Meet the coordinator
In 2011, Anna Knight was drawn from a career as a successful custom artist and stay at home mom to the opportunity to serve as the Event Coordinator at Del’avant, LaGrange’s newest special event center.
Being a hometown girl with a Fine Arts degree from Presbyterian College and a minor in Interior Design from Converse College, coupled with extensive marketing and design experience, Anna was the perfect fit for the new position. In addition to creative talent, Anna also brings a love for event planning, a skill she discovered and developed while organizing local events from the Junior Service League’s Charity ball and annual Attic Sale, to countless festivals and silent auction fundraisers at schools where her three children attend.
Today, Del’avant clients benefit from Anna’s space planning expertise, creative furniture layouts and keen attention to the smallest of details. In 2015, Del’avant added a new service where Anna can serve as the “wedding weekend” coordinator to direct the wedding rehearsal, wedding ceremony, work with the vendors and provide a detailed itinerary for the entire weekend or a full-service wedding coordinator. Whether you are planning an intimate Del’avant rooftop garden party or an epic wedding ceremony and reception in the McLellan parlor and Kress ballroom, Anna will work to ensure the Del’avant setting is just as they planned it to be.
When your daughter says, “Mom I am getting married” – immediately the planning begins. The trick to a perfect wedding is first a sweet couple who truly loves each other and is hands on in the planning process, for the MOB, it requires much more. A Wedding Day Coordinator! Without this person – well you as the MOB will be very stressed and very busy. For us, we were fortunate to have met Anna Knight while touring the Del’avant Event Center in Lagrange, Ga. The center was the perfect location for my daughter and son-in-law’s wedding this past September. After our tour of the building, we knew that Anna was going to be a key person to making their day magical. The things she planned and arranged for them was way above what we expected. Anna was extremely detailed and organized in their day as far as timelines, meeting with vendors, answering a thousand questions, handling all issues during the day, decorating for us and ANYTHING else we needed. I feel she did more than most ‘day of coordinators’ do. Her being so thorough allowed me and our family to truly spend time with the bride and groom and enjoy the day with them. If you ever need a true professional to help – Anna Knight – is a must!
If you ever need anything from us, please call us Anna. We truly appreciate all you did for Hannah and Cody (and me as the MOB). If you ever need an extra set of hands, I’d be glad to come help you as well. I’m serious – would be glad to help you if ever needed.
Michele Aldredge
Mother of Bride – 9/17/22
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Working with Anna was a pleasure as we celebrated the life of our loved one at Del’avant. She was determined to help us in a pinch. She was able to handle a lot of details in such a short amount of time. We would not have changed a single thing on that day and we greatly appreciated all that held place. We would highly recommend anna as being your “go to girl” especially during times of mourning, The celebration of life was such a happy turn around due to all that she did to accommodate our wishes. 10/10!!!
Sydney Bazen and Pat Malone
Celebration of Life on 6/9/22
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We had our wedding in December 2022 at Del’avant and it was absolutely beautiful! Because it was in December, it was already decorated with garland and Christmas trees so that was nice to have for pictures and aesthetics. Del’avant is the ideal location and all of our guests loved the convenience of having nearby restaurants, bars, and the hotel downtown. The venue is so pretty and we could not have chosen a better place to get married!
We decided to choose Anna Knight to coordinate our wedding day and THANK GOD we did! She is the absolute best coordinator, hands down. As a bride, I could truly relax the day of my wedding because Anna took care of everything. To mention a few, Anna grabbed us lunch, cut the cake, helped set up any and everything and helped clean afterward, packed up our gifts, and brought us (the bride and groom) our dinner plates and drinks. Anna took care of everything and thought of things I couldn’t even think of needing to do. Anna is very patient and has a calm demeanor which are perfect qualities to have as a wedding coordinator. I could not brag enough about Anna. All of our vendors also mentioned how easily they were able to work with Anna leading up to the day and on our wedding day. I HIGHLY recommend using Anna to coordinate your wedding!!
Amber Arnold
Wedding 12/16/22
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Our family hosted our daughter’s wedding at the Del’avant Event Center last weekend and we couldn’t have been more pleased. It’s a beautiful building in a quaint downtown area, where you are free to decorate and bring your own vendors. Our décor was simple with candles, greenery and hints of gold which provided a simple elegance to an already lovely venue. The best decision we made in having our wedding at the Del’avant was also hiring Anna as the event planner. She has been the director there for many years and she started working immediately by meeting with us, reaching out to our vendors, providing a timeline and answering emails and text messages from everyone. She was there with us the entire day and evening helping with everything, which was never expected but so appreciated. She made the whole event come off seamlessly and we will forever be grateful for everything she did and would recommend her without reservation. She’s the best and The Del’avant is a great venue for any event!
Donna Arlt
Mother of Bride- Wedding 12/30/22
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After searching and searching for the perfect venue to have our wedding, we finally came across Del’avant Event Center in LaGrange, GA and we were in love. We booked the parlor for our wedding ceremony, the rooftop for our cocktail hour, and the Kress ballroom for our reception. We also opted to have Anna as our Wedding coordinator which proved to be one of our best decisions throughout the wedding planning process.
