Sunshine Events by Debbie

Based In Richmond and Norfolk. Serving All of Virginia

About This Vendor

We Turn Dreams Into Reality

Sunshine Events is a full-service wedding planning, Officiating, & management company founded in 2013 and based in Richmond, Virginia. We know that planning a wedding can be very time consuming and costly. There are so many decisions that need to be made and this can be very overwhelming. There are many options available to you, but you will want to invest in those that have the knowledge needed to streamline your visions and keep within your budget. Here at Sunshine Events, we are prepared to answer your questions and to get you off on the right foot! Planning a wedding can be simple when you have the right tools. We provide you with a complete Wedding Planning Checklist, which takes the mystery out of where to start. We also help you with your budget, and provide 24/7 phone, text & email consultations, so you never need to feel overwhelmed. We are the experts and we know our little corner of the world! We work with a community of specialist throughout Virginia and have built a reputation of being very detailed and organized. We are prepared to provide personalized service and only work one wedding per week, to keep the focus on YOU! We also offer officiating service for those couples that would like a friend or family member to perform your ceremony, but don't want the hassle of trying to get a one time license. We are licensed in the state of Virginia and will perform a mini service with just the couple, prior to or after the main event and take care of all the paperwork to ensure your union is legal! We are also a full-service DJ company! .There are many options for music available to you. However, if you are looking for an affordable, laid back DJ Service, look no further. We do not use karaoke or other attention grabbing gimmicks to entertain your guest. We like to let the music speak for itself! Our music inventory is massive! We are prepared to provide the assistance needed to create your individual playlist for your wedding day. There are so many options and decisions that need to be made when it comes to your music. We provide you with all the tools needs to help you every step of the way. We are also prepared to read your guest to know what gets them on the floor to dance the night away.

Details

Business Attributes

Woman-owned Business

Destination Weddings

Destination Wedding Planning

Planning

Budgeting, Day-Of Coordination, Destination Wedding Planning, Full Service Wedding Planning, Wedding Website

Wedding Activities

Getting Engaged, Engagement Party, Rehearsals & Parties, After Party, Bachelor Party, Bachelorette Party, Bridal Luncheon, Bridal Shower, Rehearsal Dinner, Welcome Party, Wedding, Ceremony, Cocktail Hour, Day After Brunch, Reception, Rehearsal

Awards and Affiliations

Pricing for Sunshine Events by Debbie

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Sunshine Events by Debbie Reviews

4.5 out of 5.0

15 reviews

5 Star

80%

4 Star

3 Star

2 Star

1 Star

Reviewed On 6/06/2023 by Jessica A

Debbie was absolutely awesome! She really helped us get a vision for what we wanted and helped us bring it to life.

Response from the Vendor on 06/06/2023

Thank you so much Jessica! I had so much fun with all your friends and family. You were a joy to work with!

Reviewed On 7/25/2022 by Sydney W

When we hired Debbie for our wedding everything went well until 2 weeks before our wedding. We felt very unheard, unsupported, and we were disappointed with how she treated us the day of our wedding towards us, our family, and the bridal party....

It was disappointing and it felt out of control and very emotional. We are very accommodating people and did not like feeling stressed out unnecessarily on our day. We are disappointed. Everything was good until it got stressful due to the weather. Our guests and family mentioned unkind mannerisms and attitude towards them. I did not like the communication with some of our vendors. I cried on my wedding day due to her portrayal of the circumstances. No wedding is perfect and we were prepared for it, but didn’t think it was handled well the day of. She did not respond it regard to our critiques.

Response from the Vendor on 07/29/2022

I am so sorry your day did not go as planned! Mother Nature can sometimes be brutal on outdoor weddings. I apologize if I offended anyone. I have added additional steps to compensate for family and friends setting up DIY so I never have a day a...

s disastrous again. It is never my intention to hurt my clients and I am hopeful you can find the grace and peace to move forward.

