THE EXPERIENTIAL DESIGN IMMERSION
Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico
2 - 6 November, 2026
The 3-day intimate learning immersion for established wedding planners and designers ready to learn the invisible architecture behind the world’s most unforgettable events
“This was a wow experience from beginning to end! I immediately put my learnings in action the day after finishing the course. Eye opening, mind bending and life changing!”
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Katarina, Events Coordinator
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“This was a wow experience from beginning to end! I immediately put my learnings in action the day after finishing the course. Eye opening, mind bending and life changing!” 〰️ Katarina, Events Coordinator 〰️
PEOPLE CALL IT MAGIC
They talk about the je ne sais quoi or that electric glimmer of something in the air that makes certain events unforgettable.
But for the elite planner, that magic isn’t a happy accident, or something to hope for. It’s intentionally created.
Experience design gives you the power to control the invisible and the vocabulary to describe the indescribable.
It’s the difference between hoping for a good vibe, and architecting an unforgettable emotional outcome that will live in your clients’ memories long after the flowers have wilted.
You got into this work because you believed weddings could mean something more. For years, the fact that you cared about these depths made you feel like you were on the fringes of this industry. But as the tide shifts, it’s that same intuition that puts you at the frontier.
By the end of this retreat, you’ll move from relying on instinct to a clear, structured approach to experience design so you can break out of the plateau, be recognized and paid for the depth you bring, and fall back in love with your work.
“If I could have designed three perfect days for myself, it would be these.”
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Emily, Wedding Planner
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“If I could have designed three perfect days for myself, it would be these.” 〰️ Emily, Wedding Planner 〰️
THE 2026 TREND REPORTS ARE A WARNING SHOT:
IT’S “TIL DEATH DO US PART” FOR THE INSTAGRAM-GRID WEDDING. AND THE END IS HERE
New couples are starving for visceral immersions that put live experiences at the forefront. Less focus on just looking good for a photo that fades away into the depths of the Instagram grid, and more focus on intentionally guiding the energy of an entire crowd towards a climax that will be remembered and spoken about for years to come.
While the rest of the industry scrambles to figure out what “experiential” actually means, you’ll be at a villa in Mexico, mastering the specific methodology used by world-class museums, immersive theater, and luxury hospitality.
Pair your intuition and your experience with a repeatable framework that calls in premium clients, commands total creative authority, and secures your place at the top of the new version of the industry.
YOU FEEL THE INDUSTRY SHIFTING, AND IT’S BOTH TERRIFYING AND EXHILARATING
This immersion is not built for the average planner.
It’s for the visionaries who are no longer satisfied with ‘just pretty’.
You’ve mastered the logistics and aesthetics, but you’ve hit a creative ceiling with traditional planning. You’re looking for the What’s Next. Every year you spend not fully realizing that potential is a year of compromise with your own sense of purpose.
You’re tired of hoping for a vibe. You want a clear, structured way to translate a client’s vague desire for "meaning" into concrete, defensible design decisions.
You are booked, but not creatively fueled. You find yourself repeating variations of what has worked before, and you're ready to push the boundaries of what an event can actually be.
You want the vocabulary. You’ve been working intuitively for years, but you need the framework to articulate your process so you can sell your vision with total confidence.
You’re looking for your people. You want to be surrounded by fellow visionary peers who are ready to move beyond industry standards and explore what it means to be a true experience designer.
EXPERIENCE DESIGN DEMANDS TO BE EXPERIENCED & THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT THIS IMMERSION WILL HAVE YOU DO
This immersion—which sits somewhere between a retreat and a masterclass—is structured around a clear progression that mirrors how meaningful experiences are actually designed. Each session builds on the last, guiding you from intention to execution to transformation, so experience design becomes something you can apply to every event you create.
There are no slide presentations, lectures, or awkward ice breakers. The traning days are a mix of shared learning exercises, “wisdom drops,” and hands-on prototyping on real event cases. The days are long, but there is time built in for rest and reflection.
