My husband and I selected a popular wedding venue in downtown Raleigh, The Merrimon-Wynne House…read more Once you sign the contract for your wedding date, they require you to select 4 vendors from their curated vendor list (catering, planning, rentals, & florals). We were shocked by some of the minimums for some of the vendors so we had to spend our time reaching out and gathering invoices from every vendor to find the 4 that match our budgets best. We decided on Hathaway Floral Design as our florist because she offered a lower minimum and her inspiration/website catalog matched the wedding day vision we had. Lauren Hathaway, the owner of this business, did not talk with us much. Her assistant, Georgia Hodgson, corresponded with us most of the time. Both ladies were pleasant and easy to get in touch with, however, there were multiple hiccups during the planning process. There was a miscommunication at one point about delivery fees and extra charges that dramatically increased our invoice. Lauren did offer a discount on these fees after we expressed our concern about the floral budget and stated that the quality of the florals wouldn't be affected. She could achieve our vision with the florals and greenery at her disposal. However, looking back, I feel like the quality of the florals was not in line with what we paid (close to $7000). A majority of our budget went towards the arch & reception florals. The bridal & bridal party bouquets, men's boutonnières, aisle meadows, and aisle petals were perfect! Those were priced fairly and the quality was there. The altar arch was not close to what we had envisioned- it was droopy, lacked greenery & fullness, and wasn't the shape we asked for. I had asked at the beginning of the planning process if I needed to buy and bring the arch shape we wanted but she assured us that she had it taken care of. We ordered 8 table garlands that weren't even on the tables- I later found out that there wasn't enough room for them so she placed them elsewhere in the house but I didn't really see where they went. I also noticed that around 12-12:30pm, she hadn't arrived yet and our ceremony started at 3pm. It was weird as well that she never stopped by to introduce herself or say hello- we haven't met her face- to- face. We had met all of our vendors except her. It felt like for the thousands we spent for florals, the quality was here and there. I must say her quality in other weddings is breathtaking so I am sad to see the quality was laid throughout for our wedding.

We hired Priscilla just a few months before our fall wedding & we absolutely fell in love with her…read more The first thing we really noticed (and LOVED) about her was how prompt & prepared she was. She was early to all of our meetings which is a big plus! She was very attentive & got to know us so that she could incorporate aspects of our personality into our ceremony. Every little idea she came up with thoroughly impressed us. She worked very well with our budget, using her various connections to get us the highest quality at the lowest price. She spent alot of time listening to our ideas and making suggestions. Our ceremony was a dream come true. Priscilla saw to each detail so that we were virtually worry-free the entire day.She is amazing at what she does and is destined for greatness in her field. For someone so young, she is extremely dedicated, professional and passionate. We would recommend her for any event you plan on having people talk about for weeks, months & years!

Priscilla Erwin from Orangerie Events was great! She had a unique situation with us in that we…read moresigned up for the middle package, then I got surprise-deployed to Afghanistan (which required us to change the date as well), so we stepped up to the highest package and she worked with my husband and mom for much of the time. When I got home I joined them and we got back into the full swing of things. It was wonderful planning together when I got back. She understood exactly what I wanted really quickly, and is much better at verbalizing that to vendors. She could also tell when I wasn't sure if their vision matched mine which is both an amazing and necessary skill for a high quality wedding planner. As someone who didn't dream of weddings growing up, but is a 24 yr old with certain things that I decided we wanted over our 2 yr engagement, this was just perfect! She chose our florist, cake vendor, hair and makeup, transportation, and invitations/stationary. All of these vendors did absolutely beautiful work (both wedding party and strangers commented on all of these individual vendors and their amazing products), and everyone but the invite vendor was easy to work with. On the day of, she was fantastic and my husband and I were stress-free. More importantly, our parents on both sides were stress-free. That's the MOST important part to us. She is WONDERFUL the day of! People joked that our wedding looked like it was sponsored by Pinterest. She made all of that happen, with the gorgeous details and intricate touches, while everyone involved with the wedding was able to enjoy the day and appreciate time with our loved ones. The only reason we didn't give a full 5/5 is for responsiveness. My family is both military and type A. To us status updates are crucial for our comfort in the planning process. Priscilla had it covered, but she didn't want to bother us with the info because she thought that's what we preferred. I told her that I actually preferred updates and liked to be inundated with info rather than wondering, so she adjusted and things were smooth after that. She's great at what she does, and is a pleasure to work with. She never shows stress which is great for brides. I was SO happy with her work and loved spending time with her! One thing I'd also like to add. My mother-in-law used to work with a florist and did a lot of weddings. Our flowers (Gregg Kennedy by the way) were gorgeous, and the price for which we got these flowers were a STEAL. My mother-in-law is still talking about what a great deal we got, and we would not have gotten such a deal without the benefit of Gregg and Priscilla's great relationship.

