Thelma Keller Convention Center Reviews

Holy cow! I don't even know where to begin. All I can say is that I am the luckiest bride in the world to have happened upon the Thelma Keller Convention Center in my wedding planning. I could not have dreamed up a better place to have held our ceremony. Not only was everything so above and beyond my expectations, all of our guests said it was the most gorgeous reception they'd ever been to as well.

From the moment, I made our first appointment with Patty there, she put me at ease and made sure I knew they could make anything I wanted happen. She would even stay in touch throughout the year through text and email when she'd see something out and about that she thought I might like for the reception. She is God's gift to event planning... seriously. I was actually sad when the wedding was over because I will miss working with her! I felt like her goal in life was to make me the happiest bride alive throughout the whole process, and she became a dear friend.

The food was also SO good! We had a little over 200 guests and all of the food came out at the same time (plated and served), all three entree choices looked and tasted delicious, and all of the guests were VERY pleased.

The options of how to best use the venue were endless. So many ways to rearrange, use different rooms, utilize the space, etc. It is also attached to a Holiday Inn, so my guests were thrilled to stay in the same location after the reception. The next morning, we also hosted a brunch at Thelma Keller for our guests while we shared stories from the night before and opened gifts. It was simply the best way to wrap things up and the food was delicious again.

All of the food, decor, venue rental, linens, chairs, tables, lighting, dance floor, bar, and staff to do it all for us were all packaged together in one incredibly fair price for the quality we received, and we didn't have to lift a finger to set up or tear down, so we truly just sat back and enjoyed the whole weekend!

Seriously had the best experience dealing with Katie and the Keller Convention Center. The whole process was seamless. From the meetings before the big day to the receptions, things couldn't have went smoother. They have so many options for food and such fun choices for apps. Also, they have a lot of their own decorations with so many colors! Katie does an awesome job turning the Keller Convention Center into an amazing place for a reception that was just what my husband and I wanted. I absolutely loved how classy it was with the center pieces and table settings. The convention center as a whole looked absolutely amazing! My guests had nothing but good things to say about the decorations and how professional all the employees were. The best part about my day was seriously the reception. Katie had everything running so smoothly. I didn't have to worry about a thing! It was so nice to have everything done and done right so I could just enjoy the evening. She worked so well with all the staff and guest staff (DJ, cake, flowers) to make everything perfect. She was so good at adding her opinion in such a positive way. All of her suggestions were amazing. I would highly recommend the Keller Convention Center to any couple planning their wedding. It truly made my day so much better!

Katie and crew make having an event at the Keller Convention Center so easy! She really had a sense of what I wanted my wedding and reception to look like. The colors and the decorations were perfect. The best thing was that I didn't have to set up or clean up. It make my day so much more relaxing. I had a ton of guests coming from out of town, so the fact that everyone could just walk to their rooms was awesome. Everyone also enjoyed breakfast in the restaurant after as well! The staff was amazing. I had so many people compliment the food and the staff that served them. Such a class act. Katie worked so well with the DJ and photo booth. Both of them were impressed at how flawless the day way. I would recommend Katie and the Keller Convention Center for any wedding or event.

Katie and the wonderful staff at Keller Convention Center made my wedding planning a breeze! Katie was so amazing and helpful during the process and I never had to worry. She took the ideas I had and put them into place for our special day. The Convention Center itself was a perfect venue for our reception. From the food, to the servers, to the decorations, and everything in between, the day was absolutely PERFECT! Katie and the staff and Keller Convention Center made sure of it!!!

Katie is so organized and reliable. She truly wants to make the customer happy and she will do anything to be sure that's the case. She's very knowledgeable and brings great ideas to reception planning. Her personality makes the planning process exciting and easy!

Katie is fabulous! She was so helpful with everything that we needed and we loved her! She went above and beyond to do anything she could to make sure that our special day was perfect! It could not have been any better at all!

We had a beautiful wedding reception at the Thelma Keller Convention Center in Effingham. They took care of everything and we showed up to a fabulous reception. Katie was amazing to work with and she made my experience very enjoyable.

The Thelma Keller Convention Center made my New Year's Eve reception perfect! Katie was so helpful and went out of her way to make sure our day was beautiful and everything was exactly as I wanted it. As a micromanaging bride, it was a relief to know she was taking care of everything for me. It was truly a pleasure to work with her!

