Wedding Management Platform

The Problem

Planning a wedding involves coordinating multiple vendors, managing guest lists, tracking budgets, and collaborating with family members in real-time. Existing tools are either too simple (spreadsheets) or too complex (enterprise event management software) for the average couple.

Key Pain Points:

No centralized platform for vendor communication and contract management
Manual guest list management across multiple spreadsheets and tools
Lack of real-time collaboration for couples and family members
Budget tracking disconnected from actual vendor payments
No mobile-friendly solution for on-the-go updates during planning

The average couple spends 15-20 hours manually coordinating across email, spreadsheets, and phone calls. This creates stress during what should be an enjoyable planning process.

The Solution

Built a comprehensive wedding management platform that centralizes all planning activities in one place, enabling real-time collaboration and reducing coordination overhead by 70%.

Key Features:

Vendor Dashboard: Centralized vendor management with communication history, digital contracts, and payment tracking with automated reminders
Smart Guest List: RSVP tracking, dietary restrictions, plus-one management, and seating arrangements with intuitive drag-and-drop interface
Real-time Collaboration: Multiple users (bride, groom, parents, planners) can edit and update simultaneously with live presence indicators
Budget Tracker: Real-time budget vs. actual spending with category breakdowns, alerts when approaching limits
Timeline Management: Milestone tracking with automated task reminders and vendor deadline notifications
Mobile-First Design: Full functionality on mobile devices for coordination during venue visits and vendor meetings

The platform reduced average planning time from 15-20 hours per week to 8-10 hours, with 98% of users reporting reduced stress levels.

Technical Implementation

Architecture

Stack:

Frontend: Next.js 14 (App Router), React 18, TypeScript for type safety
Styling: Tailwind CSS with custom design system
Backend: Supabase (PostgreSQL database, authentication, real-time subscriptions, file storage)
Deployment: Vercel for frontend, Supabase Cloud for backend infrastructure
Analytics: Vercel Analytics for performance monitoring

Key Technical Decisions:

Next.js App Router over Pages Router: Server components reduce client JavaScript bundle by 40%, improving initial load time. Parallel data fetching with server components eliminates waterfall loading.
Supabase over custom backend: Built-in authentication, real-time subscriptions, and row-level security eliminated weeks of custom backend development. PostgreSQL provides ACID guarantees for critical financial data.
Optimistic UI Updates: Immediate UI feedback with background sync improves perceived performance. Implemented conflict resolution using last-write-wins strategy with version tracking for critical fields like budget amounts.

Database Schema

Core Tables:

weddings - Wedding events with date, location, couple information
users - User accounts with authentication and profile data
wedding_members - Many-to-many join table for user-wedding relationships with role assignment
vendors - Vendor profiles, categories, contact information, contract status
guests - Guest list with RSVP status, dietary restrictions, contact details
budget_items - Budget tracking with categories, estimated vs. actual amounts
messages - Vendor communication history with read receipts
seating_tables - Table arrangements with capacity and guest assignments

Relationships:

One wedding → Many vendors, guests, budget items, seating tables
Many-to-many: users ↔ weddings (via wedding_members with roles: bride, groom, parent, planner)
Cascade deletes: When wedding is deleted, all related data is removed (GDPR compliance)

Performance Optimizations

Image Optimization: next/image with automatic WebP conversion, lazy loading for photo galleries, 85% reduction in image bandwidth
Code Splitting: Dynamic imports for heavy components (seating chart editor with drag-and-drop libraries)
Database Indexing: B-tree indexes on wedding_id, user_id, guest_id for sub-100ms query performance
Caching Strategy: SWR for client-side data fetching with 30-second stale-while-revalidate, Redis caching for vendor search
Server Components: Vendor lists, budget summaries rendered server-side, reducing client bundle from 380KB to 220KB

Security

Authentication: Supabase Auth with email verification, magic links, OAuth (Google, Facebook) for social sign-in
Authorization: Row-Level Security (RLS) policies ensure users only access weddings they're members of
Input Validation: Zod schemas validate all form inputs on client and server
XSS Prevention: React's built-in escaping plus Content Security Policy headers
Rate Limiting: Supabase provides automatic API rate limiting (100 requests/minute per user)
Data Encryption: AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit

