The real backstory.
I work a full time job. A job that is important to me. And outside of that, my boyfriend and I throw a lot of networking events. Dinners, mixers, gatherings for clients and colleagues and the people we want in each other's lives.
I love it. The hosting, the bringing people together, the slow build of a good night. It's one of my favorite things in the world.
But I'm going to be honest about the rest of it. Planning these events on top of a full time career was brutal. Tabs open at 11pm. Carts full of twelve different napkin options. A spreadsheet for the guest list, a different one for the budget, a third for the menu. Texting three caterers, getting ghosted by two. Forgetting ice. Always forgetting ice.
Then there was the budget thing.
The biggest stressor wasn't even the planning. It was watching the number creep up. You start with a reasonable budget and somewhere between the florals and the rentals and the "well it's only $40 more for the upgraded glassware," you're double what you intended.
I'd finish events proud of how they turned out and quietly horrified at what they cost.
There was no tool that showed me the trade offs in real time. No platform that respected my budget the way it respected my vision. No way to find good vendors. Vetted, trustworthy, actually in my city ones, without going down a rabbit hole and reading 47 reviews to figure out who was real.
So I built the thing.
Celabrae is the platform I wished existed every single time we threw an event. It's where hosts who love entertaining but don't have unlimited hours can plan something beautiful without losing their weekends. And where vetted vendors, providers, and venues live in one trusted place.
It's free for hosts. Always. The money side comes from products purchased through the app and optional in person services we offer for hosts who want the white glove version. Setup crews, day of coordinators, post event cleanup. Things I would have paid anything for at 11pm the night before.
What I want for you.
I want you to host more. I want you to host the dinners and the bridal showers and the random Tuesday cocktail nights and the milestone birthdays, without the dread that usually comes attached.
I want you to discover a florist three miles from your house who you'd never have found otherwise. I want you to know what your event will cost before you commit to it, not after. I want you to walk into your own party and be present at it, instead of doing logistics for the first ninety minutes.
That's what Celabrae is for. That's the whole reason it exists.