About this vendor
EventZ offers both partial planning and day of wedding coordinating services. EventZ operates in the SF Bay Area, Chicagoland Area and now moving to Charlotte, NC in the Fall of 2025! Founder Zakiya Usinosantiago has been creating timeless, unforgettable events for over a decade. She holds a wealth of knowledge in all things event-related, taking joy in bringing her clients’ dream events to life.
Services Offered
To ensure a tailored experience for every client they serve, the team at EventZ provides a wide range of offerings for couples to choose from. Packages available range from partial planning to full event design. Your planner will be on hand throughout the process, providing assistance with venue selection, timeline creation, budget planning, and vendor coordination. The team specializes in a wide range of events, including civil ceremonies, cultural celebrations, and double weddings, as well as eco-friendly and non-religious gatherings.
Details
Business Attributes
- Asian-owned Business
- Black-owned Business
Planning
- A la Carte Wedding Planning
- Budgeting
- Day-Of Coordination
- Wedding Design
Wedding Activities
- Wedding
- Ceremony
- Cocktail Hour
- Reception
- Rehearsal
Awards and Affiliations
2-Time 'Best of Weddings'
2025.2023.
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
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Reviews
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5
out of 5.027 reviews
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 7
Zakiya was the absolute best decision I made for my July 2025 wedding! I initially reached out to Zakiya in November 2024 thinking I only wanted day-of decor help, being that I was...
a (mostly) DIY bride. However, I quickly realized that Zakiya's partial planning services would be much needed in the months leading up to my wedding, especially given that her rates were competitive given her experience. From our very first screening call to the follow-up on the days following my wedding, she executed everything perfectly. She is organized, detail-oriented, professional, and a great leader. She has professional experience in the event planning industry that shows in the work she does for weddings. I received so many compliments from my family and friends about her! Our planning meetings were productive, and our rehearsal and wedding day went off without a hitch thanks to her perfect day-of timeline and her direction and leadership of my team of vendors. She also has a great eye for design and helped make my DIY visions come to life, both with design guidance in the months leading up to the wedding, as well as physical set-up and break-down on the day of. While wedding planning can always be stressful, it was a lot less stressful after I hired Zakiya. I truly could not have done it without her. I could not recommend Zakiya and Event Z enough!
Zakiya made our wedding day truly amazing. She helped us feel so organized- she thought of both the small and big details that made the day run smoothly. She brought us so much pea...
ce of mind the day of the event, which allowed us to relax and enjoy the day. She spent so much time with us before the wedding to make sure everything was coordinated and ready to go. She really is an expert in what she does. We cannot recommend her enough!
As soon as I found Events by Z I knew I wanted them to plan our wedding if we could afford it. Thankfully the date was still available after I moved some things around in the budge...
t, and I am so glad. Zakiya is the most professional vendor I've ever worked with, she kept both us and the wedding on track. We knew going into it that we wanted our wedding to be somewhat unconventional, and Zakiya helped us to bring our vision to life on budget. Whether we knew what we wanted but didn't know how to achieve it or had no idea what was available just an idea of how we wanted the event to feel, Zakiya guided us towards a cohesive event that still felt like us. Both of our families and all of the rest of the vendors loved working with her. If she was based out of Texas I'm sure that my entire family would use her for all of our events.
Zakiya is worth her weight in gold! I was looking for a day-of wedding planner for my daughter’s wedding in November 2024. The planning was a bit complicated because neither the br...
ide or groom nor I live in Illinois, but Zakiya thought of every detail and made the day seamless.
I interviewed several wedding planners and found most spent time telling me how the wedding should look, a cookie cutter version of weddings they’d done in the past. Not Zakiya! She asked what my daughter’s vision was and then discussed how we could make that happen. My daughter’s vision involved over 500 candles, and Zakiya didn’t bat an eye. Set up 300 candles before the ceremony? No problem! Set up and light another 200 candles during the cocktail hour? No problem!
