Christina Baxter Wedding + Events, the best wedding planner in Charleston. Over the course of a…read moreyear, Christina and Dana became like family to us. From the very first interview, we fell in love with Christina's infectious personality and limitless enthusiasm for making our vision Gullah+Jamaica+Cinderella wedding a reality. We'd interviewed other planners, but Christina's warm spirit and instanteous ideas sealed the deal. Indeed, it felt like we were excitedly planning with an old friend and not our planner. Christina soon introduced us to her Senior Event Coordinator, Dana, who worked with us every step of the way to make sure the details of our wedding were set and mapped out. They were a full service team, helping us with every detail from the invitations to the centerpieces. And when our 325-person wedding ballooned into a 400-person affair 3 weeks before the big day, these two did not miss a beat. They re-designed the entire reception layout and coordinated with every vendor. This was a particularly massive undertaking because we got married at Middleton Place, with an original plan to use some of the site's tables and other settings. When the numbers increased, we had to move everything outside and everything, and I mean everything, had to be adjusted to accommodate the new plan. Despite the abrupt change, the wedding was magical. Every bride I know talks about the meltdown she had on her day or the mishaps that occurred. I had none. Christina and Dana masterfully corralled our nearly 50-person wedding party through wedding prep, pre-wedding pictures, and the wedding precessional. This included hiring a personal assistant to travel with me for most of the day until the reception. Not only was that person amazing and friendly, but as a former pageant consultant, she was able to keep all my girls on schedule, help me get ready, and served as the liaison between myself and Christina and Dana. It worked out perfectly. Their wedding staff was great, with individuals stationed at various points on the grounds to direct my party and the guests. In the end, everything was on time and consistent with our detailed schedule. 400 people moved seamlessly from one part of the grounds to the next. Musicians (including a trio, steel drum band, and singers) were on time and prepared with their necessary cues. Post-wedding pictures were handled quickly, leaving us time to hangout with our guests at cocktail hour. Our reception was exactly what we asked for - a massive party. And it was made possible by Dana's recommended DJ (there's a reason why DJ Natty Heavy is consistently voted the best DJ in the area - he was fantastic). They kept the party going and made sure we were in position to leave on schedule in our fabulous getaway car. In short, from the amazing design to masterful execution, they did a phenomenal job. My family, wedding party, and guests couldn't stop talking about our planners and how they helped us bring "Hollywood" to Charleston. In one instance, a dear friend of mine who is an event planner and once coordinated events for President Barack Obama, took me aside and told me that my planners were top-notch and doing an impeccable job. You cannot go wrong with these two. This team created a wedding day better than we imagined, they listened to us, and invested 200% in executing this event. Our only regret was not having a bigger budget so they could have handled the entire wedding weekend. Thanks Christina and Dana!

As a negotiation expert, consultant, and trainer who trains Fortune 100 executives on the art of…read morenegotiation and has hosted events worldwide, I was skeptical about the need for an event planner and only considered several at my daughter's insistence. Having now worked with Cibi events I know that I was completely wrong - Cibi's choice of vendors, ability to obtain discounts from them herself, and efficiency with our time meant that we were ahead financially and personally, making her fee mute. We could never repay Cibi and Dana at Cibi Events for all that they did to make my daughter's and new son-in-law's wedding everything they dreamed of and more. It was the any of us have ever attended (an opinion shared by our guests despite the fact that many of them had weddings that were 5 times the budget ). Clearly Cibi provided additions and improvements that we did not pay for (surely coming out of her own pocket) to make the event even lovelier. Cibi and Dana are truly the ultimate professionals, with a remarkable eye to detail, exceptional ability to grasp the vision of their clients, impeccable taste, continual focus on service and truly unmatched ability to create an event that far exceeds one's expectation or imagination. And with all of that said, they are pure joy to work with, leading one to hope they might remain as friends.

