We hired Akilah to help us with our wedding planning and to ensure the day went smoothly, it was the best thing we could have done. For each thing we needed to organise we discussed our requirements and she would recommend 3 options each time, all of which were spot on and it made the whole process so much easier than if we'd have had to look into the options ourselves. We had quite a few bespoke and non-standard things for our wedding e.g. a mariachi band and sustainable plants rather than flowers, nothing was too much for her and her team, she was genuinely excited by our suggestions. On the day her and her team were calm and focused throughout, we really do feel the day went as smoothly as it could have. We were not sure whether we needed a wedding planner for our wedding as it was an additional expense, but with our busy work life it was undeniably the right call to hire Akilah, we would strongly recommend her to anyone.

Emma Washington, what a superstar. She takes in everything you say and gets exactly on your wavelenght. She makes sure that she understands the vision and has constructive and thoughtful insights to make sure that things turn out exactly as planned.

Emmas attitude during the preceding months and on the big day itself was immaculate. I think it is safe to say that our wedding wouldn't have been the same without her.

During the planning process my wife said "I feel like now you see into my soul". This just goes to show how much effort she puts into understanding your vision.

She is the best of the best.

Thank you all :)!
R&A 🐈‍⬛💕

Wedding planning is a journey. If you’re reading this, you’re probably somewhere between being super happy you’re engaged, shocked by the prices and tackling the guest list, all whilst trying to enjoy the process. So to put your mind at ease, I’d love to share a bit about my experience with Akilah&Co. I should mention that Akilah didn’t ask me to write this review - I just think she deserves it! So, here goes:

First contact with Akilah
I (we - haha!) were first in contact with Akilah over Instagram, and then it happened to be that she was invited to our venue in South London as a recommended supplier on the date we’d planned to attend an open day.

For context, I’m from South London, but I live abroad in Germany. And my now-husband is German/Polish. So whilst we were getting married locally, we were also very much getting married abroad. We barely visited the venue before our big day, so Akilah being at the open day was the perfect coincidence.

Akilah greeted us with open arms and a big smile. We immediately felt at ease knowing that someone who could ensure the day would run smoothly so we didn’t have to, did in fact exist!
This meant we could put a lot (a lot, a lot, a lot) of time into the personalised touches, which included writing individual notes sealed by hand for each of our 120 guests and cultural elements which were super important to us too!

It might sound silly, but where we’d never hosted a wedding before, we didn’t really understand the ins and out of what needed to be done. It was only once we got into the thick of things that I felt extra relief that we had Akilah on board to keep things afloat.

Coordination and styling
To be honest, alongside working full-time, doing freelance work, and training for a marathon, we didn’t have time to (nor did we want to) deal with the admin tasks of organising all the vendors and sourcing napkins haha! We wanted to focus on our vision - an aesthetically beautiful wedding with personal touches that reflected our personalities and cultures. So that’s what we did, along with Akilah of course.

Thank goodness we upgraded to Akilah’s styling package too! Again, it’s just something that if you don’t know, you don’t know. I will be completely honest and tell you that I spoke to my friend for whom I was Maid of Honour to ask if she thinks it’s worth upgrading our package to include styling too. She said ‘yes’ because if Akilah is our stylist that means she will be able to bring our vision to life. I knew I trusted my friend, so I upgraded the package. But here’s what I didn’t fully understand would be hugely beneficial by upgrading to Akilah’s styling package:

1) Access to Akilah’s network: We didn’t speak to Akilah’s contacts directly, but it was very clear that she has a solid footprint in the industry. She provided us with the best options based on her broad contacts, inside-knowledge and thorough experience. From table linens to draping, Akilah covered it all.

2) Creativity: No risk, no fun? Akilah helped us to push our creative boundaries based on what she knew would work. We had ideas and she took them to the next level by providing creative low-cost suggestions that would have a big impact.

3) A second opinion: Sometimes you just need a second opinion from someone who knows what they’re talking about. It was great to bounce ideas off Akilah when developing personal touches for our big day!

From experience, I can tell you that in order for your wedding (abroad) to run smoothly you need a lot of trust in local vendors and service providers. And I really mean a lot of trust, which is why I’m so glad we booked Akilah!



The wedding day
If I may say myself, we think our wedding was the best wedding we’ve ever been to! Ha ha! And one of the best investments was hiring Akilah as our on the day co-ordinator and stylist. I know that we only saw the surface of what Akilah and her team were doing. We were having too much fun at our wedding to really know how they brought it all together. But a day like that doesn’t run smoothly without a great team in the background.

Oh, and remember what I said about aesthetics being so important? We’ve had so much positive feedback from guests about how pretty our tablescapes were. It’s been weeks and I still can’t believe how perfectly the colours balanced without being overwhelming.

I should also add that our DJ (who has done over 200 weddings) mentioned that Akilah is the most organised wedding planner they’ve ever worked with because all information was communicated so well! The word he actually used was ‘incredible.’


Post-wedding
There’s always a bit of post-event admin, isn’t there? We’re still in the process of it, but Akilah has been great in ensuring that we get our refundable deposits back and can wrap things up nicely.