We are all entitled to our own opinions, right? Well... here is mines:…read more Parking: 3 Location: 4 Customer Service: 5 Facility décor/cleanliness: 5 Just get engaged? You might need some ideas and suggestions on things like wedding planners, photographers, DJays, Decorators, etc. Well this is the place to go. The show happens a couple times a year and its so awesome. I'm a dude... and i don't like stuff like this... i feel its so girlie... but i actually enjoyed myself. There was more awesome guy things to do that women things. On top of all the great connections you will make with vendors, there is samples EVERYWHERE. Listen, come HUNGRY!!!!! And be sure to visit the City BBQ exhibit. The smells and foods will bless your life. I love the show and look forward to attending one more time before my big day.

This was an AMAZING bridal show! It ran for two days at the NC State Fairgrounds. I went with…read moreBrides to be Brittany F. and Elisha R. and we all had an amazing time. I was skeptical about going at first, as my wedding is all the way in Buffalo, NY and I didn't think there would be much use for me to attend, but Elisha R. is getting married in Raleigh so I figured I would just be moral support. However I learned that even if you are getting married out of town, this bridal show is still worth checking out. I got to try a lot of amazing food from several different catering companies, and had some amazing cake and cupcakes! I also indulged in champagne, sweet lemonade and a chocolate fountain! There was no need to eat afterwards we were all stuffed, which was a nice added bonus. I found a great limousine service that I am thinking about booking for my bachelorette, (which will be in Raleigh), found several invitation vendors and also won 5 free personal training sessions! I entered in several other giveaways and am waiting to hear back about the honeymoon I hope to win. ;-) I got really great discounts for the boy's tux, and also a lot of free goodies to take home. There were also several great ideas I saw that I would like to incorporate into my wedding that I may not have thought of on my own. Overall it was a very successful day. I would recommend this bridal show to any brides to be. Bring your mom, bridesmaids, friends or sister, but leave the guys at home. I saw a few poor boys there following around their fiancees looking completely bored out of their minds as they look over invitations or floral arrangements. I personally think this is a perfect girls day out, get the info, and inform the boys on it later.

When we were planning a wedding from out of state, we knew we would need some help coordinating the…read moreday-of. From our first phone call, I immediately clicked with Amanda. She was enthusiastic, and had great tips on how to implement our ideas. She has totally customizable service, meaning you can choose the exact aspects you're looking for, within your budget. We hired Amanda for the day-of coordination - my fiance and I wanted to do the planning ourselves, but we needed help to make sure everything went smoothly on the actual day. We also added on catering guidance. Amanda worked in catering previously, and has a good handle of what to look for in catering contracts. She set up tastings with local caterers, and was able to accommodate our short trip in town. We met with Amanda at the venue a couple times, and she was always very responsive via email and phone. I know she handles a lot of events, but I never felt rushed. On the wedding day, everything went smoothly! I heard of tiny incidents after the fact that she took care of immediately. It was great to know that our wedding was in extremely capable hands, and my family and I could just enjoy the day. From the small things (making sure I had my shoes and phone in the getaway car) to the big things (making sure everything was on schedule!), she handled it all with ease and a smile. She has a great reputation in Durham, and I can attest that she lives up to the hype! I cannot recommend her enough!

I hired Story & Rhythm as my wedding photographer and DJ- and they knocked it out of the park…read more They were hands down the best wedding vendor I had, and I'm super glad that I chose them for our wedding day. The company is a husband and wife DJ and photography team. The husband is the DJ and the wife is the photographer. The photographer, Tosha, was great! She was organized, got great shots, and went above and beyond for over 11 hours straight. I couldn't have asked for anything more. The DJ, Brian, was on point. He more than accommodated all of our requests, was organized, and had a great set up. If you're planning your wedding- select them! You'll be glad you did.