Zakiya also established the timeline, worked with our vendors, and kept the day running smoothly. We were on schedule all day but never felt rushed. She thought of every detail, and was actively involved with rounding up people for pictures, encouraging people to sign the guest book and leave a message on the audio guest book. Zakiya worked hard to make sure all the guests had rescue slippers, dance floor props, bubbles and bubble guns for the bride and groom’s grand exit. We encouraged the guests to take as many candles home with them as they wanted, Zakiya was right there with boxes for people to use to carry their candles home at the end of the night.
We had many wonderful individual vendors and a stunning venue, but the day only worked because Zakiya pulled it all together and got them all perfectly synchronized. And her efforts did not go unnoticed! In fact, I’ve had several family and friends comment specifically on Zakiya’s hard work, organization, and professionalism.
Best of all, Zakiya is easy and fun to work with. Having her as our day-of coordinator was one of the best decisions we made!
Laura S. (MOB) November 2024
We are so thankful we worked with Zakiya to help plan and coordinate our wedding! Zakiya is very detail oriented and ensured that everything went smoothly on our big day. There wer...
e literally zero issues on our wedding day, all thanks to her! In the months leading up to our wedding, she provided us with clear “to dos” to ensure we were on track and she was very communicative throughout the whole process. I cannot thank her enough for the hard work she put in to make our wedding perfect, highly recommend!
I had the pleasure working with Zakiya, who owns EventZ. As a videographer filming so many weddings and events, you meet a lot of fellow vendors. EventZ is top notch. Zakiya has at...
tention to details, kind communication and professionalism to her clients and other vendors. I highly recommend Zakiya from EventZ for anyone planning weddings or events!
EventZ Brings Details Alive with Grace
I loved working with Z on an intimate but detail-filled wedding at The Grove Redfield Estate. Z worked her tail off to make sure that every ...
detail was in place so that when the guests arrived, everything was calm and lovely. There really were a lot of details on this wedding and although I saw how hard she and her team were working, the guests and couple never would have known it. And that is the key to a successful wedding day! Good coordination and planning can make zen out of chaos and Z has got the talent.
She was also super fun to work with and as a vendor, a good and fun team makes what is often a hard and stressful day way more manageable and enjoyable.
Thanks, Z for taking such good care of your clients and your team!
Julie Mikos | Photographer
www.juliemikos.com
IG: @juliemikosphotographer
(Please note: I tried in several different ways to upload detail photos from this wedding, but kept getting error messages from The Knot - it's a shame since I would have loved to share with you photos of Z's work. You can find photos within the review I left on Wedding Wire)
When I initially reached out to Event Z for a quote, I received a response within 5 minutes. Shortly after The Knot messaged me and told me to respond right away because Zakiya is ...
a highly sought after vendor, so I contacted and hired her STAT! And boy am I glad I did!
Zakiya is fun to work with. She is professional and has an impressive background in event planning. Because of her, our wedding was stress-free, beautifully decorated, well organized and literally perfect in every way. It was everything we dreamed of.
About a week and a half before the wedding people started asking, "are you freaking out?". And the answer was always, "Nope, thanks to Zakiya!".
If she has availability for your event date, do NOT hesitate, hire her! You will not regret it!
My husband and I recently had the pleasure of working with Zakiya (Z) as our day of planner, and I cannot recommend her highly enough.
Z went above and beyond just planning for th...
e day itself. Despite her busy schedule, she took the time to accommodate our needs, even though we were planning from overseas, as we live in the UK. Her dedication to working around our time zone and her willingness to engage in frequent communication made the entire process seamless and stress-free. She also was always super speedy to respond, even on weekends.
From start to finish, Z demonstrated exceptional organisational skills that truly set her apart. Her meticulous attention to detail ensured that every aspect of our big day was executed flawlessly.
She also thought of everything and brought up many points we would have missed without her help and had a plan A, B and C already prepared just in case an issue would have arisen - in our case there was a semi-rainy forecast and Z thought of everything we needed just in case it rained.