First of all, the building is stunning. The hardwood floors, the ceilings, the floor to ceiling drapes, the brick walls, and large windows all work together to create a space that has the perfect style and ambiance for any wedding. We loved it because we did not have to spend much on extra decorations. Our guests commented on our venue afterwards, some saying it was the prettiest they had seen. Also, the flow of the building allowed our guests to move from ceremony, to cocktail hour, to reception with ease. Another huge bonus that attracted us is that this event center allows you to bring in your own venders. This is rare in the wedding venue industry and we were able to save a ton of money on choosing our own venders and bringing in our own alcohol.
Anna was a wonderful wedding coordinator. She went above and beyond in helping us leading up to the wedding and the day of. She constantly volunteered to take on tasks and help us with any planning detail big or small. She researched locations for my bridal luncheon and she found someone to make our ice cream groom’s cake. She responded quickly to all my emails and questions and always re-assured me throughout the planning process. She worked great with my mom and I and did not ever seem frustrated or bothered that we were bombarding her with questions and plans from all angles. Anna also generously borrowed a music stand and cake stand for us to use. What a pleasure to work with her.
On the wedding day Anna was able to manage and take control of the day while always remaining calm, collected, and positive with a smile on her face. Silly me, I forgot my bouquet right before I was supposed to walk down the aisle and she kindly sprinted to get it for me. No one noticed the delay and she was able to laugh with me about the blunder later in the night. She paid attention to detail and worked hard to make sure we were happy with everything. This gave me so much peace because I saw she had a handle on things! Multiple members of our bridal party told us later that our planner was awesome! We are thankful we chose Del’avant and worked with Anna as our coordinator. Our wedding was everything we dreamed it would be thanks to the beautiful venue and Anna’s coordinating skills!
Brooke and Gerald Hardesty
Wedding 9/9/2017
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Del’avant is a beautiful venue with tons of charm. The home page of their website says it all – Where Southern Charm and Elegance Meet. That describes it perfectly. The brick walls and the high tin ceilings combined with the wood floors make for a beautiful back-drop to whatever decor/theme you want for your event. Every inch of the place is just beautiful. It has tons of space in the parlor for a ceremony and in the ballroom for a reception, nice restrooms, plenty of parking, beautiful bridal suite and manly grooms room, charming rooftop, it truly has it all. We had my daughter’s wedding there on New Year’s Eve. It was absolutely perfect! My daughter (Kristen) and son-in-law (Sean) fell in love with the place immediately. Sean grew up in Savannah and was instantly drawn in by the old Southern Charm that reminds him of the town he loves so much. That combined with the elegance factor is what drew my daughter in. Del’avant was the first venue we visited in our search for the perfect wedding venue and I do believe Sean would have been fine with stopping there. He said book-it before we even got to the car. Kristen felt the same way. With your wedding day being such a big event in your life I insisted that we keep our next appointment. While it was a very nice place that we visited next it didn’t compare at all with what Del’avant had to offer. Our search was over. Del’avant it was! With it being a New Year’s wedding we chose to have them leave up their Christmas decorations and they added the perfect touch to our color theme (Black & Gold). Everyone is raving about how beautiful everything was. We opted to use the entire venue, having the ceremony in the Parlor, the cocktail hour on the Rooftop and the Reception in the Ballroom. I am so glad that we went with this option. It allowed us to give each part of the night its own distinct character. All in all it was a perfect night at the perfect venue. You cannot go wrong by choosing Del’avant for your special day!
In choosing Del’avant as our venue we opted to go with the option of having Anna Knight as our wedding coordinator as well. Truly the best decision we made. Anna is AWESOME!!! I knew from the moment I met her, when she showed us the venue, that I would want her as part of the package. Kristen & Sean felt the same way. They both liked her right off the bat. When we left, Kristen said I really do like her and if we use this place I want her as the coordinator and Sean agreed. She really is just the sweetest. Before the big day, she organized the timeline, communicated with all the vendors and had everything completely ready for us when we showed up. The wedding day went off without a hitch thanks to her. She did everything! And I truly mean everything. I did not have to worry about a thing and was able to be truly present in the activities of the day with my daughter. You can’t even start to put a price tag on that. It truly is PRICELESS! I left her a stack of boxes and a general idea of what we were wanting in the parlor for the ceremony and before I knew it she had far exceeded my expectations and made it absolutely beautiful. Throughout the entire night I was noticing little details of things she had done without being asked to make everything perfect and it truly was. My husband absolutely loved her. The day after, when talking about the wedding and how perfect everything was, he said his only regret of the entire night was not thanking her publically during his welcome. She was even a big hit with the guys. One of the groomsmen referred to her as the “chillist” wedding coordinator he had ever met. She was so calm through it all and kept us calm too. We truly could not have done it without her.
I will forever cherish the memories of that special day and Anna Knight & Del’avant will always be a huge part of what made the day so perfect.
