Spark Notes Version - I HIGHLY recommend working with A Southern Soiree! They will make your…read morewedding day magical. Extended Version: I was married at The Carolina Inn in May and I had the absolute privilege of working with Gina from A Southern Soiree. When you book a ceremony at The Carolina Inn, they include day-of coordination with one of the area wedding planning companies as a part of the package (amazing deal - everyone should get married at The Carolina Inn). Having seen A Southern Soiree in TONS of blogs and websites, I asked right away if I could work with them for my wedding. I ended up working with Gina, and based on my contract with the venue, assumed that we would just meet a couple of times to cover the basics and that Gina would primarily just be there to support the actual wedding day. I could not have been more wrong, in all the right ways! Gina was an absolute dream to work with and well exceeded my expectations throughout the wedding planning vision. She helped so much throughout the planning process. She was also professional, quick to respond to emails, had great ideas for my wedding day, and has such a great personality - I had so much fun at all of our meetings! When the day of the rehearsal dinner came, I had everything packed in my car and drove over to the venue, starting to feel overwhelmed with pre-wedding stress. As soon as I parked my car at the valet, Gina and her assistant were there coordinating getting my car unloaded. I gave Gina a rundown on what I had in all the boxes and where it needed to go, and she took over from there. There was no stressing out about setting out favors, making sure programs made it to the ceremony, etc. because Gina had it 100% taken care of. At the rehearsal dinner I was feeling overwhelmed, and Gina's assistant stood there with a glass of water for me the whole time just in case I needed it. They wanted to do whatever they could to make sure they day was stress free and that everything was wonderful. Gina and her assistant were like magical wedding planning fairies the day of the wedding making sure that everything was executed flawlessly. Before the wedding, people told me to mentally prepare myself for "something" going wrong, but when the wedding day came...nothing went wrong. Literally, everything was perfect, and I'm sure it was because I was so fortunate to have A Southern Soiree there to cover all the details. Even my father-in-law the day after the wedding could NOT stop talking about how amazing Gina and her assistant were. He was still in a state of disbelief over how they were able to pull everything off so perfectly. You can't go wrong choosing them as your event planning company and I would definitely recommend them to all of my friends and family.

Alyssa and her team executed an exceptional job! My daughter's wedding at the Umstead in Cary was…read moreflawless! Alyssa's support was incredible- from addressing emails promptly to arranging an extra in-person meeting. My daughter Nanny and I had complete peace of mind with her overseeing everything!! I highly recommend her for anyone considering a wedding at the Umstead or anywhere else this company serves. Alyssa excelled in coordinating with vendors and creating a timeline for my daughter's special day!

If you want your wedding done right then hire Sally. She gets the job done and does all the dirty…read morework for you. She keeps things on schedule. She will also tell people NO if there is a problem. She makes sure things are done the way the bride wants them and makes sure she is taken care of. Highly recommend her for wedding or an event. Great job

Sally is wonderful! Made our wedding planning process organized and followed up with us when we…read morefell behind things on our to do list. The best part about hiring Sally was not having to worry or communicate with any vendors on the day of the wedding. She did such a great job organizing everything and keeping people on the timeline that our ceremony was actually ready to go a few minutes early. We as a couple felt so supported and couldn't have asked for a better wedding planner.

We came here for the summer open house at this event space. There is plenty of parking outside of…read morethe venue. Due to the weather conditions we did not get a chance to view the outdoor space at the venue. The interior was spacious with multiple sectioned off rooms, bathrooms, and what appeared to be a coat check area. There were several tables setup in the main ballroom area. The tables were decorated nicely. There was also a table for desserts and a DJ area. The bar was huge with an extensive collection of alcohol. The food that was prepared by Rocky Top catering was amazing including the chicken dip and the shrimp and grits. I also enjoyed the cocktails. The strawberry basil margarita was really good. The service that we received from server, Michael C. was top tier. He was very personable, helpful, and made sure that we experienced the excellence of Rocky Top. I would definitely want him to work at any future events that we had. The event was great and I got to learn about other vendors that can be utilized when planning events. If you are in need of a venue for a corporate event, reception, wedding, shower, catering event, or other event definitely check them out.