I loved Kala! We had an amazing experience with her as a wedding planner and florist.read more

I am in absolute awe of MOD Events and all they did to ensure that my daughter's destination…read morewedding In Charleston was absolutely flawless! I consider myself to be a perfectionist and it's usually hard for me to relax and trust others to take care of things. Kala and Kara took all those worries away with their attention to detail and organization skills. During the planning of our week-long itinerary of events, they were extremely knowledgable, responsive, and helpful. We made several trips to Charleston and they scheduled hair/makeup trials, tastings, and meetings with vendors. They even attended several of them with us. We had multiple in person and Zoom meetings with Kala. She is SO much fun and you can tell she has a passion for making sure your wedding is exactly like you imagine it. We exchanged lots of emails with both Kala and Kara and they were quick to respond. On the day of the wedding, I did not have to worry about anything. I was able to enjoy the entire day knowing that they had everything under control. Hiring MOD Events was hands down the best decision we made when planning this wedding. After seeing what a great job they did and hearing me go on and on about how invaluable they were, my cousin hired MOD Events for her daughter's wedding too. Thanks MOD Events Charleston! I am so grateful for you and the service that you provided for our family. You're the best!

Mike Winship and his team are the real deal. My husband and I wanted to get married in Charleston,…read morebut lived in Pittsburgh--both of us with full-time and demanding jobs. We knew that we would need help navigating the territory and have an ally in Charleston--there are MANY vendors in Charleston and we wanted to pick the perfect ones. Mike came highly recommended to us--and we were not disappointed. From the first phone call, Mike was ready to go and excited about working with us on our wedding. Notice I said "...working with us..." He did not dictate, but instead guided us through the process, while still allowing us to put our stamp on the wedding. He introduced us to the best of the best in Charleston--all of his vendors LOVE working with him and that is reflected from the first meeting with the vendors to the day of the wedding. We did not worry about a thing on the day of our wedding--we were able to enjoy the party, and our friends and family. Even my father, who is a man of few words, said, "Mike did not just make sure this was a party, but an EVENT." High praise, indeed. Many of our friends and family members commented on how professional and courteous Mike was at our wedding--we could not agree more! We loved working with him and highly, highly, recommend his services... And, his assistants are OUTSTANDING as well!!

If there was ever someone you wanted to meet in life, it would be Mike Winship. From his…read moreprofessionalism to his kindness, he checks all the boxes of an amazing wedding planner.. & person. We were a destination wedding from California & we had never visited Charleston before we started planning. Two months before we even went to look at our venue, Mike was there every step of the way creating such an amazing relationship with us. He really pulled out all of the stops for us & genuinely cared for my husband & I. The entire process of planning was so seamless because of him & I really didn't feel like a stressed out bride because I new he had my back the entire year up to our wedding. Our actual wedding day will always be a treasured memory because not only did he handle the set up, he went above & beyond to take care of my handicapped father, then took a step further & married us. He was & will always be family to us.

My husband and I are so thankful for Emily Parham and her team and everything you did for us both…read moreleading up to our wedding but also during the wedding. The weather presented what seemed like it would be insurmountable challenges but Emily's team rose to the occasion and made it work in our favor. We were truly impressed with Emily's ability to not only adapt but also make sure that there was zero stress on our wedding day. We had such a tremendous time at our wedding and we left Charleston wondering why other people always say wedding planning and the day of are so stressful. We feel like the last 18 months have gone by so smoothly and we have never really worried about any of it. Seeing the venue and watching our friends and family having the time of their lives celebrating us, we could not be happier with our decision to choose Ooh! Events and specifically choose Emily as our planner and coordinator. Emily Parham, you are AMAZING!

When I started planning my wedding in January, I felt like Ooh Events was going to make my life…read moremuch easier. By the time the wedding came around, I couldn't wait to be done working with them. Here the key reasons I'd avoid working with them if I were planning: 1. My original planner was sweet but disorganized and lacked follow-through. I had paid for the design and coordination package, and she wasn't delivering on the design elements. And it's not like these packages are cheap! 2. That planner either got fired or quit, but that was news to me until I showed up in Charleston for my tastings and tours. I texted her only to find out then that she was no longer with the company. No one at Oh Events had reached out to me. When I called them to see what was going on, they played it off and tried to place all the blame on the old planner. When I emailed the owner Lisa, she did not take any accountability for the situation and again tried to play it off. The one saving grace was Carissa, who seemed to know what she was doing and tried to be helpful. 3. After that whole debacle, I had a few different people working on the wedding. The lead was Amanda and she was definitely an improvement. She was good with follow through and responsive. During the wedding, she seemed to keep things moving smoothly enough and she even gave us a ride at the end of the night. I would have liked her to be reaching out to me more proactively but I got the sense that she was overworked and newer. 4. The one place where Amanda dropped the ball is with our cake at the end of the night. We had discussed having the top tier sent home with my in-laws. On Sunday, I asked my mother-in-law if she got the cake and she said she never got it, so I asked Amanda what happened. That's when she told me she hadn't been able to get the cake, so I asked her to contact the venue to see where it was. Again, I had to be the one to follow up a few days later to see what happened with that. That's when she told me that they couldn't find it but that I was welcome to call the venue and sort it out. It's not my job to sort that out and again they should be taking responsibility for losing our top tier. I have yet to hear back on what they will do but don't expect they will do anything bc that is the type of company they are. We also used them for rentals and florals. Kaitlyn from florals is a bit terse over email but Susanne was lovely in person. The flowers were nice though the bouquets weren't fresh and starting to wilt already when we got them. Not sure what happened with the florals at the end of the night. Rentals were fine but a bit pricey. They also have weird fees added on (flip fee for example) and we had to pay extra to the venue since the rental team wanted to be there early. Overall, Ooh Events seems to be all over the place and I wouldn't recommend them to a friend.

