like to thank you for your brilliant organizing of the wedding. Everything went very smoothly … I would highly recommend [Just Marry!] to anyone I know. From the flowers to the cake, it was fabulous!” –Rachelle & Denis

What’s the best part about coordinating a wedding?
Every bride is completely unique! The details and sentimental thought behind all of their planning makes each couples wedding memorable. The best part is seeing how the couple’s personalities shine throughout all the details involved in their wedding.

Why did you get into wedding planning?
Being overly detailed definitely lead me on the right path from the beginning. When I started helping my friends plan their weddings I was overwhelmed by how much I loved everything about planning! When I’m helping a bride plan and we can work together to bring all creative ideas and thoughts into one masterpiece I sit back and I know this is where I am meant to be.

Where do you gain your inspiration when planning a wedding?
My inspiration comes from details. I can look at every single element involved in the entire wedding process and have a hundred ideas. I suppose this is what makes me so excited about do-it-yourself projects!

What gives you the most satisfaction when planning a wedding?
The greatest part for me is when everything has been done, everyone has shown up, the bridal party has walked and all that is left is the bride and groom hand in hand at the front of their loved ones. It is in that time when they steal the moment away and you can’t help but be overjoyed with love; this is where I find the most satisfaction.

“You guys made the planning so easy and stress free!! Again, we wanted to say thank you for all you did to make our wedding perfect!!” –Jennifer & Mike

What’s the best part about coordinating a wedding?
For me the best part of coordinating a wedding is knowing that I get to be apart of the happiest day of two peoples lives. There are always so many details that go into each individual wedding which always show their personalities. Especially now with Do It Yourself items becoming extremely popular! Being an extremely organized person makes it fun to put all the couples specific details in order and create them into the perfect stress-free wedding!

Why did you get involved with wedding planning?
I have always been extremely organized and loved interacting with people so I decided to get a degree in Event Management! I started planning all sorts of events and was enjoying it but was not in love with any of them until I was given the opportunity to start coordinating weddings. I had no idea that I would be hooked! I can honestly say love my job! Having the opportunity to interact with the bride and groom and getting to see the finished product of all the hard work is all worth it!

Where do you gain your inspiration when planning a wedding?
I gain my inspiration from each individual couple. I love to hear their story or even just seeing all the different details they are putting into their wedding. It may be their color choices, their flowers, their vows or any number of things. These give me inspiration because I know that each couple is unique and no two weddings will ever be exactly alike. It makes the planning process exciting from the first initial communication to the very end of the wedding day.

What gives you the most satisfaction when planning a wedding?
The actual wedding day when the bride and groom are standing with their officiant hands joined and exchanging their vows! Seeing all the details come to life for them – chairs set, flowers in hand, suits and dresses on, family and friends gathered together to celebrate… It makes all the days, weeks or even months of planning all worth while. Having the bride and groom express how their wedding turned out great is extremely satisfying. At that exact moment, I feel that all the countless emails and phone calls to get every detail perfect was all worth while!