Best of Columbus Weddings Winner: Aiden & Grace

For that special item you can’t find anywhere else, or to add spark to any wedding look, Aiden & Grace is a go-to for Columbus couples looking for a diverse collection. Founder Meleka Jolliff, who fell in love with the wedding and event design business when she was in middle school and who also owns MMJ Events (winner in the Event Design category this year), says she knew there was a need for special collections when, in 2016, she found herself building a 16-foot round bar for one of her clients. She started accumulating signature items and making other pieces for clients. “I wanted people to have special, unique things,” she says.

She opened Aiden & Grace the following year, and today, in the showroom on South High Street, couples can book an appointment to walk around and see design elements and play with materials in person. “The fun of getting to go in and touch and feel is really important,” Jolliff says. From Champagne carts and bar accents to cake stands, lanterns and more, Aiden & Grace stocks signature items for any event, no matter the style.

“All these clients would hire us and, although the things that they were picking out were beautiful, everyone would pick out the same exact thing,” Jolliff says of the weddings she helped design before starting Aiden & Grace. “If you're paying a premium to have me design, and then your wedding looks the same as the last three weddings your friends went to, then I'm not doing my job.”