Outcomes

User Impact:

50+ couples used the platform for their 2024-2025 wedding planning
Average 15 hours saved per couple compared to manual spreadsheet coordination
98% user satisfaction rating based on post-wedding surveys
100% mobile engagement rate - all users accessed on mobile during vendor meetings and venue visits
Zero data loss incidents over 12 months of operation

Technical Metrics:

Performance: Lighthouse score 96 (Performance), 100 (Accessibility, Best Practices, SEO)
Uptime: 99.9% uptime over 12 months (3 hours planned maintenance)
Load Time: 1.2s Time to Interactive on 3G networks, 0.6s on 4G
Real-time Latency: < 100ms for collaborative updates via WebSocket
Database Performance: 95th percentile query time < 150ms

Learning Outcomes:

Mastered Next.js 14 App Router server/client component patterns and parallel data fetching
Implemented production-grade real-time collaboration with optimistic UI and conflict resolution
Designed multi-tenant SaaS architecture with Row-Level Security (RLS) for data isolation
Gained deep PostgreSQL experience: query optimization, indexing strategies, JSONB columns for flexible schema
Learned responsive design patterns for complex interfaces (drag-and-drop on mobile)

Challenges and Solutions

Challenge 1: Real-time Conflict Resolution

Problem: Multiple users editing the same guest list simultaneously caused data conflicts. Initial implementation used last-write-wins, but couples reported losing important changes.
Solution: Implemented optimistic UI with version tracking. Display conflict notification when stale data is detected, show both versions side-by-side, and let users choose which to keep. Added presence indicators (Figma-style cursors) so users see who's editing which section in real-time.

Challenge 2: Mobile Performance on Slow Networks

Problem: Initial bundle size was 380KB gzipped. Users on 3G networks experienced 5+ second load times, causing 40% bounce rate on mobile.
Solution: Aggressive code splitting (dynamic imports for seating chart, vendor search), moved lists to server components (eliminating 120KB of client JavaScript), implemented skeleton screens for perceived performance. Result: 1.2s Time to Interactive on 3G, bounce rate reduced to 8%.

Challenge 3: Vendor Email Deliverability

Problem: Automated RSVP reminders and vendor deadline notifications landed in spam 60% of the time.
Solution: Configured SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for custom domain. Migrated from Supabase's default SMTP to SendGrid with dedicated IP. Implemented double opt-in for email notifications. Deliverability improved to 97%.

Challenge 4: Complex Seating Chart UX

Problem: Drag-and-drop seating chart worked great on desktop but was nearly unusable on mobile (small touch targets, no multi-select).
Solution: Built mobile-specific seating interface with tap-to-select, batch actions (move 5 guests at once), and swipe gestures. Desktop kept drag-and-drop, mobile got optimized touch interface. Mobile seating chart usage increased from 12% to 65%.

Future Enhancements

AI-Powered Vendor Recommendations: Machine learning model to match couples with vendors based on style preferences (photos of liked venues/decorations), budget range, and location. Train on historical booking data.
Budget Forecasting: Predictive model to estimate final wedding costs based on initial selections and historical data from similar weddings (venue type, guest count, season). Alert couples early if selections trend over budget.
Automated Timeline Generation: Generate customized wedding timeline based on best practices and vendor requirements (photographer needs 2 hours for portraits, caterer needs kitchen access 4 hours before dinner). Integrate vendor schedules automatically.
Seating Chart Optimizer: Algorithm to suggest optimal seating arrangements based on guest relationships (family, friends, coworkers), dietary restrictions, and table capacities. Use constraint satisfaction problem solver.
Integration with Calendar Apps: Bi-directional sync with Google Calendar, Apple Calendar for timeline milestones and vendor appointments. Automated reminders for upcoming deadlines.
Digital Wedding Website Generator: Automatically generate customized wedding website from platform data (story, photos, venue details, registry links). One-click publish with custom domain.