With a love for event planning and everything Southern, Katherine Miller launched Katherine Miller Events just one year ago in her hometown of Charleston, SC. She is already a huge success in the Lowcountry, designing inspired events packed with charming details and a modern sense of romance. Read on to learn more about Katherine and to find out why she's the perfect wedding day companion for your Lowcountry affair.Katherine Miller Events is based in Charleston, SC. To contact Katherine Miller Events, visit the company website by clicking here or call 843.388.5576.Weddings Unveiled: How did you become an event designer? When and how did you begin Katherine Miller Events?Katherine Miller: It might sound silly but as a young adult, Katie Couric and Oprah Winfrey inspired me. These strong women pioneered twentieth-century journalism, and I felt encouraged to study the field at the University of South Carolina. Yet as my professors nurtured my love of writing, I became fascinated by the fields of public relations, advertising and graphic design.After graduating from the university, I sharpened my editing and writing skills by working as a publicist for an up-and-coming children’s book company. The environment was dynamic and exciting, and my position afforded an opportunity to plan by scheduling author tours and media appearances. In the summer of 2007, I moved to Washington, D.C. to study for my master’s degree. While enrolled at Georgetown University, I continued to use my planning, public relations and graphic design repertoire at a boutique event-planning agency, A. Dominick Events.Working at ADE strengthened my eye for detail under pressure and offered a unique opportunity to study both spoken and unspoken communication between vendors, families and fiancées. This furthered my academic research in a very real and unexpected way—instead of writing a thesis, I chose to blend my academic and professional careers by writing a business plan for KMevents.Well-versed in Southern etiquette and equipped with a business plan and a master’s degree in Communication, I returned home to the South Carolina lowcountry ready to start my next adventure—full of charming details, fresh ideas and style. I officially opened KATHERINE MILLER events in May of 2009 and haven’t stopped planning since!WU: Tell us about how you work with engaged couples.KM: Each couple plans their wedding with their own rhythm, so I work with each bride and groom differently. It’s their preference whether we work together or individually, face to face or by email, over the phone or via Skype. This makes every one of my workdays unique! And my goal is to make the process as easy as pie—or wedding cake.WU: Describe your wedding style.KM: I love everything that has to do with Southern charm and modern romance. Just picture a happy bride on a jasmine-covered verandah, wearing her grandmomma’s veil and holding both a bouquet of garden roses and a blackberry. She’s using it to text her sweetheart!! It’s this honest, excitable approach to the wedding day that makes me catch my breath. A marriage is an incredible beginning for each bride and groom, so I carefully plan their celebration to reflect their love and personalities.WU: What inspires you?KM: My clients! Just listening to their story is enough to fill a notebook’s worth of details!WU: How do you keep your ideas fresh?KM: I feel so privileged to be invited into a couple’s wedding and I view their wedding day as the first celebration that newlyweds host for their family and friends. It isn’t my opportunity to plan the next trend and I certainly can’t re-use stale details or old ideas. My goal is to showcase the bride and groom’s personal style, so that it’s unmistakably their reception—and that’s inspiration enough for fresh ideas!WU: What was your favorite wedding and why?KM: It is completely impossible to select a favorite, but I can share a most memorable:This summer, I was able to assist my friend Bridgette with her lowcountry wedding. We planned for over twelve months—though we’ve known each other since high school—and we worked with some of the most talented vendors in Charleston. When wedding day arrived, it was an honest-to-goodness dream. Birdy was so beautiful! Every detail was just perfect! Even more, everything was so true to Bridgette and Cory (her wonderful husband). Please don’t miss the photographs from their wedding (below). These are some of my favorites, taken by the very talented Stephen Blackmon.WU: What makes Katherine Miller Events different from other wedding and event designers?KM: KMevents specializes in full service wedding planning and consultation - emphasis on planning and consultation. I work personally with each couple, helping them interview, select and communicate with expert wedding vendors from “Yes” until “I do.” While I love dreaming up and assisting with décor details, I won’t be printing your invitations in-house or asking you to use specific companies for catering, florals, lighting or entertainment! Instead my focus is on finding exactly the right caterer, florist, lighting director or band for each couple. Once we’ve lined everyone up, I turn my attention to the logistics, making sure we’re exceptionally organized and on schedule.WU: What would be your ideal wedding assignment or dream wedding to design?KM: Oh goodness.... After organizing everything from a chic destination wedding in Aix-en-Provence, France to a rustic wedding on a Virginia vineyard with A. Dominick Events, I’m most interested in continuing to plan events here in the Lowcountry! Charleston is where I grew up—where my heart and my family are—so working here really is a dream.WU: Tell us three things you can't live without.KM: Charming details, fresh ideas and style….And if you don’t consider that a real answer, I suppose I’d have to choose- Friends (the ones on TV—I’ll even admit I’d be Monica),- Scattergories (to play with my real friends) and- my four year old kitten, Hunter.WU: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?KM: I really am a Daddy’s girl, so it’s natural that the best advice I’ve received has come from him. He’s said it with the same easy cadence all my life, and after twenty-five years I find myself repeating it to everyone: “Relax.”It’s one five-letter word, but it’s important in so many situations.WU: What is the best advice you can give to an engaged couple?KM: I can’t claim credit for this advice, either! It comes from a bridesmaid at my most memorable wedding, but it’s too poignant not to share:“Your wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! So no matter what happens, soak it up. Take in every moment. And even if what’s happening is unimaginable, try to remember it all. Because it goes by too fast—way too fast—and the photographs just won’t compare to your memories.”You should know that this bridesmaid was about to be the bride’s sister-in-law, and she was a little emotional. Through her sweet, tear-filled speech, Bridgette and I hear her say: “no matter what happens, suck it up.” It was exactly what we needed to break the tension before Birdy walked down the aisle, but I hope the latter version isn’t advice any other couple needs to hear!!
