Reviews of Shayla Hawkins Events (Event Planner)

Leslie M

PLEASE READ THIS REVIEW BEFORE HIRING SHAYLA HAWKINS EVENTS (SHE) to plan your wedding. It disappoints me to have to write such a negative review about a group of women owning and operating a minority business however I would hate to see another bride experience the frustrations that my friend endured after hiring the (SHE) team to plan her wedding. As the matron of honor in my friend’s wedding it was truly upsetting to hear and witness the unfair and unprofessional treatment my friend received during one of the most significant occasions of her life. Alexis Allen was the planner that was hired for my friend’s wedding. She was hired based on the merits of her previous work which online and in pictures appeared to be beautiful. After working with Alexis, my friend had several differences of opinion with her on various aspects of décor and some questions on pricing for floral arrangements. These few instances of dialogue resulted in ALEXIS ALLEN QUITTING 30 DAYS PRIOR TO THE WEDDING. I’ve worked with and assisted brides with décor and planning myself and these are typical areas of discussion for many of them and frankly they have every right to have input regarding their “Big Day” and questions about what they are paying for. When Alexis Allen executed the contract to plan my friend’s wedding she made an obligation and a commitment that she failed to make good on. She left a soon-to-be bride hanging one month away from her wedding day for reasons that appear to be selfish and unjustified. Alexis later reached out, after my friend had already hired another planner, offering to finish the job she started. At that point all trust had been broken and there was no way my friend could risk being let down by Alexis again so close to her wedding day. Why wouldn’t Alexis have made attempts to resolve any issues prior to quitting? Why heighten the stress for a client and soon-to-bride during an already stressful time, if you were willing to work through whatever differences you feel you had? The way Alexis Allen handled this situation was extremely unprofessional and highly disappointing. I caution anyone who is considering using this planner’s services for your wedding.

Euniss West

When I first heard of SHE and saw the Venue Slate, I was estatic! Not only was I instantly drawn to the beauty of Slate but to SHE as well. I thought it was really refreshing to see young Black women from Pittsburgh run a professional and classy business. SO I THOUGHT..... Until I, among many others referred my cousin to SHE for her wedding planning. Shayla is who we requested but she wasn’t available. So we got Alexis, the TRUE definition of a DESIGN SNOB (that’s what they call themselves). I met her once, she probably smiled once. She was cute, tight lipped, rigid, and had no personality whatsoever. When you meet your WEDDING planner for the first time, she should be SMILING and INVITING and ENTHUSIASTIC about assisting with YOUR DAY! Well Alexis just seemed to be over it and over us as soon as she met us....Nonetheless, she took that deposit and her little attitude straight to the bank. We gave her the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe it was just a bad day. But as things progressed, she seemed to struggle with diversity and had no interest in honoring the BRIDE’S WISHES! So I knew early on that I WILL NOT be following my own recommendation and hire SHE for my special day. See ME, I could care less who your vendor friends are, how many Steeler weddings you’ve done or how conservative you think my budget is. I’M THE BRIDE, I’LL SPEND WHAT I WANT, HOWEVER I WANT, AND TO WHOMEVER I WANT. HELLO MS. DESIGN SNOB, YOU CAN’T BULLY NO BRIDE ABOUT HER DAY!!! So come to find out, my cousin paid for a wedding planner that turned out to be a wedding CRASHER. What planner calls all the other planners you interviewed that didn’t make the cut? What planner bad mouths a “CLIENT” to other planners and vendors miles outside of Pittsburgh? What planner quits on a couple and aggressively withdraws vendors 30 days before the wedding???Maybe you should reconsider Alexis, and start PLANNING another line of work. I mean at this point, I think a REFUND is the only professionally appropriate answer. Good thing all the clients you passed up (budgets too conservative) didn’t take the time to rate you. They don’t have good things to say either!

Steven Dray Photography

The best of the best! I love working with the SHE event team. They are the utmost professionals. They are very creative and their wedding visions are always top notch. As a fellow vendor in Pittsburgh I'm always very excited for the chance to work with their team on ANY event. You will not be disappointed if you hire SHE.

Leeann Golish

These ladies know STYLE! Every event that they touch is simply stunning. They have a modern twist, and are able to add unique elements to your wedding day. My brides LOVE working with them, and I love photographing their events for all of the above reasons! In addition, they are incredibly organized and responsive - very important in your wedding planner!

Mia Feinberg

Alexis of SHE is a consummate professional, detail oriented to a tee, and an absolute pleasure to work with. A year and a half after my wedding, my mother and I are still raving about Alexis, and how she made the entire process so seamless. We hear friends complain about the stress of wedding planning, and we always say to each other thank god for Alexis! She was truly worth her weight in gold. Alexis’s design vision is just the icing on the cake. Our big day would have never been possible without Alexis and Shayla Hawkins Events.

Natalia Spadafora

I work banquets at a few local hotels/clubs and I have seen Shayla & her team in action quite a few times. They are fabulous, very professional, & ORGANIZED. Weddings are stressful but Shayla & team are always on top of everything, down to the last tiny details of the wedding. They are exceptionally nice and helpful to the banquet/catering staff working alongside them. Shayla is above an beyond any other planner I’ve worked with in the Pittsburgh Area. I recommend “SHE” to everyone for all of their planning needs.