If you're looking for a wedding planner who combines strong organisational skills, a keen eye for detail, outstanding communication, and a willingness to go the extra mile, Zakiya is the person you want by your side. She turned our vision into reality and made our wedding day truly unforgettable.
We worked with Zakiya for our wedding coordination starting 6 months prior to our event. She helped build our event timeline and offered vendor recommendations, reviewed contracts,...
and offered additional considerations in general. She also offers decor consultation. She responds timely to email and communicates well. Her service is ideal for couples who need some guidance but can do most of the planning independently.
Overall, we were happy with our event. Zakiya no longer lives in the Bay Area, so we also worked with her onsite coordinator, Miriam, who did our day of coordination.
Zakiya was an amazing wedding planner! She was the partial planner for our wedding this past April and had been planning with us for the past 2 years. We had our wedding at the Pie...
dmont Community Hall in Oakland. The venue is pretty bare bones, only providing tables and chairs, so we had to coordinate everything else ourselves - including drop off catering, waitstaff, rentals, silk floral & decor rentals, DJ, photo/video, drop off alcohol, and more! There were a lot of moving pieces and Zakiya really helped us pull it all together.
She couldn't be there in-person on our wedding day, so we had Miriam (Pinsky's Planning) as our Day of Coordinator. Zakiya put together a super in-depth guide for the waitstaff since she couldn't be there, and Miriam and Zakiya worked really closely together beforehand and the day of our wedding to make sure everything went smoothly. We really didn't have to worry about a thing on our wedding day - all thanks to them both! Zakiya is super affordable and I really couldn't ask for more in a planner. Highly recommend!
Zakiya is the best. Helped me make sure my day would go smoothly. She is very attentive and truly cares that you have the best day. She is very knowledgeable and give good advice a...
nd recommendations!
Zakiya was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING for our wedding in October! By far one of our best vendors. She was available when we needed her, walked us through everything we needed for our day, ...
and helped us organize the vendors we booked. Everyone could not stop talking about how well Zakiya did on our wedding day and how everything was so organized. She even took over as an MC when our DJ failed to perform and everyone loved her! If you are contemplating hiring her, just do it. She was awesome to work with and really made us feel like we were a team.
Zakiya did a wonderful job planning and coordinating our wedding in July! We opted for partial planning, so we found our own vendors, but she provided a lot of valuable guidance th...
roughout the planning process.
On the day of the wedding, there were multiple snafus, from the previous caterer accidentally taking our alcohol to bad weather forcing us to move the ceremony inside very quickly! But Zakiya handled everything so efficiently that my husband and I weren't stressed at all. We really felt like we could count on Zakiya to keep things running smoothly, and she's so friendly and easy to communicate with. We highly recommend Zakiya for any kind of event planning!
We highly recommend EventZ if you’re looking for a wedding coordinator.
To put it bluntly, this wedding would not have happened without Zakiya. She was there for us from the ideat...
ion stage to the execution stage and everything in between. It was her professionalism, attention to detail, and commitment that made our wedding day as perfect as it could be.
Zakiya truly went above and beyond her duties as a wedding coordinator. She got us to a point where we had almost every minute of our wedding day accounted for. And it worked because everything ran on time, and we even were running ahead of schedule at some points. How many people could say that about their wedding day?
You don’t know what you don’t know… Neither of us had ever planned a wedding before and we had SO MANY questions. For every question we had, Zakiya either had a clear answer for us or options for us to consider. There were also plenty of things that we hadn’t thought about that needed to be planned, and she brought those to our attention and helped us reach decisions. Her expertise was invaluable to us, and her experience in the large event planning space definitely paid off.
Thank you so much, EventZ and Zakiya, for being our MVP and turning our dreams to reality.
