Carolina Event Design

There is no one else I would’ve wanted to help us plan our wedding weekend. From the beginning, Heather was always a step ahead which made us actually ENJOY our engagement and planning process. I have worked in the wedding industry for several years – Heather was one of the first wedding planners I had the pleasure of working with at my current property and she completely blew me away with her services and what she designed for the clients. 4 years later – I was engaged and my first email was to Heather and her team to make sure they were available! From the beginning, she sat down with my family and fiancé and we walked through our budget and walked us through the process and what to expect. She managed our budget to ensure we stayed within our budget and helped get the best ‘bang-for-our-buck’ where it really mattered to us. She had so many resources at her disposal and knew the right people to work with to make sure our vision was complete. Working in the event industry – there are a lot of things you see and I really wanted to do a fully designed wedding where it was unlike something I had seen before. Heather worked her magic and did above and beyond what we asked. More importantly – she was a great person all around and would check in on us and how we were feeling throughout the process. She handled my crazy (very late night) emails with grace and could immediately calm me down with how detailed she was and had it all handled. Planning a wedding (big or small) – you always need someone who is going to be honest and realistic for you – this was Heather. Our wedding weekend came – Heather was such a reliable and FUN resource for our family. As we all know how overwhelming and fast things start to go once the wedding week is upon us – Heather made sure we were enjoying ourselves and that things were flowing perfectly. The day of went by so quickly – but she was with us the whole time making sure we were not only on time and truly enjoying ourselves. We would turn around and there was Heather already anticipating what we may have needed! What an incredible team to work with and they are so talented at what they do. My Dad even toasted to Heather in his welcome speech! I would highly recommend Heather and her team for ANY type of event. No. Questions. Asked.

Heather and her entire CED team are seriously the BEST in the industry. Heather and Hannah worked so hard to make every detail of my wedding so perfect. I couldn't have dreamt of a more perfect day. It was MAGICAL. It sounds so cliche, but it's seriously the truth. MAGICAL. Heather is so experienced and talented with design. I told her I wanted modern, chic, and upscale and she overdid herself with everything that I envisioned. It exceeded my expectations. They are so honest and patient with you, yet give their best knowledge and opinion about every aspect of your day. Heather knows how to work with a bride/family and make your day top notch. She coordinated, planned, and designed my entire day and I wouldn't have had it any other way. What I loved most about the Carolina Event Design team is they seriously became family throughout the wedding process. We left our wedding with the most amazing memories and new friends. If you are in search of a wedding/event planner, you won't regret the CED team. They are truly the best! I look forward to future events, showers, parties with them in the future! You will leave your wedding SO happy and SO grateful you chose them to help plan your day! I am forever thankful for Heather and her amazing team!

Absolutely terrible experience! My fiancé and I were looking forward to finally planning our dream wedding when we made the mistake of contracting with Carolina Event Designs (CED). If you want to be involved in your wedding planning, at all, then CED is NOT the place for you! – Just 4 months prior to our wedding date, we were left scrambling, trying to find a new wedding planner! 4 months from our big day, Heather, our planner with CED, no longer had time to provide us with the “one-on-one attention” we were wanting so she gave us 2 options: (1) be transferred to her partner who had “a smaller client load and may be able to give [us] more one-on-one attention that [we were] wanting” or (2) “part ways” and “handle it on our own or find someone who may better align” with what we were looking for. Apparently, this is not the first time this has happened with this wedding planner and unfortunately, those other couples did not take the time to share their stories on the reviews. I don’t want anyone else to have to experience what my fiancé and I experienced during a time that should be filled with fun memories! We spent 8 months telling ourselves that once our wedding date drew closer we would start to feel like more of a priority to our planner, we were sure we would start getting the attention and time we needed to finalize our plans and vendors. Unfortunately, that was not the case. And instead of feeling like a priority we felt abandoned. When we brought our concerns to Heather’s attention, her response was completely defensive, unprofessional, and ended with her giving us the ultimatum, mentioned above. Bottom line, we were lucky enough to find other fantastic planners, they do exist! Do not settle for less! If you choose CED, good luck...I hope they treat your wedding like a priority. Oh yeah, and if not, good luck getting your money back! - From one bride who learned the hard way, to another who can avoid the disappointment, steer clear of CED!

Erin and the entire team of Carolina Event Design made my big day an absolute dream come true! Throughout the entire planning process, we felt like we were in great hands with their team of quality and experienced planners. Erin Hunter-Watters, my personal planner from CED, was one of the kindest, most hardworking people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. She was responsive to any question or concern that I had and always sent emails and texts or set up personal meetings to let me know where we were in the planning process. We were sent monthly lists of items that we were to complete, both together and individually, and Erin did an amazing job of walking myself and my family though anything that we needed to do. CED also did an amazing job with helping us find the best vendors for our look and budget. We couldn't have been happier with who we used and it was all because of CED's experience and their stellar reputation. Their experience in the industry is evident in their execution both in the planning process and on our big day! Our wedding day was executed flawlessly and Erin along with the owner of CED, Heather, had everything running like a well-oiled machine. I couldn't be happier with our experience with Carolina Event Design and with our planner Erin. I would highly recommend them to anyone getting married! As a bride who was unsure if I needed a planner at first, I can say now that I don't know how I could have made it and had a fabulous wedding if it were not for Erin and CED. They took all the stress out of the planning process and allowed me and my family to have fun in the months leading up to the wedding in addition to our big day. I would recommend any level of planning, but for us, full planning was the best choice we ever made! Thank you to Erin and CED for all that they did to make my wedding the best day of my life! I will miss them and all of the fun of planning my big day!

I couldn't possibly express all of our gratitude for Carolina Event Design in mere words but for the purposes of this review, I am going to try! My initial contact with CED was with Cortenay. What impressed us from the moment of inquiry was how quickly CED responded to our initial interest. We got a response within hours from our inquiry, which stood out in comparison with other planners/companies we contacted - this really had a big impact on our decision because we were trying to plan a wedding from a different state. Courtney answered all of our questions with patience and was honest up front about general expectations for our big day with our budget, and because of this interaction, we knew we had found the right people to plan our wedding. Our main planners were Erin and Heather - and from the initial interaction, we immediately loved working with them. They helped us stay on track with important deadlines and our budget throughout the entire process, helping us with their expert advice based on many years of experience in this industry. They got to know us well initially which really helped to incorporate our personalities and our tastes into the planning for the big day - we were so impressed by all of their recommendations for all the details of the big day, which told us that they really knew who we were and what we wanted. They were professional, maintained great communication and were honest and realistic. On the big day, Erin and Heather knew down to every minute what was supposed to be happening where. They were incredible and amazing and helped us stay on track with the big day's schedule, from the moment we woke up to even after the reception ended. They kept everything running smoothly throughout the whole day and our family and even our guests complimented their dedication and work ethic. No more room in this review - but in short, we're blessed to have had the chance to work with CED!