Reviewed On 6/03/2022 by Joy L

Debbie was an absolute pleasure to work with throughout our entire wedding planning process! She is extremely organized and communicative about what needs to happen when, and she was 100% trustworthy and reliable when it came to pulling through...

for us for our wedding. She did an absolutely incredible job, and I can honestly say that our wedding was perfect, many thanks to her for helping with some last minute details that she saved the day on. Beyond this, she has an extremely warm personality, and me and my husband got along with her super well!! Debbie is amazing, you should definitely hire her!! <3

Response from the Vendor on 06/04/2022

Thank you so much JOY! I had an amazing time working with you and Bates throughout the entire planning process! I really appreciate the opportunity to celebrate with all your friends and family. You both were a dream to work with!

Any questions?

Reviewed On 5/09/2022 by Courtney B

We signed a contract with Debbie about 10 months in advance of our wedding date. We spoke with her over the phone, and she seemed like a great planner at a reasonable price. Unfortunately, Debbie cancelled her contract with us about 2 months ...

before our wedding due to a "conflict." When we pressed for details on what that conflict was, we were informed another client who had signed with her for a wedding with an earlier date had changed their wedding date to ours, so we were bumped off her schedule. Debbie attempted to fix this issue by recommending another wedding planner, who even with a unique name, we could not verify she had ever planned a wedding before as this individual did not exist on the Knot or any other wedding-centric website or resource. Debbie really left us in a really bad spot, and probably knows this review is coming. Best thing I can say is she refunded our money quickly. Look elsewhere, there are better and more professional coordinators in the area.

Response from the Vendor on 05/10/2022

I am sorry we did not get the chance to celebrate with you! Unfortunately, as I explained to you, my client of 16 months had to postpone her wedding at the last minute due to covid. We had already completed all of her pre wedding duties includi...

ng a walkthrough and timeline. Since I was hired by you for Coordination only and we don’t officially start to work with your vendors until 30 days prior, I advised you in plenty of time about my need to send in a backup planner, which is not a decision that is taken lightly. This has only been done 3 times in the past 10 years. I have wonderful reviews regarding those instances. I also offered to continue working beside you and my backup planner at no charge. The backup planner I suggested is a wonderful, talented planner with many years of experience and reviews all over The Knot and Wedding Wire from her previous employer, who was a well known, top of the line planner in our industry, before closing her business to manage a venue. References were available. I am so sorry that YOU canceled our service and I wasn’t able to help you. However, I would have done the same for you if you had to change things at the last minute. I am very comfortable with how I handled this and feel very sorry that you did not get to experience our fantastic service. I understand that it is impossible to make everyone happy. However, I do try very hard to give all my clients an exceptional experience. I am very proud of our team and our quality of service. Good luck to you! I wish you the very best.

Reviewed On 11/12/2021 by Casey W

We hired Debbie to be our Day of Coordinator for our October 2021 wedding at the Linden Row Inn. Debbie has worked many other weddings at the Linden Row so we loved that she already knew the space and had worked with their in-house catering tea...

m before. Around a month out Debbie met with us and the caterers at the venue to go through all of our details, she helped us tidy up last minute items that even we had not thought of (and honestly, I thought we had thought of everything!) and she helped smoothly transition from us being the main point of contact with our vendors over to her as the date got closer. She contacted all of our vendors and made sure all of the details were correct leading into the day which was such a relief so that we were able to go into the weekend knowing that Debbie had everything handled. Now lets chat about the day of-I had been planning our wedding since pre-covid and had a vision that I was so excited about. Debbie was able to make this happen and some. I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY that this vision that was in my head was brought to real life by Debbie and her team. She made the day stress free and I could not have imagined the day without her there to coordinate and execute. To top it off she is one of the sweetest people always with a smile on her face and such a warmth about her. Hire Debbie, you wont regret it!

Response from the Vendor on 11/12/2021

Thank you so much Casey! We had so much fun celebrating with all your friends and family! Thank you for the vision and the opportunity!