I am so happy that I found Zakiya. Wedding planning be extremely stressful, and that’s an understatement but Zakiya kept me on track. Provided tailored professional advice and guid...
ance. My wedding was perfect! I highly recommend Zakiya, if you’re looking for a wedding coordinator. She’s extremely organized and I couldn’t have done it without her! Thank you Z!
Zakiya was a lifesaver in day of coordination. I honestly would've been so lost without her. She knew how to ask all the right questions and get all the right info from my vendors....
Although I only hired her for day of coordination, I felt she delivered above and beyond that. If you are type-A at all, Z will bring you peace of mind and perform above your standard. If you are not type-A, all the more reason to require her services and hire her :) Seriously, I can't thank Z enough for everything she did for us and she just made our wedding day go that much smoother.
My husband and I contacted Zakiya for our wedding in September 2022. We set up a brief phone call and knew that she would be a good fit for our wedding.
We had a Christian ceremo...
ny but included some Indian elements that Zakiya knew how to incorporate wonderfully. Leading up to the wedding, she was our rock when it came to pretty much all things wedding. Would suggest Zakiya being your first booking in the whole wedding planning process.
The day of we planned for an outdoor ceremony and of course, it rained for the hour and a half we were supposed to be outside. She handled talking to the vendors and switching around our day so wonderfully. All I had to do was sit upstairs and drink a cocktail ...or two.
Would highly recommend Zakiya for your big day! Loved working with her.
I can't emphasize enough how much of a life saver Zakiya was in our wedding planning process! She consistently went above and beyond our expectations. For starters, our original ve...
nue went out of business only 9 months before our (Saturday) June wedding which we have been told is one of the 8 most popular wedding days in the entire year! We we were so worried about finding a new venue on such short notice (especially since we were planning the wedding from far away in NYC), but she launched into hero mode and provided us with many alternatives. We were so happy with the venue we ended up choosing! Another example of her thoroughness and efficiency – Zakiya miraculously set up everything for our wedding while also juggling 10+ conversations with all our vendors the morning of our wedding due to a severe weather forecast including the threat of lightning. We went through several different iterations of plans as the weather kept changing and she made sure all the vendors knew what to do when. That alone was worth hiring her! But she did so much more. Zakiya was so fun to work with throughout the process – she always responded promptly to my (many) emails and questions. I promise you won't regret hiring EventZ for your wedding! Thank you so much for making our wedding such a beautiful, special day, Zakiya!
My wife and I hired Zakiya for our wedding at Tilden Park in the Berkeley, CA hills in June 2022 and we can't recommend her highly enough! Hiring Zakiya was one of the best decisio...
ns that we made in our wedding planning process, as she went above and beyond to make everything go super smoothly! It was a truly magical evening where everything came together perfectly, and that definitely would not have happened without Zakiya on our team. Our wedding day flew by so quickly, and Zakiya always seemed to be in the right place at the right time to lend a helping hand.
Communication with Zakiya in the months leading up to the wedding was always prompt and professional, and she helped us consider several important details that we would have otherwise overlooked in our planning process. She brought a terrific attitude, and we particularly appreciated her eagerness to work with us on her first Jewish wedding (which certainly has more moving parts than a typical secular wedding).
Thanks so much for everything Zakiya!
Zakiya coordinated our one-year anniversary/delayed wedding reception party in May 2022 in Chicago, and I would recommend EventZ to friends, family, and strangers on the street. I...
would shout recommendations for her from tall buildings if anyone could hear it. I really cannot recommend Zakiya strongly enough. As soon as I talked to her when we were searching for wedding coordinators, I knew she was the right choice. She exudes confidence and competence. She is an organized person who knows how to throw a fun party, and that is exactly what you need in a wedding coordinator. She'll give you ideas when you need them and she'll make your ideas come to life.
I loved that I could just give her the decor, the vague plans for the evening, and a few requests, and I knew she would handle everything beautifully. She not only did an amazing job coordinating everything the day of, but she also filled me with confidence that she could handle any issues that might arise. I don't even know if and how she handled any issues during the event, because they never became issues to me!
