I would recommend Kia/ ESTOccasions to any bride or individual holding an event out there. Her prior reviews are certainly in keeping with her friendly demeanor and professional attitude. I am recently married, but would not hesitate to contact her again for future events.
I began my wedding planning with Kia about a month after I became engaged. A long story short, I very quickly found out that I was in over my head for the wedding planning process. We hoped to fashion a small, backyard-feel for a wedding but still maintain the intimacy and decorum of an actual wedding. Given the demands of our family/ guests/ our needs and my work schedule, I knew I needed help.
I first came to Kia having interviewed a few other wedding planners. I have nothing negative to say about them, but what made Kia stick out to me was her well-honed sense of can-do, humor, lightheartedness, and an impressive automatic draw of inspiration and ideas. While professionalism is key (she definitely is), Kia immediately understood what I was hoping to achieve with my ceremony and slowly sifted through and relieved my every anxiety, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. I knew then that I wanted to work with her.
Through a combination of my naiveté and inexperience, there were of course some bumps in the road. (In all honesty though I think this would apply in everyone’s case, period.) I have an exceptionally demanding work schedule, and on top of this I was required to be out of town for the six weeks prior to my wedding. With the exception of a few weekends before, this left little time for miscommunication or errors. Luckily I need not worry as Kia had already considered the MANY “loose ends” and had planned for them. Communication with vendors was completed and things were done, all before I had a chance to ask about them (much less time to think about them). I cannot say how thankful I am that she did this, especially during such an incredibly stressful time on multiple fronts for me.
My husband is also eternally grateful to her as she found a way to incorporate homebrew into our wedding. (This was my main obstacle when I first thought I could do this myself.) Luckily, she works with another wonderful vendor (Lizzie’s catering), and the duo was more than accommodating to his wants and wishes.
Kia was more than successful in designing an intimate wedding with a backyard feel. She (and her really, really awesome team!!!) transformed the venue into a very cozy, inviting, and Southern space that perfectly reflected who me and my husband are. Considering that I gave her next to nothing (other than “we want our homebrews and nothing fancy please”), I was amazed at how perfectly she captured our vision. Though decorations and such are very important, what was more impressive to me is the fact that Kia is an absolute professional mama bear for her clients. We had a few hiccups the day of that were completely unforeseen and had nothing to do with the planning process – she handled it like the true expert she is. When we were dealing with the “aftermath” of this event, she stayed in touch with us and offered her advice. With her assistance we reached a positive resolution – to me, this is above and beyond the call she signed up for.
If you choose work with her and communicate your needs clearly, you will not be disappointed. Unfortunately, she is not a mind reader, but in my humble opinion she came pretty darn close.