Negin Kazemian, PhD
Negin is the Head of Editorial at RSVP'd and the founder and CEO of Okanagan Wedding Company, a wedding and events rental business she runs from Fort Langley, BC. She holds a PhD in microbiome research from UBC Okanagan, where she was named an Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholar, and her work has been cited hundreds of times across 12 peer-reviewed papers. She also serves as Director of Research at PositionScale. Born in Tehran and raised in Kelowna, she writes about Persian traditions, the cross-cultural realities of modern weddings, and how to plan one without losing your mind or the meaning.
Based in Fort Langley, BC
24 pieces by Negin Kazemian, PhD
Why Non-Wedding Events Are Free on RSVP'd (Story B)
The thinking behind making baby showers, birthdays, and every non-wedding event free forever. It is not a loss leader. It is a moat that our wedding-only competitors structurally cannot copy.
Dinner Party Planning with AI: A Host's Field Guide
A field guide to hosting a six to twelve person dinner party, with notes on which parts of the planning you can actually automate and which parts you can't.
How to Save Money on Your Wedding in 2026
A practical, culturally-aware guide to cutting $5,000 to $20,000 from a wedding without making it feel like you cut anything.
The First 90 Days After the Engagement
What to actually do in the first three months after getting engaged. Mostly it's conversations. Almost none of it is vendor bookings.
How AI Negotiates With Wedding Vendors (And Saves Couples $8,000+)
The agentic negotiation flow inside RSVP'd has saved couples a median of $8,240 across the first 900 Pro weddings. Here is exactly how it works.
Coordinator, Planner, or Platform: Which Do You Actually Need?
Day-of coordinators, full planners, and planning platforms each solve different problems. A plain-language guide to which one your wedding actually calls for.
Event Planning Software: Beyond Weddings
Wedding software is a crowded category. Everything else is a wasteland. A practical look at non-wedding event tools and why RSVP'd made them free.
Joy Wedding App: Review and Alternatives
Joy is the best wedding website product on the market. It is also narrower than most couples realize. A detailed review and the alternatives that fill the gaps.
Setting Up a Sofreh Aghd: The Complete Shopping List
Every element of a traditional Persian sofreh aghd, where to source them, and what to skip. A working shopping list from someone who built her own.
Cultural Wedding Budgets: What Families Actually Spend
Real wedding budget ranges by culture, what drives the numbers, and the uncomfortable conversations about who actually pays for what.
How to Pick a Wedding Venue Without Regret
What couples miss on venue tours, the hidden costs nobody talks about, and the audit you should do before signing anything.
The Persian Wedding Guide: Sofreh Aghd, Aghd, and Aroosi
A Persian wedding, from khastegari to aroosi, explained by someone born in Tehran and raised in Kelowna. With the meaning behind every element of the sofreh.
The Knot vs Zola vs RSVP'd: A Feature-by-Feature Comparison
A side-by-side look at The Knot, Zola, and RSVP'd. Where each is strong, where each falls short, and what the structural differences mean for your wedding.
Wedding Planning Software: A Couple's Honest Comparison
Feature-by-feature comparison of the five wedding planning tools couples actually use. Scored on guest management, budget, vendor tracking, day-of, and AI.
Data Report: The 2026 State of Wedding Planning
A data-backed look at the 2026 wedding market: $72B in spend, 2.24M weddings, 36% AI adoption, and the structural shifts that are reshaping the category.
The 15-Month Wedding Timeline (And When It Falls Apart)
The ideal 15-month wedding timeline and the three moments it always cracks. How to absorb delays without compounding them into something worse.
Zola Alternatives for Couples Who Want More Than a Registry
Zola is excellent at registry. It is average at everything else. A candid look at the alternatives, what each is actually good at, and which couples should switch.
How to Build a Wedding Planning Website (Without Hiring a Designer)
A practical look at the five real options for building a wedding website in 2026. What each does well, where they fail, and which your guests will actually use.
Save the Dates: When to Send, What to Say, What to Skip
A practical guide to save the dates: timing, content, paper vs. digital, cultural variations, and the mistakes almost every couple makes.
How to Build a Guest List Without Starting a Family War
The honest politics of building a wedding guest list, with cultural context for families who want to invite 300 people before you've started.
The DIY Wedding: How to Plan Without a $3,000 Coordinator
A frank look at what a day-of coordinator actually does, what you can safely replace, and the three moments you really do need a professional.
How Much Does a Wedding Actually Cost in 2026?
The real 2026 wedding numbers, broken down by category, region, and decision. What's driving costs up, where couples are cutting, and what your budget should actually look like.
The Wedding Planning Checklist: A Month-by-Month Roadmap
A 15-month wedding planning roadmap with the real deadlines that matter, written from running a wedding decor and rentals business and watching the work up close.
Why We Built RSVP'd: The Agentic Wedding Thesis
Wedding software has been stuck in 'content platform plus registry' for fifteen years. The next decade belongs to agents that actually do the work.