The Hive Wedding Collective

th work in very demanding, high travel jobs and lived in 3 different states during these 20 months. She did not flinch once, even when our initial meeting was as chaotic as they come (bride's fault entirely). She gave us the space we needed after a very difficult season of life and supported us through this entire process. As soon as we signed with her, we felt instant relief that our wedding day was going to be perfect no matter what happened. Between opposite schedules, 3-way phone calls at work, and only 2 visits to VA, she was so professional, kind, and accommodating. Her ability to bring everything together and understand our vision (maybe better than we did) was nothing short of amazing. She is very well connected in the area and did an unbelievable job of communicating with us and vendors. In moments of stress, my husband and I were always able to look at each other and say "but we've got Ciera, it's going to be fine." Our guests were so complimentary of everything, and we owe that to her. We asked her from the beginning to be completely honest and transparent with us because we trusted her 100%. Her knowledge of this industry, pricing/budget, and feel for how to bring everything to life is unmatched. Not only did she make the planning process 100000000x better than we ever could have imagined, but also made wedding day stress free. We were able to enjoy our guests and the dance floor without concern (down to a to go box of food for the night!). Ciera is worth EVERY PENNY and we highly recommend you fit her into your budget She is a MUST HAVE for anyone planning an event. Ciera, we love you. We are so thankful for you. You are no longer just a wedding planner but family.

design and experience a perfect wedding day and experience that vastly exceeded our already high expectations. We cannot recommend her and her services enough and could not have done it without them!

and stress free which is priceless in my book. To this day family and friends tell me how amazing and beautiful the wedding was and honestly the pictures can’t even do it justice it was everything!!!

day without any hiccups. She always went above and beyond to make our dreams happen and was truly the outlier from all of the horror stories that you hear when starting to plan your perfect day. Highly recommend her!

th because I know Lindsay represented their mission beyond expectations. Okay, a little more detail… I knew Lindsay F. was “the one” as early as our initial consultation call. I had first intended on just fulfilling my venue’s requirement of having at least a day-of coordinator for the wedding, but I quickly realized from all we had naturally unearthed from our call that I needed more help than I realized. With our genuine conversation, I knew Lindsay is THE person to trust, so we worked together to make a plan to have her more involved (scaled to our needs and budget). She really represented the Hive mission that I was expecting (The Hive Wedding Collection already came with high recommendations from my venue), and I was really excited to talk to her especially, because she matched our style perfectly. Lindsay even helped translate my word-vomit ideas into logical and accurate wedding vision-speak. She’s just amazing. There’s so many things to say about Lindsay for all she’s done for planning and the behind-the-scenes work (let me tell you, she had tons of tricks up her sleeves to save the day). My wedding had a big change mid-planning due to some unforeseen health reasons in the family, and without judgement, Lindsay really stepped up to the plate and helped us figure everything out. Having her support was so impactful, because I just don’t have the experience and communication skills to coordinate with the vendors and sort through the necessary adjustment like she did for us. Looking back on it, Lindsay really helped us make the right decisions, whether it was family/friend/bridal party related or vendor/venue related. My wedding turned out to be a lot of folks’ top favorite wedding, and I believe it every time I receive that complement because we had an even balance of personal touch, consideration to budget, and the flow and pace of the ceremony/reception was perfection (even though I know Lindsay was hard at work in the background, allowing us to enjoy our special day). The funny thing is, I know there’s so much more that Lindsay put into making sure the wedding was a success that I don’t even know about—and that’s because Lindsay is someone who will put you first and make sure the day is your day and the day you want to remember fondly looking back for the rest of your life. When I remember my day, I remember how invaluable it was to have Lindsay there when our life got scary and needed to pivot with the planning. I remember every teary eyed Zoom call where she listened as a human being. I remember her at every dress change, correcting buttons and adjusting bustles, sewing back on buttons on tuxes. I remember her standing next to me and cheering me on before walking down the aisle. She’s really the best. All my highest recommendations to Lindsay F. and The Hive!

