Kelly McWilliams Celebrations, Weddings & Parties -

Jordana Herr Dougherty

Kelly McWilliams and her team are elite. I am still in absolute awe at the wedding weekend they created! Every one my dreams and my partners' needs came to life, and I never wanted the weekend (or the party) to end.

First and foremost, Kelly made me feel like more than just a client from the very moment we got on the phone. She made me comfortable like you'd feel just speaking with a good friend, and I knew she was truly listening to everything I was looking for in our planner and wedding. We had come into the process with her after already obtaining a venue and a few vendors, having realized we were in over our heads trying to plan this, especially with being at a distance early on. She took over as a full-service planner immediately.

Kelly and Catie helped us connect with top vendors in the area and arrange contracts swiftly, and with her mark of approval and good working history, we were able to be confident in our selections. We were getting the best team together! Calls with Kelly were extremely organized, and the "homework" she had me do allowed us to come into each of those conversations with all the information we needed to make important decisions with ease and no regrets or waffling. She was always able to answer questions, and helped us when our original venue pushed us around or wouldn't respond.

When Hurricane Ian hit, the Fort Myers/Sanibel/Captiva area was devastated. We watched from afar, awaiting anxiously, as we realized our original venue in Captiva was no longer in any condition to host our January wedding. Despite having no electricity or water and with a practically non-existent cell signal, Kelly wasted no time in reaching out to reassure us that she was ON A MISSION to make sure our wedding would still happen, despite the tragedy. Within days, she had found us a new venue that was PERFECT in the Sanibel Harbour Marriott, and she was able to arrange the contracts and notify all our vendors about the new location while we still maintained our original date! In that moment, there was no question, Kelly was invaluable. She was worth her weight in platinum, and then some.

She attended a second venue tour and menu tasting with us, now that we had to redo a lot of decision-making. She reassured me that all the new changes to the carefully crafted wedding plan would come together beautifully. At this point, she had also hired Nicholas, whose involvement in our wedding planning was just an incredible addition. The pair ensured every detail was managed, and his logistical execution paired with Kelly's design allowed for a gorgeous wedding landscape. They handled every little snag that came up along the way, and were always a text or call away no matter what. They organized everything down to the minute, and no stone was left unturned.

When wedding weekend came, they were on site at almost all times. They executed a gorgeous rehearsal dinner (with a surprise theme just to excite us) and a beautiful welcome reception that our guests adored. Kelly and Nicholas ensured I could focus on enjoying the party and my guests, and any time I needed anything, they were there to take care of it, while still taking care of starting to prepare the ballroom for the reception the next night.

On wedding day, things were stunning and seamless. The vendors were all on time and everything was set up without me having to be involved. The team she recommended executed beautifully. The design Kelly had shown me came to life in a more stunning manner than I could have ever imagined. The ceremony went perfectly, with every detail covered. Our guests loved every minute of it. Dinner and the reception were unbelievable - if only that night could last forever! We loved it, and our guests are probably now ruined for all other weddings. We didn't have to lift a finger the whole weekend, and my husband and I are so blessed to have work with Kelly and her team. We are going to absolutely miss working with them!

There's no question about it, hire Kelly to plan, design, and coordinate your wedding. You will never regret it.

Alyssa Simm

Kelly McWilliams' weddings are a 10/10 and we are so thankful that we booked her as our wedding planner. She turned our dream wedding into a reality and went above and beyond our wedding expectations.

Kelly's hustle, go-getter attitude, and energy is contagious and her focus on getting things done is unmatched. She is professional, talented, genuine, and always there to make you laugh when things get super stressful (and trust me..they do...they REALLY do). You don't need me to sell you...just take a look at her Instagram (@kellyamcwilliams) to see her spectacular weddings. Those beautiful weddings don't just...happen. Those photos are all proof of the caliber service that she provides her clients.

Thanks to Kelly, I didn't feel an ounce of "wedding day stress" and never once doubted that things wouldn't work out as planned. Kelly, thank you for giving me the wedding of my dreams. I get chills every time that I think about it and am forever grateful for you!

Jade Strings

Kelly McWilliams is very organized and extremely easy to work with! As a vendor, we are constantly working with multiple vendors and Kelly has always been a dream. She sends out emails with every question answered, every detail thought through and extra notes for us so that we can create a beautiful event together.