Great event location. Big spacious nice room for something formal or business related. The catering…read morehas been excellent. If you need to book an event space, definitely check it out

Emily is THE absolute best! Her amazing organization, attention to detail and calming presence were…read moreso helpful throughout wedding planning and especially came in handy on our big day. Her organization resources, contact sheets and lists she went through with us in our final details meetings were unbelievably helpful as well. She completely removed the stress from the weeks leading up to our wedding and made our big day feel totally seamless. She also traveled from Durham all the way out to the Outer Banks for our wedding, having never seen our venue before our rehearsal and she still knocked it out of the park. I can never thank you enough for coordinating our day perfectly! xoxo

We worked with Eva with EKEvents for our wedding and it was everything we could've asked for and…read moremore. Eva helped us out so much in getting organized, connecting our vendors, and helping us execute the vision of the colorful disco nerd wedding of our dreams. She also helped us keep to schedule and just did such an amazing job. We felt SO comfortable with her and her team! I HIGHLY recommend working with them!!

Sheer Main Events blew me away! She turned my son's baby shower safari theme into something beyond…read moremy wildest imagination--live floral centerpieces, a stunning balloon arch, and a flawless setup from start to finish. The value far exceeded the price, and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful experience.

So helpful in the last planning stages and just confirming all vendors are prepared with the…read moreinformation necessary. I got there and they broke down unnecessary tables for me and did all the decorating that I had prepared. They kept me calm and made sure I had my plan followed.

Really interesting and tasty food provided by this place is quite good and visually intriguing. BBQ…read moreChicken, rice and purple slaw very good. Yesterday's Mexican fare was so good and Cole slaw was different than anything had before; kinda like seasoned rice differs from white rice. Look forward to other meals from here.

Wonderful Experience, Creative menus and delicious food, outstanding service and beautiful blooms!read more

Chef Vaughn is the BEST! I have had him cater many events and everyone always loves the food…read more Salmon sliders, watermelon salad, shrimp and grits are always favorites. Reasonably priced and great quality

A wonderful gourmet Italian restaurant with a wonderful twist. The food is amazing! Chef Vaughn has…read morecatered events throughout Raleigh for decades. Many have taken advantage of his culinary prowess for family events from Thanksgiving to Family Reunions. Opening his restaurant during restaurant week is striking the right balance! Come mangiare! Eat and enjoy!!

If you are looking for a professional and a coordinator then I would highly advise that you do NOT…read morego with On Cloud 10 events. Amanda Richardson is extremely unprofessional and does not follow through with anything she says per her contract. She made the wedding planning process unnecessarily more difficult and that is not what any bride is looking for I hired her as a coordinator for my wedding and when I would text or email her she was not timely in her response even though her wedding planning business is her full time job. She recently had a baby and she promises it won't get in the way of anything that a bride may need. Prior to the wedding there was potential chance for rain and Amanda's constantly would bring up stressful scenarios via text. She also yelled at my now husband on the phone when he was calling to get an answer from something she had not responded to me on. On the day of my rehearsal she brought her 3 month old baby and was inattentive and unable to perform her duties which required me stepping in and leading the rehearsal. All of my bridal party complained about her lack of organization and every vendor mentioned that she was very abrasive, Rude and difficult to work with. On the day of my wedding despite multiple reassurances that it would be stress free and I wouldn't know if anything would go wrong, she repeatedly called me and my moh. She didn't make sure we followed the timeline she created she didn't set up the decor properly. She even came up to me to let me know my camera battery had died and what would I do , luckily the dj had a spare. She was absent pretty much the entire reception and her response was she was going back and forth from two cabins onsite of the venue in which she only needed to go one time to bring a change of clothes and only brought the brides and not the groom. She was not needed in either Cabin and We had to send the dad to retrieve the change of clothes. We also had to ask our guests to tell other guests to find their seats because amanda was missing again. Amanda told me if I didn't pay for her meal to eat at the wedding she would need one hour to eat dinner. I paid for her and her assistant to have a meal and they ate that meal and then went to get McDonald's and were once again not at the reception. Multiple vendors were looking for amanda so instead I as the bride had to handle everything I hired her for. Towards the end of the evening amanda was once again missing and my family started packing up and loading up their cars. Then amanda jumped in to help, we were missing items and they were never packed with our decor. The best ending to this disaster of a coordinator is I also rented an arch with fake flowers on it. Since amanda was nowhere to be found, the staff at the venue started cleaning and accidentally threw away the flowers. At the end of the night when she was dropping off the decor that my family hadn't brought over she had the audacity to ring the doorbell of my parents house and demand that they pay a couple hundred dollars for the fake flowers that were thrown out due to her negligence. This company is a joke, she will charge you a lower price and offer discounts to pay her off earlier so that you're trapped to keep her as a coordinator and it's too close to the wedding. The best part is if you tell her anything she does wrong she will threaten to transfer you to another random coordinator because she only wants 5 star reviews. When I booked her she had reviews on Facebook and it seems she recently took them down most likely due to bad reviews.