t to us that wedding planning and logistics without help is a full-time job, a potentially tedious and frustrating one at that. This is especially the case if you want a seamless wedding experience that really reflects you and your future spouse’s personalities and values (btw congrats!). Personally, I think you’ll be hard-pressed to find a team more qualified or better suited to bringing your wedding vision to life than the Hive Wedding Co. After our experience with them, we can safely say that they are top professionals in the wedding business: they nurture and maintain strong relationships with Central Virginia’s best vendors and venues, they are well-versed in the latest wedding trends as well as the more classical/traditional styles, and the team has a wealth of experience that they pool together. This pooled experience also includes adapting to COVID-19 and minimizing its impact on the entire wedding process. For us, this translated into a great eye for detail, clever and efficient solutions for the expected and unexpected issues that inevitably arose, and most importantly, a chance for my wife and I to actually really enjoy the planning process and being in our wedding. It's very, very cool to have someone you can trust and lean on that will take care of everything leading up to and the day of, and it’s something that I want for every couple who are looking to celebrate their big day with minimal stress and maximum joy. Believe me, it was pretty easy to get overwhelmed planning something this special and this big, especially with everything we have going on in our lives. Do you and your partner a big favor and consider getting a Hive wedding planner, they are kind, awesome, attentive and certainly up to the task.

the most amazing vendor recommendations, she understood my lack of vision and filled in all the gaps, and on wedding day, I was honestly sad I didn't get to spend more time with her haha. It actually feels weird not working with her anymore, and I think that says a lot about how amazing Heather is. Not a single thing went wrong on our wedding day. Heather had everything covered and I will forever remember how joyous our wedding was because of all the work she put into it. She deserves a million stars and a feature in a magazine!

o advocate for you is a worthwhile investment. Christine and The Hive are worth every penny. Christine is thoughtful, attentive, and super detail-oriented. I’m super Type-A, (somewhat) neurotic, and my mind races through details and logistics a million miles a minute. Christine snaps me out of my daydreams and has me focus on the things that need and require attention. Christine just gets me, and it is a GOD send. As with all couples, we were working with a finite budget. She would listen to things that we prioritize and the things that we didn’t and doesn’t force the issue. She helps us come up with creative ways to make parts of our wedding personal and our own. Christine also ask questions like “how can I help?” and “tell me what you need from me” and immediately goes to work. Christine is a problem solver like no other, and even on our wedding day, our transportation vendor royally screwed up the very specific timeline we had and our ceremony was delayed by about 30ish minutes. She immediately went into problem-solving mode and proactively pivoted around the schedule. We honestly would have never known the difference, but it’s because of Christine’s quick thinking and rapid response that it worked out at the end of the day. It also rained on our wedding day -- which, for an outdoor country ceremony was less than ideal. There was a pocket of window where we thought it would stop, but Christine was brutally honest and told us that we needed to go with our rain plan. It broke our hearts, but I'm glad that we did. As I was speaking my vows, the rain started to come down pretty hard. Phew, that saved us from some wet wedding guests (not to mention my brand new outfit). Our indoor ceremony was beautiful, and overcast skies make for AMAZING wedding photos (see attached). On a personal note, we are also an interracial, same-sex couple, and it was super important for us to work with vendors who have worked with folks just like us. The wedding industry has a tendency to be super gendered, and Christine would even go out of her way to call out vendors for not being inclusive to all types of love. Christine would be honest about her assessments and we trusted her along the way. Christine is the epitome of an ally, through and through, and in every definition of the word. She supports our love; she celebrates our love; and she had our back from the beginning. Christine didn’t just provide us with a service, but she provided us with beautiful moments that captured the essence of who my husband and I are — as individuals and now as a married couple. Trust Christine and the Hive — they’ve got your back!