With everything said above, she is also extremely talented when it comes to design. All of her weddings portray the couples style perfectly. She is known for paying attention to detail and making sure the guests are having the best time ever.

Unlike every wedding planner, Kelly makes the vendors feel welcome. We never feel like we can't interrupt her with questions, she is always prepared and willing to help.

Kelly is a big fan of entertainment and is always coming up with new ideas for our team. She recently booked us out for a small dinner show and it was fantastic! The guests felt like they were in a broadway dream - and she was the one to create this idea!

We've worked over 200+ weddings and have seen it all. You will NOT regret hiring Kelly, she is *amazing* at what she does and it truly one of the best in the industry.

Ashlee Griffith

Hiring Kelly McWilliams is the best decision. We absolutely love working with her and her team. She brings each couples vision to life while also making the day run stress free and fun. We highly recommend Kelly as your wedding day planner. She is amazing at getting everything in order for the big day as well as planning events for your guest throughout the week. She is your go to destination wedding planner. I can't say enough amazing things about their services.

Marta Tello

Kelly and us had previously worked together on events and weddings as vendors. This working relationship gave us a chance to see how she interacted with her clients from beginning to end. She is great at what she does and she treats you like a family member! Kelly is professional, knowledgeable, intuitive, caring and fun.
If you are looking to that person that will made your dream event come true that is 100% Kelly.

Black Salt Culinary
Catering Services

Maighdlin Herbert

Kelly McWilliams is the most valuable vendor you will hire for your wedding. She is worth EVERY single penny you spend and more. We had the wedding of our dreams, and could not have pulled it off without her by our side. Her attention to detail and expertise on all things wedding related were exactly what we needed. She is not only the most wonderful person to work with, but she is the calming presence and unbiased opinion you want when you need it most. She ensured we had the best weekend full of joy and love and because of that we were able to truly enjoy every moment of our wedding day. Also she ensured EACH of our guests had the time of their lives. She not only went above and beyond on every detail, but was the biggest resource for us, our family, and our wedding party the weekend of. We had the most wonderful feedback on our wedding, and we owe it all to Kelly and the team of vendors she put together for us. We look back on our entire wedding season with only joy and happiness and peace because of all Kelly did for us. I cannot say thank you enough, but Kelly and team, thank you for being the biggest blessing of our engagement and wedding season! We are so grateful for all you did and continue to do for others.

Fallon Steeves

I have absolutely loved working with Kelly! She is incredibly creative, super attentive, and authentically puts her heart in to every event she touches. She's never afraid to try new things, and has the experience to conquer any obstacle that might come up. Her personality is so fun and calming to be around - you'll love having her lead your wedding team!

Camille Philpot

We hired Kelly in March 2022 with our wedding date scheduled for January 2023. I’m convinced that if it were not for the work that my mother in law and I put in, the wedding would have been a complete disaster.

We ended up firing her 6 weeks out because we still had not seen a design plan and did not feel confident in her abilities. We had hired her as a full service planner. Also, it seems she overcharged us after seeing her rates listed online. Very unprofessional.

The hurricane did cause us to switch things around, but she was of no help in changing things and contacting alternative venues. We returned to Naples to do site visits for the second time, and it was very clear how unprepared she was.

“Catie” had told us to plan our trip earlier in the week bc Kelly had a wedding that weekend. When we received the itinerary, all the events were packed into Wednesday/Thursday. This is very irritating for people who have traveled based on her schedule. Also, she couldn’t remember what time she had told her bride for that weekend that she would be there.

During our visits, she couldn’t keep straight which event was happening where and showed up with an empty binder and asked me to fill out paperwork as “homework”. It was clear the venue managers were not excited to work with her and in fact seemed as irritated with her as we did. Again very unprofessional.

She suggested we have the rehearsal dinner poolside on a night that ended up being 50 degrees and wanted to have the ceremony at the house with guests facing the windows. We all left Naples feeling uneasy and offered to come back in December. Kelly and “Catie” were unresponsive in helping us arrange the 3rd site visit.

At that point we decided to change gears, and I’m so thankful we did. It was not until we hired the new planners that we had an actual guest count which is fundamental when wedding planning!

Luckily, our planners we hired to replace her pivoted and it ended up being a beautiful, stress free weekend.

Kelly’s lack of professionalism will probably be displayed in her response to this review if she chooses to address it.

I urge you to seek other options and not fall for her initial call sales pitch.