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We begin with a slow, intentional arrival designed to help you step out of execution mode and into a different way of seeing your work.
Through shared meals, gentle rituals, and informal connection, you’ll start to ground, connect with the group, and open space for deeper thinking and learning, setting the tone for the days ahead.
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After some gentle movement and breakfast, the first full day focuses on how to design experiences that feel intentional, human, and emotionally grounded.
You’ll explore how to:
Lead with empathy and generosity
Identify the deeper meanings couples want to express
Define a guiding intention for an event
Frame experiences and map the guest journey
This day shifts your mindset from planning events to designing experiences.
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The second day moves into emotional engagement and lasting impact.
You’ll learn how to:
Start with emotion rather than aesthetics
Design moments that engage the senses and create resonance
Use storytelling to shape memory and transformation
Integrate experience design into your existing workflow
We will be working together on real wedding cases and by the end of the day, you’ll have a clear sense of how to apply this methodology to every event you design.
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We close the retreat with an immersive shared experience and space to integrate what you’ve learned, reflect on how your approach has shifted, and intentionally bring the experience to a close.
You’ll leave with:
A clear experience design framework
A new way of approaching your craft
A deeper sense of confidence in how you create meaning through events
Connections with peers who share your values
For those who prefer to see the day-by-day flow, you can request the full itinerary here:
YOU DESERVE TO BE POURED INTO IN THE WAY YOU’RE ALWAYS POURING INTO EVERYONE ELSE
From the moment you arrive, we’ve got you.
And you don’t arrive alone. You’ve already had a chance to connect with other participants, so that by the time you experience your first sunset together, your favorite drink in your hand, you’re already among friends.
This immersion is primarily about learning something new, but it’s also about stepping outside your day to day life. In addition to meeting the constant needs of clients and their guests, many of us are also juggling the needs of families, staff, or other communities. Here, no one is asking anything of you. You can put your vacation response on your email and immerse yourself fully in an experience that’s just for you. As event designers you’re used to managing a thousand tiny choices, but the only decision you have to make is just to show up. After that, we take on all the mental load, and design every detail, so you can be fully present to the joys of being creative, cared for, and connected.
Between sessions of deep, creative work and moving surprises, you can lie by the pool, have your meals cooked for you, and have the kind of conversations that stick to your bones, laughing (and sometimes crying) with people who truly get it.
WHAT YOU’LL TAKE HOME
The real value of this immersion begins the moment you return to your studio. This is more than a training, it’s a reset. It will change how you see your role as a planner.
A Repeatable Design Methodology: Our signature Emotional Architecture Framework™—a proprietary system for engineering lasting emotional impact in high-stakes live events.
The Experience Design Toolkit: A suite of proprietary design tools created to integrate seamlessly into your current workflow.
A Higher Level of Authority: The vocabulary and confidence to lead high-net-worth clients through a design process that justifies premium fees and establishes you as the expert in the room.
A Live Case Study Blueprint: Having lived through a multi-day designed experience, you will leave with a deep, embodied understanding of how to execute every touchpoint of a guest's journey.
A Circle of Peers: A permanent seat at the table with a cohort of heart-centered leaders who will become your sounding board long after we leave Mexico.
Creative Reclamation: A nervous system reset. You will return to your business with the clarity and renewed vigor that only comes from deep rest and intentional inspiration.
FROM INTUITION TO INTENTION
You’re already designing experiences intuitively. You can capture a moment and move a room. But imagine the power of intentionally designing the full emotional arc of a wedding, from building anticipation to the collective peak moments guests remember for years. Imagine replacing the hope that an event lands with a repeatable framework that guarantees the deep immersive impact today’s clients desire.
After these shared days, you'll have a repeatable experience design methodology you can apply immediately, articulate confidently to clients, and build your entire practice around. So the work you're dreaming of finally becomes the work you're known for.
