Full-Service Event Design & Rental Firm, Southeast US

$2.8M

Revenue

$723K

SDE

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Full Editorial Writeup

This is a full-service event design, management, and production firm in the southeast US that builds and executes bespoke luxury weddings, corporate events, and social gatherings. What sets it apart from a typical planner is vertical integration: it runs a large equipment rental portfolio, an in-house floral department, and a custom fabrication team for props, so design, rentals, florals, and builds all happen under one roof. That integrated model is where the margin lives, with gross profit averaging 62.5% from 2023 to 2025.

The business has scaled meaningfully, posting roughly 22% revenue CAGR from 2023 through the TTM ending May 2026 to reach $2.77M in revenue. Client concentration is healthy, with no single client above 6.0% of revenue in 2025, and the firm holds exclusive or preferred vendor status with multiple coastal resorts that feed a steady stream of qualified inquiries. The resort relationships are the real asset here: they convert a project-by-project hustle into a referral pipeline.

The catch is margin and cyclicality. Adjusted EBITDA margin averaged just 6.8% despite the fat gross margin, which tells you labor, fabrication, and overhead eat most of the gross profit. At $722,789 EBITDA on $2.77M revenue, the operating leverage story is incomplete, and the end product (luxury weddings and corporate events) is discretionary spend that gets cut hard in a downturn.

Why we like it

Earnings quality is anchored by a diversified client base, with no single client over 6.0% of revenue in 2025, which removes the single-customer blowup risk that kills most project-based service deals. EBITDA of $722,789 on $2.77M revenue is real cash, though the 6.8% net margin means most of the 62.5% gross profit is consumed by labor and fabrication overhead.
The moat is the integrated in-house stack: design, rentals, florals, and custom fabrication under one roof, which is hard for a pure planner or a rental-only shop to replicate. The owned equipment rental portfolio is a hard asset that both generates standalone revenue and lowers the cost of fulfilling full-service events.
The exclusive and preferred vendor relationships with multiple coastal resorts are the best part of this business, converting cold lead generation into a steady referral pipeline of qualified inquiries. These positions are durable because resorts prefer a known, reliable vendor for high-stakes luxury events.
Revenue grew at roughly 22% CAGR from 2023 to TTM May 2026, showing genuine demand and operator execution rather than a flat lifestyle business. A buyer inherits momentum plus clear, stated expansion paths into new coastlines and the corporate event segment.

How to improve it

Attack the 6.8% EBITDA margin directly by auditing labor and fabrication costs, since a 62.5% gross margin collapsing to single-digit net margin signals bloated overhead or underpriced labor. Even a 300 basis point margin improvement on $2.77M is roughly $83k of incremental EBITDA that drops straight to the valuation.
Formalize and expand the preferred-vendor agreements with additional resort properties, turning informal relationships into written exclusivity deals that lock in the referral pipeline. This is the single highest-leverage move because it de-risks revenue and makes the business materially more acquirable for the next buyer.
Lean into the equipment rental line as a standalone higher-margin revenue stream, renting inventory to third-party planners and events the firm does not fully produce. The hard assets are already owned, so incremental rental revenue carries very high contribution margin.
Recapture corporate event share using the firm's existing corporate expertise, since corporate budgets are larger, book further in advance, and are less seasonally concentrated than weddings. Diversifying into corporate smooths the revenue curve and reduces exposure to wedding-season cyclicality.
Execute the stated geographic expansion into new destination coastlines by replicating the resort-partnership playbook rather than chasing retail leads. Build a repeatable template for entering a new market so growth is systematic instead of founder-dependent.
Build a documented sales and project management system so the business can run without the two selling shareholders, given both want a full exit. Owner-dependence in a bespoke luxury service firm is the biggest value discount, and reducing it protects the purchase.

Diligence notes

Scrutinize the real estate situation carefully: the two facilities totaling 10,500 sq ft are owned by the Company but explicitly excluded from the sale, with management open to long-term leases post-close. Pin down the lease rate and term before modeling, because an above-market related-party lease can quietly erase a chunk of that $722,789 EBITDA.
Verify the 22% revenue CAGR and the TTM figure that runs through May 2026, which is a forward-dated period, to confirm whether numbers are actual, projected, or annualized. Luxury event bookings are often contracted in advance, so separate signed-and-deposited revenue from pipeline estimates.
Test the durability of the resort preferred-vendor relationships: are they contractual and assignable, or informal and tied to the departing owners personally? If the referral pipeline walks out with the sellers, the core moat and growth thesis evaporate.
Dig into the labor model and seasonality, since weddings and social events cluster in specific months and rely heavily on event labor and fabrication staff. Understand whether key crew are employees or contractors, and how the firm covers peak-season capacity without destroying margin.
Clarify the ownership structure, with the Company owned by a related entity split 70/30 between two shareholders, and confirm the full exit terms and transition length. Understand what EBITDA adjustments were made and whether owner compensation, the related entity, and the facilities were normalized correctly.

Source

Originally listed on BizBuySell. View original listing →