C
How a Cordelia wedding works

Five guarded stages, from first browse to vow.

A full walkthrough of how a Cordelia wedding moves from discovery to delivery. You always know where you are. You always know where your money is.

The five stages
I
Discovery
II
Booking
III
Planning
IV
Lock-In
V
Fulfillment
I
Stage one

Discovery.

Where you find vendors who actually fit.

You browse Cordelia like you'd browse a curated gallery. Every venue, every planner, every photographer, every florist on the platform has earned their place by passing the Verified Passport audit. There are no paid placements anywhere.

Vendor profiles are designed to make decision-making confident. You see the Market Manager's audit notes. You read references from past Cordelia couples. You see response time history, language fluency, and what the vendor actually delivered for their last three weddings.

Browsing is free. No account required. We don't believe a couple should have to commit to a platform just to look around.

What happens at this stage
  • You explore Cordelia Verified vendors only. No directory padding. No paid placements.
  • You see real reviews from past Cordelia couples, not stars from random Google users.
  • Vendor ranking is determined by past client outcomes and Verified Passport status. Never by ad spend.
  • You can shortlist, save, and compare without creating an account.
Where your
money is
Still in your account. Cordelia hasn't asked for a dollar yet.
II
Stage two

Booking.

Where the contract gets signed and the deposit lands in escrow.

When you've chosen a vendor (whether that's the venue, the planner, the photographer, or anyone else), you book directly through Cordelia. No PDFs traded by email. No wire transfers to foreign accounts. The booking flow is one continuous session: contract, deposit, scheduled milestones, all signed and timestamped on both sides.

The bilingual contract is reviewed in advance, written to be enforceable across borders, and signed in your language and the vendor's. The deposit moves directly into the Cordelia Escrow Vault. The vendor sees the funds are committed, but cannot touch them yet.

From this moment, your wedding date is reserved on the vendor's calendar. The platform is now actively standing between you and the things that go wrong. Each subsequent vendor goes through the same booking flow as you add them to your wedding.

What happens at this stage
  • You pay a 20% deposit plus a small service fee, which we call Booking and Fraud Protection.
  • The deposit lands in the Cordelia Escrow Vault. Not in the vendor's account.
  • Bilingual contracts are signed by both sides in the same session.
  • Your date is held on the vendor's calendar. Whether they're a venue, planner, photographer, or any other vendor, your booking blocks the date from anyone else.
Where your
money is
In the Cordelia Vault. The vendor sees it. Cannot touch it.
III
Stage three

Planning.

The open phase. Where everything is still on the table.

This is the creative heart of a Cordelia wedding. Your planner builds proposals, mood boards, sub-vendor recommendations. You react. You revise. You explore. Nothing is locked yet. Everything is timestamped.

Sub-vendors come from one of two sources: vendors already inside the Cordelia Verified network, or vendors brought in from your planner's own rolodex. Either way, every sub-vendor passes the same Verified Passport audit before they're attached to your wedding. Your planner can recommend, but cannot lock anyone in.

You see what's been proposed, what's been approved, and what's still being worked. Your planner sees the same. Communication is timestamped, searchable, and auditable. If anything ever needs to be re-litigated later, the full record is there.

What happens at this stage
  • Sub-vendor proposals circulate, with full Verified Passports attached.
  • Mood boards, sample menus, music cues all live in one shared workspace.
  • Every decision is timestamped. No "I never agreed to that" disputes later.
  • You sign off on each sub-vendor before they're locked in. The planner proposes; you approve.
Where your
money is
Still in the Vault. Still untouched. Nothing has released yet.
IV
Stage four · The pivot

Design Lock-In.

The single moment everything becomes real.

Lock-In is the moment that makes a Cordelia wedding different from every other planning experience. In one deliberate session, you approve the full design, the line-item budget, and the confirmed sub-vendor roster. Scope locks.

This isn't a soft commitment. After Lock-In, changes flow through a formal change order process. You can still make changes. But each change is documented, repriced, and re-approved. No surprise items showing up on the final bill. No vendors being added or removed without your knowledge. No scope creep.

Lock-In is what protects you from the slow drift between "we agreed on a hundred white peonies" and "the bill says one fifty."

Lock-In also triggers the first major release from the Vault. Fifteen percent flows to your planner and primary vendors so they can begin sourcing: flowers ordered, rentals booked, ingredients sourced. The rest stays in the Vault.

What happens at this stage
  • You approve the final design in one deliberate review session.
  • You approve the full line-item budget, including every sub-vendor.
  • Scope locks. Changes from this point require a formal change order.
  • The first release from the Vault flows to your planner and primary vendors.
Where your
money is
First release flows from the Vault to vendors. The rest stays held.
V
Stage five

Fulfillment.

From 60 days out, through the day, to 48 hours after the vow.

Between 30 and 60 days before the wedding, you fund the remaining balance into the Vault. The funds are still held. Not in the vendor's account, in the Vault. As pre-event milestones hit, working capital releases to sub-vendors against documented invoices.

On the wedding day, your Market Manager is on the ground or on call, with the authority to intervene live. If a vendor doesn't show, the Market Manager activates the regional bench. If a vendor underperforms, the final release can be paused until the issue is resolved.

Forty-eight hours after the wedding, if no dispute is filed, the final balance clears. The Vault closes. Cordelia's commission is collected from the final release, only on the dispute-free outcome.

What happens at this stage
  • The remaining balance is funded into the Vault 30 to 60 days pre-event.
  • Working capital releases to sub-vendors against documented invoices.
  • The Market Manager is present or on call on the wedding day, with authority to intervene live.
  • The final balance clears 48 hours post-wedding, if no dispute is filed.
Where your
money is
Released on milestones. Final balance clears 48 hours after the vow.
The whole point

Five guarded stages. One trust layer. Zero loose ends.

You always know where you are. You always know where your money is. You always know who's accountable for what. Cordelia is the structure that makes a destination wedding feel like the best decision a couple ever made, not the scariest wire transfer they ever sent.

Ready to start?

Cordelia is hand-picking founding couples for pilot weddings in Tulum, Cabo, and San Miguel.