We hired Amanda to be our day of coordinator for our August 22nd wedding. Upon first meeting with…read moreher, we were impressed with her willingness to go the extra mile; however, as time went on and we started having differences of opinions, we feel that Amanda overstepped professional boundaries. While working as our coordinator, Amanda reassured us that she would make our day perfect, but in our opinion, was unable to do that. She wanted us to hire an additional assistant less than two weeks before the wedding, stating that she couldn't perform her duties without one (only family members and close friends attended), despite saying she would make our day stress-free for almost a year. We had last minute vendor changes due to suggestions Amanda made, which caused us to extend our already tight budget. Due to not being able to hire an assistant so close to the wedding, and not being able to come up with compromises that satisfied her enough for her to attend our wedding, we decided to let Amanda go. From there, things went even more downhill and we feel Amanda has overstepped many boundaries in the way she continued (and continues) to be involved, despite no longer working for us. After letting Amanda go, communication with her often turns into arguing; we feel like our voices and views aren't heard, and seems to us like Amanda has a defensive, aggressive, and threading attitude about whatever we say. Even though she was helpful with a few aspects of our wedding, we feel that overall working with Amanda made our planning process way more stressful and taxing than it needed to be. Our day ended up going smoothly thanks to family members who attended (whom Amanda was not going to let help with any aspect of the wedding) and we feel the day was better with her not being there. From one bride to another, we feel like a more established and professional company would be more of an asset in helping your planning and wedding day go smoothly, and do not recommend hiring Amanda/Iris Ophelia Wedding + Events.

While this venue appears to be gorgeous, LGBTQ couples BEWARE. After noticing several religious…read moreitems in their pictures, I emailed to ask if they were open to working with queer couples and got the following in response: "This venue is located at our Christian home. We personally have gay friends but we believe their behavior is a sin. I am a sinner and I believe we should love the sinner and hate the sin. The current law allows gay couples to marry. I think gay couples should respect the beliefs of others just as they want to be respected. " Clearly, they don't want to come right out and say we are not welcome, but they made it clear. Nowhere in my initial email was I disrespectful to them, so I'm not sure whey they felt the need to point out that we needed to respect their beliefs. A simple, "We can not accommodate your request at this time," would have been fine. We were not asking them to officiate our wedding. We were asking them if they would do their jobs as business owners, take our money, host our event, and keep their personal opinions to themselves. How their religious beliefs impact their business I don't really understand. It is really too bad, because as I mentioned, this venue looks absolutely gorgeous. However after the rude and frankly condescending email back, I will be taking my business elsewhere. I suggest those who support marriage equality do not support this highly unprofessional business.

The venue is absolutely beautiful! The owners are fantastic and will go out of their way to make…read moresure your special day is everything you dreamed of! It's so calming and the views are stunning. Guests will have an unforgettable experience and the pictures are all fantastic here due to the breathtaking natural beauty. Five stars!!