Reviewed On 10/16/2021 by Lita C

Debbie hands down is the BEST! There is no way our wedding day would have been that amazing without her! We selected the ‘day of coordination’- but its really like 2 months before the big day coordination. Debbie was available to answer any and...

all questions leading up to our day (all year!) She followed through with all vendors and if there were any hiccups- I was not aware of them! Which is what I wanted! She accompanied us on our final venue visit and had our best interest in mind with every question and point that arrived. She orchestrated the rehearsal and took charge the day of! I want to be her new assistant now! LOL I am so intrigued how she does everything; I just want to see it all from her perspective. We are truly thankful to have had found her. I knew from our phone consultation she would be our life saver- and she was. PLEASE add DJ TONY to your package as well!! There is NO other DJ to review! DJ Tony handled our ceremony playlist to a ‘T’; our introduction music, cocktail hour, dinner music, reception playlist- EVERYTHING. We even had purple up lighting throughout our event. If none of that has swayed you- what other DJ dances with the 4 year olds on the dance floor?! He made their night!! We absolutely LOVE this team!! Please set up a consult- you won’t be disappointed!!

Response from the Vendor on 10/17/2021

Thank you so much Lita! We had the best time celebrating with you and your family! Thank you for the opportunity and we wish you both a lifetime of love and happiness.

Reviewed On 9/23/2021 by Sara G

Oh my gosh. I seriously cannot rave about Debbie enough! She was my day-of coordinator and let me tell you, she did it all. The day before my wedding one of my vendors fell through and Debbie stepped right in and took care of the situation. She...

found a replacement vendor and got my money refunded from the original. I don't know what I would have done with out her! If you are on the fence about a planner or are searching for the right one, I guarantee you will not be disappointed if you work with Debbie!

Response from the Vendor on 09/23/2021

Oh Sara! Thank you so much for the kind review! I am so glad I was able to save the day for you and Andrew. I am the original wedding NINJA! I am so glad everything worked out and you got the day you dreamed of. Love and Hugs

Reviewed On 5/07/2021 by Amber O

Debbie was such a big help and stress relief in the planning, timeline process of the big day. She was very professional and fun! She was available for all things we needed assistance in before the wedding day and on the wedding day! We would d...

efinitely recommend her!

Response from the Vendor on 05/07/2021

Thank you Amber! We had such a good time celebrating with all of you!

Reviewed On 11/16/2020 by Angela B

Debbie and her assistant made my day effortless! She is such a pleasant person to work with and she gave me one of the least stressful days of my life!

Response from the Vendor on 11/16/2020

Thank you so much! We had a great time celebrating with you and Josh! I really appreciate the opportunity!

Reviewed On 1/04/2020 by Katie S

Debbie was my day-of coordinator for my recent wedding on 10/26. She was great to work with from start to finish. She is very fast and responsive to e-mails, she is very professional, and went above and beyond to make my day perfect. If you're ...

looking for a wedding coordinator, Debbie is highly recommended! My wedding would not have run smoothly without her! Thank you, Debbie! DJ Tony was also great and professional, and kept the dance floor alive!

Response from the Vendor on 01/04/2020

Thank you so much Katie! You made the planning easy! We had an amazing time meeting your friends and family. We really enjoyed celebrating with you and Richard. We Just love to keep everyone on the dance floor! Everything was beautiful and your...

donated flowers were truly appreciated at the nursing home! Thank you again for the opportunity!

Reviewed On 12/11/2019 by Dorothy M

They were absolutely fantastic! Were the perfect choice for our wedding.

Response from the Vendor on 12/11/2019

Thank you so much Dorothy! We really enjoyed working with you and your family! We felt like we were in a fairy tale and you were our princess!