Hiring Zakiya as our coordinator took so many small worries and to-do's off my plate, and when you're planning a wedding while also trying to work and live your life, that is exactly what you need. Hire her!
Organized, followed-up and followed through. Understanding the vision and executed. 10 out of 10! Recommend!
Zakiya did an amazing job with our wedding. We hired her as our wedding day coordinator, because we needed help organizing logistics of our wedding (i.e. organizing schedule, work...
ing with vendors, the ceremony and rehearsal). Along every step of the way, Zakiya did an excellent job of planning every detail of our wedding day to perfection. She constantly thought of certain wedding details we would have completely ignored (such as where to put our welcome table, decoration ideas, first dance). She had a lot of great energy and is able to get the job done. We highly recommend Zakiya and EventZ to anyone!
My wife and I worked with Zakiya for our wedding that was delayed at one point due to COVID, and then basically fast-tracked into happening. We can't stress this enough, Zakiya is ...
the ONLY reason the wedding went flawlessly!! Without her prepping and planning, there's no way that we could have done it. She is an absolute rock-star! The most important part of the day itself is enjoying it with your bride or groom to be, and the way that Z works, allowed us to be able to really rejoice in the moment through all of the chaos and stress, and for us to be able to take every second of our beautiful day in. Anytime we needed anything, Zakiya was right there. She always had an answer, had an idea and most importantly, it felt like she was always right there when we needed her the most. From planning setup in the venue, to coming up with fun and unique ideas on creating memories, her wealth of knowledge in this industry is unmatched, and she truly will have your best interest in heart. Zakiya is the BEST!! We wouldn't want to put our trust into anyone other than her, for our special day.
I hired Zakiya as our wedding coordinator back in 2019 for our wedding in 2020 but covid pushed it 2021. Zakiya was always on top of everything from the first phone conversation we...
had to the very last. She would check in to see if I needed anything and always made sure I was on top of what I needed to do for the wedding. Which was really helpful because if not for her I would have done everything last-minute. She was great in recommending other vendors she had worked with in past weddings. I really appreciated that because there's so many out there to choose from and to have her give me her recommendations was one thing I really liked about her. Theres so many great things I could say about Zakiya but one thing I loved about her was her detailed to the smallest thing even I didn't think about. For the last month of our wedding I put it all into her hands and she executed everything that I had envision for my wedding and more. I made so many changes on the last week of the wedding and she still made sure it all got taken care of without any problems. Our wedding day was perfect because of her and she made sure I was stress free. I would highly recommend Zakiya not just for your wedding but any party you are having because she is truly the best out there.
From start to finish, Zakiya delivers perfection. Zakiya help me to negotiate with vendors, provided options for vendors if needed, gave advice and listened to me vent after needin...
g to reschedule for a second time due to COVID.
I had no idea how much goes into a wedding and Zakiya helped to make everything go flawlessly. She has so many resources and is so organized. I could not have done it without her.
Day of our wedding, she knew how to get things done. Made sure all of the special moments we wanted to capture were completed and kept the wedding flowing. Her and her assistant Miriam kept us all on track and really help to make my wedding feel so special.
Zakiya, you truly made my wedding day go so seamlessly. Thank you for all your hard work!
Dude. Zakiya absolutely crushed it as our day-of coordinator (we paid for a day-of coordinator, that is, but in actuality she helped throughout a huge chunk of the process). She wa...
s on top of everything, providing vendor recommendations and general advice before the big day and then orchestrating the whole shebang to perfection when the time came. It was such a relief to know that I had nothing to worry about that day - she ran point like the pro that she is, and everything went beautifully. My new husband and I said SO many times throughout the process that hiring Zakiya was by far our best (and yet highly affordable!) investment. We also just thought she was super cool, which doesn't hurt!
Contact
Charlotte, NC
EventZ's photos