th Anne Michelle, we felt at ease and knew that we were in good hands. Our wedding was certainly on the more complex end of the spectrum (multi-day Indian celebration with 2 separate religious ceremonies, 250+ guests, 20+ vendors). Anne Michelle was patient and took the time to ask questions/learn about our customs. She picked everything up quickly to take the burden off of us and allowed us to focus on all of the fun moments with our family and friends. In terms of planning with Anne Michelle, she was incredibly pleasant and easy to work with. She had quick response times, which helped us feel better especially since some of our other vendors took days or weeks to reply to us at times. We felt that she was always there to support us and never felt alone. She adjusted to our style of preparation and guided us through all aspects of wedding planning (including areas we knew nothing about - who knew you had to pick the style of how a napkin should be folded?!). The more we worked with her and the more she learned about our style, she gave fantastic inputs on decor/designs with an eye for detail. In fact, she was able to work directly with our decorator and rental equipment vendors without us because she understood our wants and needs so well. On top of all of that, she has a practical eye and was able to balance all of our wants with our budget. What really helped us the most was her ability to become the point person for all vendor communications - having her join every vendor meeting and fill in details that we just didn't know was incredibly reassuring (especially as the date became closer and we were becoming more stressed). Most importantly though, family is very important to us, and Anne Michelle always made sure to receive input from both of our parents with patience and respect. This made both of our parents feel that they could trust her and that she could carry out all of our traditions thoughtfully and with care. During the wedding weekend, the wedding simply would not have happened had it not been for Anne Michelle and the rest of The Hive team. The Hive team was fully present throughout the wedding weekend, and they helped everything run smoothly while also constantly making sure that we and our families were doing well. Without them, we wouldn't have been able to enjoy our wedding as much, but because of their caring attitudes, we were well-fed, hydrated, and could actually enjoy our wedding. Moreover, there was a hurricane happening throughout the weekend, but Anne Michelle and her team quickly created a rain plan during the week of the wedding, shared it with us and our parents, and moved forward from there with no issue. Finally, Anne Michelle really ensured that the broader vendor teams were well taken care of, which helped events run so smoothly. We had some vendors actually come up to us saying they have never been treated so well. We are so happy that our vendors felt respected and taken care of because everyone helped make our weekend absolutely amazing.

ugh. She was the best support for me and my husband and we are so grateful we had her as our planner. If you’re considering hiring a planner, take this as your sign!

nd know exactly what to do. I mean... read all of the other 5 star reviews of the Hive. There are not enough words to even describe how PIVOTAL Ciera was in carrying out our wedding flawlessly. I'm not one to plan a wedding (absolutely hated it actually) and I'm not sure what I would have done if it weren't for Ciera. Ciera had one of the most positive reviews so I reached out to her and upon scheduling a phone call with her, I think I reached out to her a couple of hours later (LOL) to ask if she could be our wedding planner. Now on to the wedding planning- I chose the guided planning so had most of my vendors picked out but for the ones that I needed help on, Ciera jumped in and recommended some amazing vendors including 707 for my now husband and groomsmen's suits, the flower guy Bron (absolutely spectacular florist), and DJ Anthony. During the week of the wedding, I was pretty stressed but Ciera took control of everything- came up with a detailed timeline, got all of the vendors familiar with the timeline, etc. She also led a FANTASTIC rehearsal. Her leadership skills are unmatched. Lots of family members came up to me to let me know they wish they hired her as their wedding planner because she absolutely knew how to take control. Also, keep in mind Ciera was dealing with us as a multi-racial couple including me (Korean) and my now husband (Vietnamese) and our families... Enough said. On to the wedding day itself- people have warned me that SOMETHING will go wrong and not to worry about it if it does. Well guess what? NOTHING went wrong, I kid you not. Everything from the set up to the wedding party walking out to the reception went flawlessly... I had my venue at the VMFA in which the coordinator asked if some of my family members could move the ceremony chairs to the reception tables (due to VMFA staff not being able to) but Ciera didn't even ask for us to do it- she and her assistant, Keneil (also amazing) did it themselves. This speaks volumes about their dedication. I also ate my entire salad and dinner entree. There was one point at the end of the reception that we thought we lost our belongings (in a bag) but I had a feeling Ciera handled everything to make sure nothing was lost. When we got to our car, Ciera had put our important belongings in the back of our trunk. I don't know why this was so meaningful to me but if it doesn't show you that Ciera is a power woman that takes care of everything than please message me and I will let you know of the 100000 other things she did to make our wedding go seamlessly. If I haven't convinced you yet to hire Ciera from the Hive as your wedding planner, please think twice. I thought I could plan a wedding myself but it would have been near impossible without a professional wedding planner like Ciera. She was also a friend to us and listened to us and was always available when we needed to chat. My husband, Chris who is an even worse planner than I am said we hit the jackpot with Ciera. Ciera, we are so grateful you were our planner. We know you did SO much that we were aware of behind the scenes and we are eternally grateful. Our guests are still talking about how perfect our wedding was. Thank you for everything. -Esther & Chris