Reviewed On 9/15/2018 by Sonia E

I loved working with Debbie Miller! Without her we wouldn't have thought about all the steps and little details that made our wedding so wonderful! We live in Germany and got married in the US, so we realized that it would be too hard for us to...

organize a wedding since we were not in the country. We hired Debbie based on her good reviews and it was the best decision we made! We communicated a few times via phone calls, but mostly through e-mails. I was impressed, she was very responsive, usually responding within minutes of my e-mails! She worked relentlessly throughout the year with us, taking all our concerns and matters into consideration. She was flexible and suggested quickly other vendors when we weren't happy with one of them. We were sometimes overwhelmed by her to-do lists, but she knew it was important to keep us on track and we are thankful for that! The day of the wedding she did an amazing job! We didn't have to worry about anything, she perfectly managed to handle little hiccups like delays and keeping up with the timeline. I would describe Debby as very effective, professional, reliable and personable! She is dedicated to her job and well organized. We highly recommend her! Thank you so much Debbie, you were awesome! I will miss working with you!

Response from the Vendor on 09/15/2018

Thank you so much Sonia! I had an amazing time working with you and Brian this past year. It was great meeting your family and we really enjoyed celebrating with all of you. I look forward to keeping in touch and celebrating future milestones!

Reviewed On 9/14/2018 by Ben C

Debbie was awesome! We hired her for our day of wedding coordinator for our wedding in June and her and her son did an awesome job making sure there were no hiccups along the way. Even though we only hired her for day of she communicated with u...

s throughout the whole wedding process helping us plan and make decisions. It helped keep us on track and feel like we were on top of things throughout the planning process which alleviated so much stress!

Response from the Vendor on 09/14/2018

Thank you so much for the kind words! We had so much fun celebrating with you and Andrea! It was a beautiful wedding and we appreciated the opportunity!

Reviewed On 3/13/2018 by Shannon

Debbie and her team were absolutely wonderful to work with. Debbie truly thought of every detail to help make sure my big day went even better than planned. She was attentive, thoughtful and always easy to get in touch with. Her team worked swi...

ftly and dressed the part, making us feel like absolute royalty on our day. Debbie was amazing, and I cannot thank her enough for pulling everything together and making it happen seamlessly. On the day of, I never even worried about one detail because Debbie had it all covered! It was such a relief to work with such wonderful people that made the day and every day leading up to the wedding such a joy!

Response from the Vendor on 03/13/2018

Thank you so much Shannon! It was wonderful working with you and Jordan! My team appreciates the opportunity of helping you celebrate!

Reviewed On 11/21/2017 by Chris W

Debbie was amazing. She was organized, reliable, and on top of everything from day one. While we only hired her for the day of planner role, she helped throughout the entire process with to-do lists that helped us stay on task. She was very res...

ponsive to my emails, even when I'd email late at night. She also helped us deal with a few issues with vendors that we didn't want to worry about and did so quickly and efficiently. Like before I could even follow up with her quick. And on the day of, she helped us transform our plans into an amazing wedding where everything went to plan. Even when we fell off schedule a little bit she managed to keep us on track and moving. If we could go back we would have definitely hired her for the full time service. It would have been worth it for us as we're not the most into planning, and even if you are into planning, she was still very valuable for the day of. Like I said, she helped our day look incredible and we honestly didn't have to worry about a thing.

Response from the Vendor on 11/21/2017

Thank you so much Chris. It was such a pleasure to work with you and Jenna over the past year. It was an honor to help you celebrate your big day! You and your family made my job so easy! Thank you again for the opportunity!

Contact Info for Sunshine Events by Debbie

Mechanicsville, VA | Based In Richmond and Norfolk. Serving All of Virginia

Meet the Team

Debbie Miller

Owner

Sunshine Events is a full-service event planning and DJ company based in Richmond, Virginia. Debbie has written numerous articles for Richmond Weddings Magazine and was also featured in CEO Magazine and Destination Weddings and Honeymoon Abroad Magazine. Debbie has worked in the service industry for over 30 years. She has experience in the floral industry, catering industry, and is a certified bartender. She graduated from the University of Richmond with a B.A. where she also received her Certification in Event Planning.

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