Final few words
It’s been lovely to work with Akilah, and I wish more people would shout about the value of hiring an external on-the-day coordinator and stylist in addition to what’s included with your venue package.

My Jamaican Grandad who is nearly 90 years old and has attended many weddings in his lifetime not only said that it was one of the best days of his life, but that it was the most organised wedding he’s ever been to. If our own feelings weren’t enough to recommend Akilah, let my Grandad’s wise words be what make you work with her!

Have the best wedding!

Love,

Alisa
(2025 Bride)

x

Our wedding was not easy to plan at all - we're based in America and needed a destination London wedding that incorporated Sri Lankan, Chinese, and German heritage traditions. We were unable to visit London before the wedding, so Emma truly handled almost everything for us, and despite these challenges, Emma delivered us the unique, fun, and fully customized multicultural wedding of our dreams. She handled our wedding extremely professionally, kindly, and with a warm patience and strong attention to the smallest of details.

Through Akilah and Co., Emma Washington was our wedding planner and coordinator, with on-day support from Tichea and Penelope. We couldn't be happier with our decision to work with Akilah and Co.

Akilah and her team elevated our wedding day in a way we couldn’t even imagine. Coming from the states to London for our wedding, we knew we wanted to work with a London expert and Akilah delivered. Every small detail was planned and the advice and options she offered were perfect!

Akilah 's planning skills and attention to detail are second to none.
She delivers above and beyond our imagination to ensure we day goes smoothly and our heads remain filled with beautiful moments . She is surrounded by a team of amazing suppliers who work in harmony to deliver the dream.

We had THE BEST experience with Akilah. From styling to helping us source suppliers to setting up on the day and making sure everything ran smoothly, she was so helpful and her team were excellent too. Akilah helped make all of our wedding dreams come to life in a friendly, creative and (importantly) budget-conscious way. We’d highly recommend her and the team for anyone looking for a wedding coordinator or planner, we had the best day and couldn’t have done it without Akilah!

I decided early on in the wedding planning process that I wanted to hire a wedding coordinator; Akilah was the first supplier I booked after we secured our venue. In my first call with Akilah, she put me at ease and made me feel normal for being somewhat overwhelmed with the thought of panning and coordinating a wedding!

Throughout the process Akilah was relaxed and easy going, nothing was insurmountable for her and she supported us in pulling together a timeline for our two ceremony, two venue, 120-160 guest wedding day. We booked her 10 months before the wedding and from 3-4 months before, she was in touch to start working on details for the day. Akilah thought of everything and was relaxed in the face of my stress and panic!

We had a team of 4 coordinators supporting us on the day, Tichea, Emma, Cici and Jakiya did the most amazing job managing all the elements of the day. They adapted to the time delays (we ran late from the start), kept my husband and I informed and throughout, kept smiles on their faces! We literally could not have done it without them. Thank you all!

Where to start and why there is only 5 stars when Akilah deserves all of them!
I reached out to Akilah for her expertise in microweddings and with the challenge to have it done in less than a month, in a COVID-19 situation. It has been the best decision of my life! During this crazy pre-wedding month Akilah was available, responsive, listening, advising, and patient. She has the best network of suppliers and is very organised. I could have never imagined that all my pinterest boards could come to life one day in an even better version. I trusted Akilah and asked her to surprise me with the decor and my Hubby and I were speachless - out of words for the extraordinary decor she co-ordinated. Every detail was perfect.
Having Akilah with us saved us time and headaches, but we also had a great time talking to her and the results were beyond expectations. I now miss talking to her everyday and can't wait to work with her on future events!
Akilah THANK YOU for making our wedding day one to remember forever for us and our guests.
Farah & Mohamed

Our wedding was in August 2019 with a guest list of 500 people so you can understand the stress we were going through trying to organise everything. Luckily we were fortunate to meet Akilah and what a blessing she was!!

Akilah was more than helpful with the planning of the wedding. Communication was never an issue and she was always available. She came to the venue, helped discuss food and travel arrangements and nothing was ever too tedious!

We met up several times to go over things and we were always in control- the wedding still was the way we wanted it with Akilah’s touch.

The days coming to the wedding were stress free as Akilah handled the majority of things. Her level of professionalism was exceptional! My friends and family loved her presence and she became more of a friend than just an events planner.

Akilah was truly a pleasure to have around and I will definitely be using her services again in the near future!

Lots of love,

The Manful’s ??

Gavin and I felt so relaxed and didn't even think about what was happening behind the scenes on the day, as everything was seamless with your on the day management.
From the moment you stepped in to help tie together loose ends, from booking new vendors for us (florist, hair & mua) to creating and posting our invites, we knew it was going to be a beautiful day. You created a plan and liaised with our venue coordinator and church from 1 week before you had everything under control and out of our arms.

You were so assertive but super approachable if I had anything I needed you to do - you even created our wedding program and put together our favours whilst I was busy at work. All I had to do was get them printed and put together. Thank you so much.
If you weren't on our case, I wouldn't have achieved the day I wished for.
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