ng a wedding in Richmond from New York, while both working in high demand situations. The first conversation I had with Christine she said "My job that day is to make sure that you (as the bride) don't have to worry about a single thing." And she fulfilled that promise and more. We had a magical wedding, and I was able to relax and actually enjoy myself the entire day because Christine was on our side and coordinating everything. There were snafus that came up, and you know what, I had no clue until after the day. I cannot recommend Christine and her team enough. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

ave imagined from beginning to end. She is worth her weight in gold! We live in Philadelphia and the newlyweds are a busy working couple in Richmond. From the beginning we thought we would benefit from a planner, primarily because we wanted to enjoy the process and not be continually stressed over the amount of work to do. After interviewing several planners, Christine was the clear choice, and she was invaluable from the minute we began working with her. Christine’s strengths are legion; here are a few that we particularly noted: • Understanding our vision for the wedding, and translating that into connections with well-matched vendors and service providers both locally and online • Extensive experience, which meant she knew when to complete all the steps required, who to contact to get things moving, and how to resolve any issues that arose • Organizational skills, so we stayed on track throughout the process • Prompt communication, with quick turnarounds on any questions we had or tasks delegated to her • Calm and professional demeanor, which gave us confidence and helped smooth over bumps along the way. Parents, family members, friends - and especially the bride and groom - were able to be fully present and celebrate the wedding because Christine and her team were managing every detail. I more than highly recommend Christine and her team at the Hive Wedding Collective – I don’t think you can do better!

tine had our backs. She was our cheerleader, our advocate, and so much more. I can't imagine our planning and day without her. She is so detail oriented, I knew there was nothing to worry about because she had it all taken care of. All we had to do was enjoy the day and get married. It's hard to put into words how crucial she was on the wedding day, but how flawlessly the day went is a true testament to how good she is at what she does. I'd call her a master wedding planner. She's so knowledgeable about the industry and gets things done. I loved working with Christine so much, I'm sad it's over! But our day was amazing and that's thanks in massive part to Christine, and all the work she had put in before the actual day. So if you're planning a wedding, do yourself a favor and give The Hive a call. You'll thank me later.

she had such a calm and confident energy and I knew that she would be the perfect person to have around us on our wedding day. Without Heather, our Covid postponement would have been such a nightmare for me to handle. Because of her, I didn't have to lift a finger - she handled what I'm sure were a million emails basically overnight. I am positive there is mountain of work that Heather did behind the scenes that I will never know - any time I asked a question, she had an answer, or said "I have already called them", "I was over there yesterday discussing it with them" etc. She was always solving my problems and answering my questions before I even asked. On the wedding day, Heather was calm, collected, and had everything running like a well oiled machine. She brought an assistant, Keneil, who was also just fantastic. Overall, working with The Hive & Heather was a life saver for our wedding and I wouldn't have done it any other way!

ncelled and postponed. Not only did Ciera reschedule all of our vendors multiple times, but she did it making sure all of my priority vendors were available for new dates, etc. Once we were getting down to the final few months before our reception on May 6, Ciera made sure all of the details and adjustments were made for our new guest size, etc. She didn't miss one detail, and I could be fully present during our special day. I had absolutely no worries or concerns, and I enjoyed every minute. We had a ton of rain on our day and so some plans needed to be changed, but I was never stressed over it, Ciera had it handled. Not only do I recommend Ciera to plan your wedding, but if you are a Mother of the Bride, my mother constantly mentioned how great Ciera was because my mom didn't have to do much other than enjoy the party. Ciera is an absolute delight and a pleasure to work with. I'll be sure to hire her again for my next wedding! LOL

recommendations for other vendors. She has a talent for design and excellent instincts on when to give advice vs. when to just reinforce our decisions & give us comfort. On the day-of, she ran the event flawlessly and we couldn't be happier with how everything turned out. Definitely go with her if you're thinking about hiring a planner.

