Colara

Colara is a shared wedding workspace for planners, photographers, vendors, and couples, organized around a live timeline. The planner workspace brings timelines, vendors, contracts, couples, and floor plans together. Its free CRM includes a lead and client pipeline, proposals, e-signature contracts, invoices, payment reminders, scheduling, questionnaires, an inbox, email templates, finances, a calendar, and a task board. The free CRM allows unlimited clients, leads, jobs, proposals, contracts, and invoices, but vendors do not receive an owned wedding workspace. Free-plan online payments carry a 1% platform fee on cards or 1.5% total on bank payments, capped at $30 per payment including Stripe’s fee; manual payments have no platform or Stripe fee. Colara also offers an AI timeline builder and an assistant for wedding and client work. It connects with QuickBooks Online, Google Calendar, Zapier, Make, and webhooks. The iPhone and iPad app is free, while the Chrome extension can search client records, save notes, update workflows, and access the workspace assistant. Paid plans start at $29 per month.

Colara combines wedding coordination with business tools, including a free CRM and a live timeline. Check the free-plan workspace and payment-fee limits against how you plan to use it.

Colara suits wedding planners, photographers, vendors, and couples who need shared planning tools. Its free CRM is also aimed at vendors managing leads and client work.

Overview

Colara is a wedding workspace and vendor CRM built around a shared, live timeline. It is a strong fit for planners and photographers coordinating with couples and other vendors, while couples can use a separate free planning plan. Its breadth is appealing, but vendors should weigh wedding-workspace access and payment fees before settling on a plan.

Key features

The live timeline gives Colara’s collaboration tools a shared point of reference. Planner workspaces combine timelines with vendor coordination, contracts, couples, and floor plans, making the product more relevant to multi-role wedding coordination than to keeping a private checklist. Couples get guest management, vendor coordination, checklists, and a photo gallery on the free plan; Couples Pro adds full timeline editing and premium features. The one-time price for that upgrade is attractive for a single event, though it is not a recurring subscription.

The free vendor CRM is a substantial business toolkit: it includes a lead and client pipeline, proposals, e-signature contracts, invoices, payment reminders, scheduling, questionnaires, inbox, email templates, finances, calendar, and task board. Unlimited clients, leads, jobs, proposals, contracts, and invoices remove several common growth ceilings for a small vendor business. But vendors do not get an owned wedding workspace on this plan, so it is not a substitute for the paid planner or photographer workspace when wedding coordination is central.

Free-plan online payments come with a 1% platform fee on cards or 1.5% total on bank payments, capped at $30 per payment including Stripe’s fee. Manual payments have no platform or Stripe fee, while Vendor CRM Pro removes the online-payment platform fee. That distinction matters for vendors who regularly collect payments through the product.

AI timeline building targets planners and photographers, and an AI assistant supports wedding and client work. Colara also connects with QuickBooks Online, Google Calendar, Zapier, Make, and webhooks. The iPhone and iPad app is free; the Chrome extension can search client records, save notes, update workflows, and query the workspace assistant. It uses the existing secure workspace session, requests access for client lookup and requested updates, and has no advertising or behavioral tracking.

Pricing

Colara is freemium, with paid plans from $29/mo. The free Couples plan covers guest management, vendor coordination, checklists, and a photo gallery. Couples Pro costs $99, paid once and adds full timeline editing and premium features, suiting couples who want those extras for one wedding without a monthly bill.

Vendor CRM Free costs nothing and includes unlimited leads, clients, jobs, proposals, contracts, invoices, payments, and core business tools. Its limits are the absence of an owned wedding workspace and the online-payment fees. Vendor CRM Pro is $29 a month, billed $29 monthly, for advanced tools and no online-payment platform fee; it is the practical step up for vendors who need those tools or want to avoid that fee.

Photographer Starter is $39 a month, billed $39/month, with photography-first timelines, family photo lists, client management, and day-of tools. Photographer Unlimited is $69 a month, billed $69/month, and adds unlimited weddings. Planner Starter costs $49 a month, billed $49/month, for a full workspace covering timelines, vendors, contracts, invoicing, couples, and floor plans; Planner Unlimited is $99 a month, billed $99/month, for the same full workspace with unlimited weddings. Starter plans suit users whose wedding volume fits their allowance; the Unlimited plans are for professionals who cannot work within a wedding cap. Colara has no free trial.

Platforms

Colara is available as a web app, iOS app, and browser extension. Its free iPhone and iPad app extends the workspace to mobile, while the Chrome extension brings client lookup and workflow updates into a browser tab. Android is not among its supported platforms.

Who it's for

Colara is best for wedding planners and photographers who need both client-business tools and shared event coordination, especially when several roles need to work from one timeline. Couples get a useful free starting point, with a paid one-time upgrade for full timeline editing. Vendors who only need CRM tools can start free, but should look elsewhere if online-payment fees or the lack of an owned wedding workspace are deal-breakers.

Pros and cons

• Pros: The free CRM has unlimited clients, leads, jobs, proposals, contracts, and invoices, giving vendors room to manage a growing pipeline without those record caps.
• Pros: The shared timeline and planner workspace bring vendors, contracts, couples, and floor plans together, supporting coordination across wedding roles.
• Pros: Couples can plan for free, and Couples Pro is a one-time purchase rather than a recurring charge.
• Cons: Vendors on the free CRM do not get an owned wedding workspace, so the free plan does not cover full wedding coordination.
• Cons: Free-plan online payments incur platform fees; vendors handling payments through Colara may need to pay for Pro to remove the platform fee.
• Cons: The platform supports iOS, web, and an extension, but not Android.

Alternatives

Wedding Planning Software is a useful category starting point for comparing wedding-planning products. Consider RSVPify if guest registration is the priority: its free plan allows one event at a time, 100 registrations per month, and 100 invited guests per event. ForeverAfter is another free wedding-planning option, with unlimited guests, one contributor, five free AI-assistant messages, and one voice guest-book message on its Starter plan.

Choose Marry Planner if its free plan’s one wedding, up to 30 guests, and one collaborator suit your event; it includes unlimited vendors, venues, budget tracking, and checklist items. NevaPlan Wedding Planner offers a free plan with no time limit or card required for up to 15 guests. For free wedding-planning tools, WeddingWire Planning Tools, WedSetGo, Zola Wedding Planner, and Online Wedding Planner are also options; WedSetGo is supported by advertisements, Zola is for personal, non-commercial use with a registered account, and Online Wedding Planner offers all 10 tools without signup or a premium tier.

Verdict

Choose Colara if you are a wedding planner or photographer who wants a shared timeline and wedding workspace alongside a broad client CRM. Its free CRM is generous on record counts, and its paid plans offer distinct routes for couples, photographers, and planners. Look elsewhere if you need Android support, want a wedding workspace on the free vendor plan, or cannot accept fees on free-plan online payments.