I literally would not have made it without Katie! She was so fantastic I reccomend her to everyone. She was there every step of the way while I was having my bridal break downs! Since I had my wedding in Effingham, I wasn't familar with the different services in the area. Katie helped me find my flowers, hair, officiant, cake, and hotel accommodations! She is the whole package and more! She is so efficient as well! Since I couldn't pick up and go see her at the Thelma most of the communication was through email until we got closer to the day, I always got a response back within an hour or two!! She decorates for the ceremony and reception and if she feels one area needs a little something extra she will go out of her way to make it absolutely perfect! Katie puts together a timeline which really helps calm those pre wedding jitters! You know exactly how the day is going to go! I had nothing but compliments about my wedding and reception and that is all thanks to Katie!!

I cannot say enough great things about the Keller Convention Center. My wedding reception and breakfast we had the next morning were absolutely perfect. The wedding coordinator, Katie, was so great to work with, easy to talk to, and really cared about making my vision for the evening happen. The decorations were beautiful, and the food was delicious. All of my guests had a wonderful time. Katie and the rest of the staff at the convention center went above and beyond to make sure everything flowed smoothly. I did not have to worry about a thing. We had several out of town guests stay at the attached Holiday Inn which was recently remodeled. The hotel is very nice with a top notch staff. I highly recommend the Keller Convention center to anyone looking for the "entire package" for their wedding!

Katie Koester, the venue's wedding planner, is an angel! She replied professionally and quickly to all of my e-mails, even those that were just me having episodes of panic - she provided support and reassurance and was very open to all of our ideas. She made contact with all of our vendors and ensured that everything was where it was supposed to be at the correct time, which was so important as we were planning our wedding from 300 miles away. She was very flexible in meeting with us, coming in on weekends and sparing us a few minutes even when we stopped by unannounced. The venue is beautiful and the convenience of being connected to the very nice Holiday Inn makes this an excellent spot for a wedding, reception, or both, especially if many guests are traveling from out of town!

I cannot say enough about the Thelma Keller Convention Center and my wedding coordinator, Katie Koester. First of all, Katie has been nothing short of amazing since day 1. She is 100% organized, extremely communicative, and has the BEST customer service. I was (as any bride would be) nervous about the day, but Katie made the cocktail hour, dinner, and dance go absolutely flawlessly. The appetizers and dinner were delicious (I was told this by many, many guests as well), the décor was BEAUTIFUL (I mean, absolutely GORGEOUS), and the staff were tremendously helpful and very professional. I have not heard a single negative comment about my reception held at this venue from anyone. I have heard comments from my guests such as, "Your reception looked like a fairlyland" and "That food was SO delicious". I had the best time of my life the night of my wedding, and I attribute that to the lack of stress and the feeling of being totally organized (thanks to Keller and Katie!). Like I mentioned, I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the Keller Convention Center and my coordinator, Katie. I would recommend this venue to anyone. :)

Overall a very positive experience. Katie was wonderful to work with, answered my thousands of paranoid questions quickly. We had a blast & Katie made it such an easy process to get through planning an reception for 400+ invited guests. My only complaint at the end of the night was the clean up portion. Several employees didn't know what decorations belonged with who & where. So when we shouldn't have had to worry about cleaning we had to do some.

Excellent venue for your event. The main contact person was extremely helpful with all our needs and willing to allow the room to be opened early for our DJ services. Initially an additional fee would have been incurred to access the room early, however since no one had booked the room during the day, they allowed us to have the room early for free.

The only issue I had with the venue was the extra food. We had a heavy hors d'œuvres dinner for our guests upon arrival and a "pizza station" set up later in the evening at 10pm. They removed the hors d'oeuvres to make room for the pizza, however there was still tons of food left. We wish they would have left both the hors d'oeuvres and pizza out for our guest to enjoy. After the reception, I observed several of our pizza's boxed up & sitting on the front desk of the hotel for guests to take. I wish the food would have been offered to my guests and not the entire hotel.

Other than the food mix up, the venue was perfect for our reception. The staff was friendly and willing to accommodate our requests.

The food from here was well done and guests really enjoyed it. There was a mix-up in our order, but the items we had not ordered were taken off of our bill without questions when the mistake was brought to their attention.