Mother of the bride, Debbie Cunningham- daughter married December 31, 2016
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Anna Knight served as coordinator for my daughter Alice’s wedding at the Del’avant this September. She is a completely organized and extremely competent professional.
We met with Anna on several occasions, the last of which was about a month before the wedding when she met us with a list of questions, tasks, etc., and helped us keep focus on what was still to be done. Many of those tasks were for her, from arranging tables by number to making sure each table had the right number of chairs (there were different numbers) and contacting all our vendors to make sure they knew everything they needed to know, as well as many other details. She understands the facility inside out, which was also extremely helpful in our planning.
The day of the wedding and the rehearsal the night before she was there for everything we needed. Neither my daughter or I worried about anything from lighting candles to organizing guests.
I am a violinist and I have played for many weddings. Because of those experiences, I refused to have a coordinator for my older daughter’s wedding. I am very glad I made a different decision for this wedding, as Anna made everything more pleasant and made everything run smoothly.
I recommend hiring Anna for your wedding enthusiastically.
Celeste Myall
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“Words can’t express how I feel about my wedding day, the venue and Anna Knight. From my first visit of this place and talking with Anna I knew this was the place for my wedding. I can’t thank Anna enough for everything she did, she was very informative on everything, even when I didn’t know what I wanted or how I wanted things set up, she knew. I highly recommend anyone that’s using the venue for their wedding to include Anna as their coordinator, it goes without saying that she is great at what she does. Thanks again Anna and Del’avant’s staff.”
– Bennie & Pam Hixson, wed December 5th 2015
“Anna’s wedding coordination and planning services were outstanding! She was very oriented, and extremely hard-working. Anna was very professional as well. She was very nice and sweet to everyone. The day of the wedding she was there before 7 am to help make sure that everything was perfect for the wedding ceremony and the reception. We had a wonderful wedding thanks to her. We encountered some last minute issues and she was able to make everything work smooth and perfect, for example I brought my own computer for my slide show and it was not compatible with the projector, she ran to Walmart and bought the cable that was needed just so that we could have our slideshow for the reception. Anna was just extremely wonderful! We will definitely use her services again In the future for our events.”
– Brad and Damaris Harris, wed at Del’avant November 8, 2015
If you want a beautiful historic venue with loads of personality, someplace beyond the usual, Del’Avant is your place. We chose Del’Avant for our January 3, 2016 wedding and are so glad we did. Anna Knight is a joy to work with. She’s calm, organized, creative, and responsive and did a lot of work without charge. After meeting with us to talk about our needs, she provided us with detailed floorplans and check lists for how the rooms would be set up for the ceremony and the reception. A few minor tweaks and we were set. Nearly everything is included in the price: Chivari chairs for the ceremony and reception; tables for dinner plus tables on the rooftop balcony; wood bars for beverage stations; tufted chairs and casual tables in groupings around the ballroom and balcony; custom parking signage; in-house sound the DJ can plug into; Pandora radio on your choice of station for background music; and more. The price gives you the entire building for sixteen hours, which meant we could take our time getting ready and clearing out–what a stress reliever! This includes suites for the bridal party to get ready. They have large bathrooms, plenty of room to hang garments, large mirrors, classy yet comfy furniture, and even an easy-to-use steam machine to steam wrinkles out of everyone’s finery. We did not serve alcohol so we didn’t have to deal with the extra insurance or security requirements. The McLellan Parlor was perfect for our ceremony. When we arrived, the room was set as we planned. 100 guests comfortably sat four to the row on either side of a center aisle. Del’Avant provided a lovely long carpet runner in grey with an ivory leaf pattern for the center aisle at no extra charge. We used one of the bars as our “altar” and decorated it with a floral centerpiece, candles, a long embroidered runner, and crocheted snowflakes hanging down the front. The room is so stunning, that’s all we needed. Kress Ballroom is stunning, too; easy to personalize with simple decorations. Del’Avant can provide table linens in black, white or ivory at $10 per table, which includes napkins. We had black table cloths with white napkins for guests and white table cloths with black napkins for the bridal party. Note: the front windows are open so passersby often peer in at the party. We didn’t mind: it made us feel like celebrities but if you’re shy, ask about closing the drapes. We used the rooftop patio for our cocktail hour with three large heaters, included at no extra charge, to ensure guests would be warm. The rooftop patio is enchanting with great views plus white lights strung in the trees. Pre-set tables and chairs made our guests comfortable. Parking is ample and free. The building is completely handicap accessible. We loved being able to choose our own caterer and baker so we could have a 100% gluten free reception. We also loved being able to choose our other vendors, though Del’Avant has a list of vendors to recommend. Our caterers loved the large prep-kitchen with lots of fridge space and many prep tables. Del’Avant is everything it promises: classy, beautiful, unforgettable, and affordable. There were no hidden fees and we got our security deposit back days after our wedding. Anna Knight was a joy to work with, and we loved every inch of the venue. Our guests still are raving about Del’Avant and so are we.
Sam Engle, married 1-3-16