whelming as planing a wedding Christine made sure it was not only smooth but fun during thr entire process. Being from out of town we were heavily reliant on her recommendations and relationships and not a single vendor disappointed. On the day of, it was like having a planner, ninja, secret service all in one. If there were hiccups we didn’t know about them because she made sure we were able to focus on having a good time and celebrating each other. We are forever thankful for her and didn’t just gain a planner but a wonderful new friend.

e vendors for hair and transportation. Heather was calm and reassuring throughout the process and was available to answer any questions we had before and during the wedding. Our wedding day was relaxed and stress-free because of Heather! Book with the Hive!

to be a destination wedding in Ireland, due to covid I had to cancel that and pivot and plan a wedding locally in less than 4 months. We hired the most popular planner for our venue in Ireland who I felt like I was always following up with her, she made me feel intimidated to ask questions or make requests. Having never worked with a wedding planner before I had no expectations, I just thought this level of service was normal from a sought after experienced wedding planner. Fast forward to the present where we cancel our wedding and started from scratch with all our vendors. I interviewed one other planner in Virginia prior to interviewing Anne. I remember my first zoom meeting with Anne like it was yesterday. Anne was professional, extremely put together, she was kind, compassionate, I felt her hunger and excitement to get the job done. Anne had a way more difficult road ahead of her than my Ireland planner who had a year plus to help me plan a wedding. Anne had less then 4 months! I hired Anne because upon meeting her there was a genuineness about her that is hard to describe but it was different and noticeable. Soon after getting in the trenches with Anne my mind was blown. Her level of service, her attention to detail, HER RESPONSE TIME, it was all something I had never experienced and it blew me away. Anne makes you feel comfortable to explore thoughts and feel safe to be creative. I could always bounce ideas off her and she would share ideas too, I never felt like any question or thought was too small or a waste of her time. Thanks to Anne we planned the most magical wedding in 3 months time! When the day came everything went smoothly, not a single hiccup, everything was so calm and perfect its how you imagine your wedding day to be- that you just show up and everything is perfect and that is what you get with Anne. One thing I really appreciated about Anne is that she is apart of the Hive and when you hire a wedding planner there you get the whole team. They are a close knit group of wedding planners and they all support one another. If there was something I was asking about that Anne was unfamiliar with she would reach out to her fellow planners and get the answer immediately. I really believe when you hire a wedding planner from the Hive you get the brain power and experience of that whole tribe of planners and that is a lot of bang for your buck. Anne is one of those people that becomes more then your wedding planner, she becomes your friend, she is your person, your right hand woman that makes you feel comfortable, known, and cared for. I know it sounds cheesy but she really was such a huge and special part of my wedding day- I cannot imagine my wedding day without Anne in it. I have so much appreciation for the blood, sweat, and tears (happy tears) that Anne put into the day. I never thought I would say this, but I am THRILLED my wedding in Ireland got canceled and it lead me to Anne who helped plan the most magical and perfect wedding of my dreams. It truly was the best day of my life (and most relaxing and fun day!) all the thanks, gratitude and love goes to Anne Michelle Forbes!

de for your wedding! We hired Heather for the Event Management package, knowing that we had pretty much all of our other vendors + design figured out on our end. We naively thought we’d just need a day-of coordinator but that 60-day package proved to be critical! Not only was Heather available for all of our questions from that point on, she was always just an email or text away in the months leading up to our wedding when I just needed to bounce ideas or get her professional recommendations. My husband and I knew from our very first Zoom chat that we loved her calm but confident presence and that she would be someone who could get things done for us. We ran into multiple hiccups with both our venue + hair and makeup and in both scenarios, Heather was there to a) calm me down and b) find solutions and a clear path forward. When my hair and makeup team left me hanging just 3 days before the wedding, Heather worked quickly to find several backup options but never settling until we found the absolute perfect replacement. For this alone, I will be forever indebted to her. On our wedding day, we felt completely taken care of between Heather, her assistant, and Christine, who stepped in to help while Heather had a rehearsal down the street. The way the team was able to work together to ensure our wedding day went off without a hitch is just a testament to their commitment to bringing their very best to their clients. We didn’t have a bridal party getting ready with us so even our interactions with our planning team in the hours leading up to the ceremony were so fun and put us at ease for the entire day. Not everyone knows to consider wedding planning or coordination in their initial planning budget (we didn’t!) but after going through the planning journey, we realize that their services are invaluable and we couldn’t have done it without Heather and the rest of the Hive team. Worth it x a million. Thank you to Heather and team for being the glue that kept our day running, making it so beautiful, and ensuring that it was the best day of our lives.

