We worked with Shawn Carnall from An Exceptional Event and she was an absolute pleasure to work with from day one in our process. Shawn worked as our coordinator for the day of but went above and beyond, making herself available about a month in advance of the big day for questions, active management of vendors, and helping us make sure we weren't missing anything.

Where Shawn really shined was her ability to actively problem solve. We worked with a venue which was quite poor at communicating and all around not up to par with the quality you would expect from a full-time venue, but Shawn actively managed the difficult conversations with the venue staff on the day of and from our walkthrough forward, making sure that nothing impeded our big day!

Shawn's attention to detail was stunning, she helped us through our wedding day with poise, making sure we checked all of our boxes, kept us on time and on track for our schedule, and ultimately helped us have an all around fantastic experience. Shawn is highly experienced in her field and from the first time we spoke with her, we knew she was trustworthy enough to allow us to fully enjoy our day without having to think about any of the logistics.

My spouse and I would recommend Shawn to anybody having a wedding in the DMV because she provides excellent service. True to the name of her company Shawn was nothing if not exceptional in her management of people, fine details, day-of setup, decor, and welcoming demeanor.

Shawn's quality service continued past the day of; she checked in with us frequently after our wedding to wish us well and to see if we had any questions or needed assistance with any final wedding closure. If you are looking for the experience of a highly competent wedding planner or coordinator look no further than An Exceptional Event.

I had a few calls with a other potential coordinators before hiring An Exceptional Event, but as soon as I spoke to Shawn, knew she was the one for the job! She made us feel at ease immedately and just felt like I could ask her anything and she would give her honest opinion. She was extremely organized and kept us on track during the months leading up to our wedding and putting together the final timeline for the weekend. It was such a relief to have Shawn to deal with any issues that arose on the day of the wedding and I did not have to worry for one second. She also dealt with some more difficult family members with ease and charm, making everything less stressful for us! I would highly recommend An Exceptional Event to anyone planning a wedding!

Shawn was an absolute dream to work with through the entire wedding planning process. Our wedding day ran so smoothly and we truly got to enjoy every moment of our big day thanks to her!

Shawn was extremely helpful with contract review and managing our special day! She was friendly, knew our venue very well, and also helped us through a difficult weather transition. We were very happy with how things went!

Shawn is such an incredible person! She is easy going, fun to work with, and so attentive to detail! Funny not so funny story but my wedding earrings broke while I was putting them on and Shawn was the first person to quickly offer to use her personal earrings for my wedding day!! I couldn't have chosen a better wedding coordinator for our special day. To say she went above and beyond is an understatement. Our wedding day went so smoothly and with literally no hiccups because of her wonderful work. Don't hesitate! Book with An Exceptional Event you won't regret it!!!

Shawn went above and beyond the basic needs as a wedding coordinator. My husband was not fully convinced we needed a coordinator but after meeting Shawn, he could not have been more happy. She constantly put us at ease even when Hurricane Ian was making us change our wedding plans. She truly made our day go smoothly!!

I could seriously write a 5 page essay of a review with the amazing service that Shawn Marie provided, but I’ll keep it short.

I am a very type A person (almost a perfectionist) and Shawn was the perfect counterpart for me to make sure I was able to be calm and relaxed leading up to and on my wedding day. She was able to put our vision to life! Very communicative either via email or text. Even when something went wrong the day of she was able to fix it like nothing happened at all. Everyone in my bridal party loved her!

I would recommend her for ANYONE who’s getting married in the northern Virginia area.

Shawn was the most helpful for my wedding. She had everything under control. I don't know how I would of ever gotten through the process without her. My donut truck didn't show up and she went to Wegmans and got donuts and a cake with out any upset and just fixed everything.

Shawn Marie is wonderful. I don't even have enough words to describe how smoothly she ran my wedding day. I hired her for day-of coordination but she was really there to help me for the 4-6 weeks prior to my wedding. I am an organized control freak (even when I am not planning a wedding) and she did her best to help me realize what I could and couldn't get done (realistically) right before my wedding. She also was great in terms of working with all the vendors right before my wedding and making sure my wedding day ran perfectly. She also took care of some things that I didn't even think of.

One of the reasons I hired her was because of her personality. She has a very calm personality, but you can tell that she can take control when she needs to. I knew that my mom and others in my wedding party would respond well to her and they all loved her. I got many compliments after the wedding about how well she did. My mom was glad that she was able to enjoy the wedding, while Shawn Marie took care of all the little things. Frankly, I was too. Another reason I hired her was because I wanted to get a wedding planner on board early and many companies would not talk to me until I was much closer to my wedding date. I really appreciated her flexibility on that point.

If you are on the fence about hiring a wedding planner, I would strongly encourage you to get one and I would highly recommend Shawn Marie.

Shawn Marie was our "day of" event coordinator. Although she was technically "day of", she made me feel as though she was there from the moment we signed on with her. She attended the walk thru at the venue and made herself available for any vendor meetings we chose to have her at. She is very thorough, organized, and worked exceptionally well with the vendors. She took care of EVERYTHING the day of the wedding and before. My husband and I (not to mention our families too) had a wonderful time at our wedding and we credit a large part of that to Shawn Marie, who let us enjoy ourselves while she made sure everything ran smoothly. Shawn Marie also ran our rehersal, our large wedding party knew exactly where they needed to be at all times. I strongly recommend Shawn Marie for your wedding, she was a pleasure to work with!