Working with Meghan at J Lily Designs is a dream!! As a local wedding planner here in Charleston, I…read morehave the pleasure of working with some very talented vendors. Meghan is one of my favorites! She has so many unique ideas for each client - and always delivers a product even more amazing than what I imagined. When it came time to hire someone to do invitations and day-of items for my own wedding, it was a no brainer that Meghan was our girl. I am somewhat of a "paper snob", but was worried that the aesthetic I wanted was too traditional or simple -- Megan helped me bring my ideas to life and executed my "simple" look into something beyond elevated. She incorporated gorgeous papers, fun textures and so much more. The overall product was SO reflective of us and we couldn't have been happier with the outcome. We still get compliments about our Save The Dates to this day! Safe to say, it made a great first impression for the wedding (: This is just one instance of where her work has had me smiling from ear-to-ear. I am so grateful to have her on my vendor team for my clients weddings, and can't wait for many more to come!! Book her for your wedding, you wont regret it!!!

Laura coordinated my wedding of 90 guests in March 2026! She was a rock star and took care of every…read moresingle detail. I was so relaxed on the day-of knowing she had everything under control. Her assistant was also fantastic and they were an absolute dream team!

We thought that hiring a wedding planner would alleviate some of the stresses of planning a…read moredestination wedding. Unfortunately, that was not the case in this situation. We're getting married in December on Kiawah Island. I grew up going there, sometimes spending entire summers there, so I know the area like the back of my hand. However, considering that neither one of us had any wedding planning experience, I thought that we would greatly benefit from the help of a professional. We hired Katherine Miller events because I liked her portfolio, the proposal sounded great, and she seemed very detail-oriented. Boy, was I wrong. She presented us with a wedding checklist, which was something similar to what you would find on The Knot, but it was never really discussed. I let her know that I'm used to deadlines, yet I rarely knew what she was working on, if anything at all. As the client, I didn't feel that I should micromanage the process, but I can't just blindly trust that things are getting done. This led to me doing most everything on my own and occasionally providing her with updates. When you're spending 20% of your budget on a full service wedding planner, it makes sense to be disappointed about this. Communication was sparse and haphazard-- an example of this was when she let me know that she would check on a tasting date with the caterer the next day (6/29), and I didn't hear back from her until 7/13. When we addressed these issues, she acted defensive and inflexible. She never even picked up the phone to call us. I really do believe that she thought she was working hard, and maybe our definitions of working hard are just different. At the end of the day, I never felt that she took the time to get to know us. I'm not sure if it was the fact that we were "out of sight, out of mind," or if our budget was too small for her to concern herself with. (She said that she discounted the cost of her services to fit in our budget. That's not something that I would tell a client.) To recap: When the wedding planner is the most stressful part of wedding planning, it's time to cut ties. Even if that means only getting a refund of $500 and being out the remaining retainer of $1,500.