plenty of time to do our own research, so when we started planning our wedding we definitely were skeptical about the value-add a planner could bring. Boy were we wrong! To begin with, Christine pays for herself in her vendor recommendations. She has a huge list of vendors who are top tier quality and great value for the price. Throughout the process the only decisions we regretted were going off-list to try to save a buck here and there. Don't bother. If a vendor is not on Christine's list, it is probably because the cheaper price isn't worth the sacrifice. But even then, Christine swooped in to make everything right and ensure our wedding was absolutely beautiful! Also, there are a million details and decisions that, unless you are a wedding planner yourself, you are likely not going to anticipate. I was the Maid of Honor in two weddings and a bridesmaid in a third before I tied the knot. I thought this made me the closest thing to an expert in wedding planning short of an actual professional. Turns out, as in most fields, the gap between an informed layman and an actual expert is vast! But even if I had been able to anticipate every detail, the logistics of putting it together is a full-time job - which is why it is Christine's full time job! Her vast experience in the industry means she has seen it all and she knows what works. She knows how many guests you need to plan transportation for, she knows how long set up will take, she knows how to enhance your themes or to make traditional details like a guest book new and creative! Now that I have hopefully convinced you that you need a wedding planner, let me explain why that planner absolutely should be Christine. She is a consummate professional - organized, responsive, and does whatever it takes to make your day beautiful and easy. Even the vendors we talked to all gush about what a great planner she is! When my florist scaled back our flowers due to covid-based price increases, she went out and purchased greenery and candles to fill out the entryway. When my hair and makeup team needed to be replaced due to COVID safety concerns, she found me an incredible replacement. But I think what stands out to me the most about my wedding planning experience is that Christine is so incredibly fun to work with! She is creative, funny, selfless, and just a very cool person. We spoke with several wedding planners before booking Christine, but none of them made us feel so immediately comfortable and excited. My husband and I wanted our wedding to reflect our personalities and our interests. I am a huge Harry Potter fan and my husband loves Star Wars. Christine was able to take my vague outline of a vision and create a beautiful yet incredibly fun wedding that subtly acknowledged our respective fandoms. She was so enthusiastic throughout the whole process and made planning sessions feel like we were hanging out with a long-time friend. From the moment we booked, Christine made herself available for any question we had - long before our 90-day contract began. And when we had to reschedule the whole wedding due to COVID, she took care of the whole thing, again, long before her 90-day contract even began. Christine is worth every penny. Book her.

d timeline and floorplan for the day and making sure all our vendors were aware of the plan. And that all of our needs were accounted for in both. On the day of, she took control of the day and made sure everything went smoothly. Ciera shielded us from most things, was super attentive, kept things running on time, and won over many of our Nigerian wedding guests with how organized everything was. She checked in throughout the evening to make sure we were happy with how things were going and sometimes knew what we were thinking without us even having to say a word. Ciera is a warm, personable wedding professional who knows her stuff and is equally fun to be around. A special shoutout to Camille, Ciera’s assistant, too. It was a pleasure to work with them both and I hope more couples get to have the Ciera Pope experience.

d it most! My mother said repeatedly that going with The Hive was the best decision we ever made. Lindsay made everything we hoped for come to life! We are so thankful.

, we knew she was the one for us! Ciera was an absolutely joy to work with - always available to answer any question we might have and kept us focused on and excited for our big day, which was no easy feat through multiple reschedules. She was so organized and thorough with all our vendors which made the day run so smoothly. Our pastor even mentioned that he’d be using her timeline template as an example for all future couples to follow. We didn’t have to think about a single thing on the wedding day and got to fully enjoy every aspect we’d worked so hard to plan. Ciera, we love you and can’t thank you enough for everything!