I want any brides who are planning for a wedding after this COVID-19 pandemic to pay special…read moreattention to reviews. It is during this time that you find the true character of these small businesses. We were set to get married on May 2, 2020. Postponing our wedding was just not in our cards. We decided to move forward with an intimate wedding ceremony in the backyard of our home instead with immediate family only. At first, Story & Rhythm were okay with everything, they even sent us an email first to say they would support us with whatever. We did not change anything with the contract and still wanted to use the photography and DJ package we had previously requested. That's when emails were no longer being answered within 48 hours, but instead 4-5 days. The last email we received, it stated that they would be changing things around while this pandemic was ongoing: only Tosha and Brian would be allowed to use the microphone, Tosha would not go into my home and stated she would do everything outside, even getting ready photos and getting into the dress, and my guests could not make any on the spot music requests during our day. She also asked if we would have preventative measures such as masks and hand sanitizers. I responded that we of course would have preventative measures but that we would just forgo the DJ at that time - because my guests or even us could not use the microphone or make music requests? These are all normal practices that could be sanitized and still be done 6ft apart. This was mid April at this point and we are trying to replan our day and they were not responding to our emails anymore. So I decided to call on April 15, 2020. They did not answer at first but later called me back. Tosha went around the bush that she "didn't know," "I've been really praying about it," "I just don't know," "how are things going at work?" "have you guys been exposed?" These are all normal questions, but the fact that she could not say that she did not want to any longer be a part of our day and do our photography services was disheartening. Tosha first said she would just come for 2 hours and take the important shots, I was actually fine with that because all I wanted was a few photos of our day. We had already paid more than half of our fees to them early, so they had $1500 from us. She said the $1500 you paid would be fine. WHAT? We were originally going to pay $2610 for an engagement session, 8 hours of photography and 5 hours of DJ TOGETHER, now she wants to take $1500 for just an engagement session shoot and 2 hours of services? How does that add up to $1500? Then she went back to "well I just don't know" and "ahh, I don't know." She made ME say that "if you feel uncomfortable, we understand and are okay if you don't want to do it" meaning that WE "cancelled" when in fact she was just baiting us to pull the trigger to cancel so they could keep our deposit. She immediately went to well the $500 is a retainer and per the contract is nonrefundable and the engagement session is $300 so we will keep $800 and refund you guys $700. How is that fair? THIS is what this pandemic has come to, and I want to let everyone know that they are keeping $800 of our hard earned money and leaving us 2 weeks before our special day without a photographer. They even made us sign a cancellation contract before they would send back the $700 refund to cover themselves. They also cut off the reviews on their facebook after my honest post! BEWARE!

These guys were great ! I had a project I needed to do and…read morethey helped me understand what tools I needed to get. Job completed and done right thanks to Capital Events.

I can't say enough good things about Capital Events. These guys know how to take care of their…read morecustomers. I booked a large tent and table with linens from another rental place in town that decided to cancel on me two hours before I needed to set-up for my event. My mom had rented from Capital Events last year for my sisters bridal shower so I decided to give them a call. Within five minutes James had me a tent and tables as well as his delivery crew set to go. It's funny that the other rental place said he called everyone in town to get me a tent but nobody had one - strange which makes me so thankful I found Capital. I highly recommend Capital they showed up on time and set everything up with time to spare, they also showed up right after my event to breakdown and they could not have been friendlier. If you have a large event, wedding etc. make sure you call Capital first you will save yourself so much time and aggravation.

if I could I would give them 10 stars. my wedding was June 6th and from the moment we talked about…read moretimelines and songs to matching bridesmaids and groomsmen Giovanni took care of me and my wedding. she calmed my nerves when I wanted to do everything myself and made my wedding everything I ever dreamed it would be. Thank you!!! Mr. & Mrs. Palmer

My husband and I attended the Paint N Sip hosted by Date Night Series last weekend. The paint…read moreinstructor was very knowledgeable and helpful, the hostesses were friendly and even gave all the couples a gift after the event. We were extremely happy with our experience and we can't wait until the next event!

I attended a very special and beautiful wedding ceremony at Seven Paths Manor last weekend. Seven…read morePaths is beautiful and I'm glad they chose Seven Paths for the venue. The wedding was outside. It was extremely hot last Saturday. I got overheated and had to leave. I felt like I was going to pass out. I wasn't the only guest to leave. We are fortunate there wasn't a medical emergency. I realize the couple picked the place. Nobody could predict it would get that hot. I recommend you issue fans or use another means of coping with the temperature in the future. I heard the people who stayed had a good time later that evening.

Incredible doesn't even begin to cover it. I had the privilege of planning and coordinating a…read morewedding at Seven Paths Manor that took place last weekend. First of all, the property is stunning. There are multiple options for ceremony sites and reception sites to accommodate everything from an intimate wedding ceremony to a 150+ person wedding. Shayla and Josh, the owners, take great care with their brides and grooms, and have done a great job of creating an affordable and accessible all-in-one venue. The Something Borrowed collection was a huge perk, having access to thousands of decor items at no added cost. I would highly recommend this venue to any couples looking for a beautiful place to get married!