If there was the option to give more than five stars to Katherine Miller events, I absolutely…read morewould. My husband and I were planning a destination wedding and were having trouble keeping our hands around everything. We had a hard time conceptualizing everything we wanted to do and really needed help -- LOTS of help. When we found Katherine, everything changed. Our loose ideas about what we wanted on our wedding day were transformed into cohesive, beautiful concepts. She helped us with everything, from proofreading our invitations to keeping us on track with to-do lists. Whether it was flowers, linens or which table to remove from our floor plan, Katherine had a recommendation. She was flexible to be a part of our planning meetings anytime we came to Charleston and was more than happy to talk by phone at any hour of the day when we needed her. One of the most valuable things to me was that our wedding coordinator get to know both me and my husband so that our day was a reflection of us, specifically, and our relationship. Katherine made sure that everything (right down to our wine-cork-handle cheese knife favor!) perfectly reflected us as a couple. I found Katherine to be really helpful with making sure things kept moving. She kept us on task about when we needed to make final decisions on things, when our next payments were due to vendors, when we needed to confirm headcounts -- anything. If ever I felt stressed out, I called her and we'd talk about whatever was concerning me. When my husband wasn't sure what he needed to do and when, she made sure he picked out his tuxes, vests and ties before they needed to be rushed. She was there no matter the emergency (like when our rehearsal dinner venue told us they'd double booked our date) or the need (like navigating through the floral requests of my mom and aunt). She's quick to respond on email or by phone. I never had any issues communicating with her about anything, even minor stuff like "Where can I get maps of the area for my guests?" (In fact, when I asked that, she shipped us 100 guide books on Charleston to include in our welcome bags!) During our wedding weekend, Katherine was at her best. No matter the challenge (like when rain caused a reception tent gutter to collapse during our cocktail hour or set-up being delayed a day because of high winds), she handled it flawlessly. When a bridesmaid called the morning of the wedding because her dress was the wrong shade of green, Katherine calmed her down and helped her find one in her size in the right shad. I was clueless about any hiccups during our wedding day -- I didn't even know rain was predicted! -- because Katherine made sure that I enjoyed and soaked up every second of the day. Looking back on our wedding, there is absolutely nothing we would change. We had a flawless wedding day that reflected us perfectly (and an enjoyable, fun time planning!) because of Katherine. I would recommend her without hesitation to anyone planning a wedding in the Charleston area.

Maryann came in to help plan the late stages of my daughters Mother's Day wedding. To give you a…read morelittle background my daughter and son-in-law were the ones making the majority of the arrangements and my husband and I contributed the finances. Unfortunately my daughter had to have emergency brain surgery in March and my son-in-laws Mother had some preexisting health issues that landed her in the ICU off and on for the 6 weeks leading up to the wedding. Needless to say I started to feel overwhelmed with all of these unexpected health issues and a wedding in 6 weeks. I contacted a wedding planner that a friend suggested and over a period of a week tried to get in touch with her. When I wasn't able to make a connection with her I panicked and started searching through Charleston Magazine for event/wedding planners and found The Event Cooperative. I called Maryann and from the moment I started sharing my story I knew everything was going to be fine. Maryann made herself available to meet with us right away, immediately contacted the vendors we had already secured and started making arrangements to fill in the holes we had left. She quickly picked up on what was important to the bride and groom and what they had envisioned for their big day. She communicated flawlessly with everyone involved and set the tone for a beautiful day. To top it all off we had a tropical storm headed to Charleston in the days leading up to the wedding, the grooms grandfather passed away within days of the wedding and the grooms mother was readmitted to ICU 5 days before the wedding. It's still hard for me to believe but I was never concerned about the wedding from the moment Maryann came in to the picture. The couple ended up having two ceremonies that weekend...one on Saturday in the ICU at Roper Hospital with just immediate family and one as originally planned on Mother's Day with all their guests. Maryann was amazing and her assistance allowed the bride and groom and the entire extended family to enjoy spending time together and celebrating their marriage even in the midst of some very difficult days. Thanks Maryann! We truly can't thank you enough!

As the Executive Director for a nonprofit organization I would highly recommend The Event…read moreCooperative. I could not have picked a better planner to help us with our fundraising events. Maryann exceeds my expectations with everything she does for my organization. She meets with me as often as I feel is needed and is always prompt when answering e-mails or phone calls. Through the process of working together she has found amazingly supportive vendors that come back and offer their support year after year. Maryann has helped me more than words can express! Her eye is always on the bottom line and has pulled beautiful events together for us under budget. She plans our events and implements things I would never have thought of, from lighting, to linens, to set-up, even down to the smallest of details! She has planned high-end themed events for us, which included a 14 piece band and needless to say her set-up was breathtaking. Maryann is extremely friendly, professional, and SO creative! She is amazing at her job and I unreservedly recommend Maryann Hoyt of The Event Cooperative for any special event planning needs you may have!!