INVESTMENT
Private Room $3385 Private pre-sale rate: $2650
Shared Room $2650 Private pre-sale rate: $2100
A 50% deposit is required to hold your space. Private pre-sale rate is good until May 1.
LOVE NOTES FROM PAST PARTICIPANTS
Thank you for creating such an incredible retreat/workshop/immersion! The opportunity to slow down, learn something new, and connect with so many incredible women has been a blessing and welcome surprise to my year. I appreciate your attention to detail and your ability to make us all feel welcome, seen, and comfortable. Thank you for giving us space to grow, to cry, to laugh, and to breathe.
—Jordan, Wedding Planner
I feel so privileged to have discovered you and to have been a part of this experience. Thank you for your thoughtfulness, kindness, and care. I have learned so much over these last few days, it’s a bit scary. Will I be up to the challenge of putting it into practice and guiding my couples to a more fulfilling event that’s more than just the ‘pretty?’ I have hope and you have given me the tools.
—Sandra, Florist & Planner
I so appreciate the laidback, creative, and experiential approach you bring. Your passion is inspiring and just the wealth of examples from your own experience is fabulous. Thank you, thank you!
—Krista, Experience Designer
Thank you so much for bringing me along to photograph and experience this beautiful retreat you designed so thoughtfully! I am in awe of your sensibility, courage, love for people, and all around deep understanding of what it takes to experience fully a place, a meal, a gathering… I hope you know how awesome you are and how much you blessed me and the rest of the group.
—Darien, Photographer
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this week! It has been such a beautiful experience, personally, relationally, and professionally. This framework and process is going to be invaluable to my work, but getting to know you and these women has been a delight and a gift. Thank you for creating a world for us to learn and grow in together, and for making it FUN.
—Emily, Wedding Planner
MEET YOUR HOSTS
Julie Comfort &
Lisa Thaens
We are both experts in designing experiences, gatherings, and events that foster and deepen connection. We love creating moments that enable people to engage more fully with life and each other. Our individual and collaborative work is an invitation to slow down, to taste, to listen, and to reconnect with our senses, our stories, and one another.
We designed this retreat to do three things: give you a repeatable framework for experience design, reignite your creative energy, and connect you with a small cohort of ambitious peers. This is a space for thoughtful, heart-centered professionals who want their work to matter. You don’t have to explain your values here. We get you.
We intentionally keep this retreat intimate so there's room for real collaboration and connection. Days are spent immersed in design thinking, prototyping, and hands-on practice with our empathy-driven approach. And since every detail is designed by two professional experience designers, the event is a full immersion in the methodology where you don’t just learn about it, you get to fully live it.
You'll return home with a framework that integrates seamlessly into your current workflow and a clear, structured way to translate we want it to feel meaningful into actual design decisions. You’ll leave with concrete next steps, not just good feelings (though we promise you’ll leave with those, too).
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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The second cohort will be held in a gorgeous modern villa in the lush Yucatan Peninsula. We chose this place for two reasons. I spent a lot of time in Tulum when I was a wedding photographer and the region holds a special kind of mystery and magic. And I heard from a lot of people last time that Europe felt a bit too far to travel, so I wanted to offer an opportunity for those on the other side of the Atlantic.
The closest international airport is Cancun (CUN), and transportation to the villa from Cancun is included. -
In addition to all the training sessions, all accommodation, meals, and ground transportation to/from Cancun is included. There will be a private chef staying on site to prepare healthy meals from local ingredients. On the last day there is also a surprise excursion planned for the group.
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There are no slide talks or traditional lectures, and no awkward ice breakers. Most of the training is hands on and we dive right into designing actual experiences. Collaborative work is balanced with discussion, creative practice, and immersive experiences. While the curriculum has been tailored to wedding and event planners, the methodology is applicable for anyone who delivers experiences. So pretty much anyone! No previous experience design knowledge is required.
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This is an intentionally small group experience with a maximum of 10 participants to allow for meaningful conversation and collaboration.