“I Do” Crew
Carmen Hocking, owner of A Beautiful Wedding, is renowned as the premier wedding planner in Lawrence, Kansas City, Topeka, and surrounding areas. A Beautiful Wedding has been honored by “Best of Lawrence” —First Place Award, Event Planning (lawrence.com); The Knot “Best of Weddings 2017”; and WeddingWire “Couple’s Choice Awards 2017.”
With over 28 years’ experience and more than one thousand weddings to her credit, Carmen’s passion for her work has earned her the highest respect from industry professionals and clients alike. Carmen helps with weddings all over the world that are as unique as you and your fiancé, each reflecting the wedding couple’s personal taste, culture and style. A Beautiful Wedding has earned a well-deserved reputation for executing truly memorable high-end weddings, as well as small unique celebrations of love.
Carmen has had the opportunity to have learned from some of the top industry professionals, including: wedding planners and designers David Tutera, Preston Bailey, and Colin Cowie, as well as Carley Roney, co-founder of THE KNOT, and Millie Martini Bratten, Editor in Chief of BRIDES Magazine.
Carmen earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resources from the University of Kansas in Lawrence. She helped plan events in the corporate world for Halls (retail division of Hallmark Cards) for both the Plaza and Crown Center locations in Kansas City for four years. In 2006, Carmen founded WING—Wedding Industry Networking Group. She is also the Vice-President of the Lawrence Wedding Extravaganza.
Lindsey
Wedding Assistant
“I have been with A Beautiful Wedding since 2015, and have helped in many aspects of wedding planning and coordination. I believe in treating others as I would like to be treated. I combine my passion for helping people with my creative ideas.
I consider it an honor to be part of each couple’s wedding and I do my best to follow their wishes. I make sure the wedding couple feels comfortable and confident as I help keep track of details and act as an extra set of helping hands. Being a part of the most important day of our clients’ life is special to me, and I look forward to making it special for you!
My family and friends are the loves of my life. I love photography, singing, playing the piano, writing music, exercising, and laughing with friends. I’m a sports enthusiast, and I enjoy staying healthy and positive.”
Carmen says: “My passion is weddings—all the details and unique flair that each couple brings to their own wedding with their personalities all over it. I love helping execute the special details that make your wedding your individual love story.
Wedding planning was bred into me from a young age. When I was 13 years old, my older sister became engaged and together we planned every aspect of her wedding. It was magical to help plan the most important day of their lives. The music, food, entertainment, joy—I loved it all. As I grew older, I began planning private events for close friends, family and colleagues as a sideline. Soon I realized that wedding planning is truly my passion and it was time to start my own company. If you are passionate about what you do, it’s not a job, it’s a privilege. Since then I’ve done over one thousand weddings.
I love working my magic with weddings. I excel at organizing and juggling all the planning details, and I strive to handle any challenges that may arise with the utmost professionalism.
A Beautiful Wedding depends on referrals from happy clients! Since we rely so heavily on referrals, our goal is to provide you with service that exceeds your expectations. Please call me today to set up a complimentary meeting to discuss your vision of your wedding.
On a personal level, my goals are to be a great mother to my beautiful children, Blake, Ashley and Nick, a great wife to my husband, Mike, and a mentor to others, and to keep celebrating life’s blessing of another day. Professionally, I would like to continue pursuing a steady pace of business education to ensure that the high expectations of my brides and grooms are consistently met or exceeded, no matter how challenging.”
“I can’t say enough nice things about Carmen. From the very first meeting we had to the ceremony itself, she was on top of it and very thorough. We didn’t have to worry about a thing. She is so kind and easy to get along with. The ceremony went on without a hitch. Everyone kept saying how beautiful it was, and we all loved how smoothly it all went. She was even there to capture a candid moment with my son before the ceremony and it is by far my favorite picture of the whole wedding. I will always be referring anyone I know to Carmen. A Beautiful Wedding is top notch!”
Savannah, 5-Star Review on WeddingWire.com
“Carmen Hocking with A Beautiful Wedding is the most amazing officiant and planner. She is so down to earth and genuine that she really makes you feel special throughout the whole process. She really brought our whole rehearsal dinner and ceremony together and made everything flow so seamlessly. I am not sure what we would have done without her. She is definitely the best of the best!!”
Julia, 5-Star Review on WeddingWire.com