Mosaic Inc

From birthdays, showers to weddings the girls at SHE do it all! They are creative, energetic and plain old fun! This team will transform any space, bring any event concept to life, and tackle even the most unusual request. We love their “can do” attitude and adore working on all their fabulous events!

Anshe Sledge

Stay AWAY from these phony, judgmental and pretentious planners. If you are NOT a Steeler wife then don’t bother. I hired Alexis to plan my upscale wedding in Pittsburgh (5 months prior) as we reside in Georgia. I paid a healthy deposit of $3790 only for her to talk down to, put down my budget of less than $100k and dismiss my vision for my big day. I was hospitalized 90 days prior to our wedding and she NEVER cared yet kept wanting me to fork out more money to her vendor FRIENDS in spite of the agreed upon budget. Within days of my hospitalization, I finally called her on her lack of empathy and she acknowledged so I thought we had reset yet 3 months later on July 17, merely 30 days before my wedding she insisted that I pay CASH to her florist friend Nathan of Hens N Chicks. When I expressed concerns about paying $15,000 cash to her friend without seeing a mock up +concern that I would be subject to a 3% fee that was not added when we paid our deposit + his inability to provide a date that we could meet versus giving a 1 day window (yet i agreed to fly in pain across country) she advised via text within 5 mins that he “would not be doing my wedding.” I never met nor spoke to this florist nor the vendors she suggested. I ALWAYS shut up, paid and agreed to avoid confrontation but the one time I didn’t she got him to quit and SHE QUIT the same day leaving us hanging 30 DAYS prior to our wedding. Don’t believe me..ask the venue @thepennsylvanian or contact me directly. I have ALL texts and emails. After a family member notified Shayla, I received a call and even she thought it was strange that a vendor quit that I had NEVER spoke to which was contrary to Alexis lie. Later Alexis and I had a conversation that should have occurred prior to her quitting. She admitted to calling other planners that I interviewed a year prior, vendors I didn’t hire and speaking to her florist friend about me (which is why he quit) to gather info or in this case vent about me . I reminded her that I don’t live in Pittsburgh so know none of these people knew us she said she would reconsider and let me know in 2 days. An entire week later she reached out and offered to finish our wedding but we had already hired someone else but it was A HUGE loss, heartbreak and inconvenience. I tried to forgive her but learned she worked to get her other vendor friends to back out of our wedding as my new planner had to fight for us to keep our contracts. Weddings are hard and emotional and maybe Alexis never liked me as Shayla mentioned to my family member but to take our money, boss us around while acting like she was doing us a favor, flaunt her Steeler affiliation (that doesn’t exist. She is married to a former player) while treating us as if we were less than her and then QUIT when we refused to not pay cash so her buddy could avoid the IRS is DIRTY! *Note she had a wedding at the same venue the day after ours so the plan may have been for them to take out cash and split it because they already ordered the florals and candles for the larger wedding. My husband is a prominent physician but even if he was a janitor we are CHRISTIANS and believe people deserve to be treated equally and with respect. Unfortunately Alexis and Shayla only RESPECT the mighty dollar. We caught them and in return they threw us away but then came back because they knew they were WRONG. I pray that you pray before hiring this scheming dream team or else your wedding dream will turn into a nightmare!

Meaghan Elliott

Alexis and Shayla are amazing! They are so easy to work with. Their attention to detail is impeccable. Love working with them, and so do my clients!

Robin Warrick

Terrible

Dawn Takacs

I worked with this company for a private event last year. I'm an event planner and did a collaboration with Shayla Hawkins and her dream team! Everything flowed fabulously, working with them was amazing and the client was to-the-moon-and-back happy! Hire them for your event, they're talented, professional, dedicated and passionate about what they do.

Adenah Lisby

BRIDES BEWARE. My sister hired Alexis Allen for her August 2018 wedding after reading great reviews about the Shayla Hawkins Events (SHE) team. My sister and Alexis had great ideas and thought that Alexis was the person who could execute her wedding vision. However, that was not the case as ALEXIS LITERALLY QUIT 30 DAYS BEFORE THE WEDDING!!! When my sister gave push back and asked questions about meeting with the florist and paying $15K cash, she was informed that the florist quit. My sister NEVER actually spoke to the florist. That same day ALEXIS literally quit. Throughout the months leading up to the wedding, there were normal meetings, conversations and deposits made. There were even minor, but respectful disagreements about creative differences. However, those were nothing out of the ordinary when dealing with a stressed out bride. There was no shouting match or anything physical. But to resign and to tell the bride things like “Pittsburgh vendors and I have heard about you,” or “I’m not used to so much resistance” are COMPLETELY UNPROFESSIONAL! I Find it very hard to believe that they’ve never experienced a bride that pushed back, disagreed on things or even was stressed out by other life events! To make matters worse, Alexis, after resigning later told my sister that she would “get back to her and decide if she would still remain the planner after she ‘prayed’ about it.” It was then a week later (3 weeks out) that Alexis called and offered to be the planner again if someone else hadn’t been hired. WHAT PROFESSIONAL WEDDING PLANNER DOES THIS?? Alexis quitting caused additional stress on the entire wedding party, additional money to be spent on another planner last minute and a scary experience. They have an out in their contract if the bride terminates them, but NO OUT or refund if they TERMINATE the relationship with the bride. Again, UNREAL.