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.

I didn't want to taint my wedding memories with a negative review, but our experience was so…read morefrustrating that others deserve to know what they're getting into: The Hibiscus is disorganized, unresponsive, and will nickel-and-dime you after the fact. I'm posting this 2 days after my reception. 1. They ghosted us after booking. I asked repeatedly for photos and pricing on decor they'd promised during our tour. Literal months of unanswered emails and calls. My mom resorted to checking their online calendar and showing up in person during setup for other events just to catch someone. Even then, we only got a rough quote for thousands of dollars with no photos of what they could actually deliver. With one month to go, my family decided to do all the decor ourselves. I worry they will now use photos of our hard work as their own; if they send you pics of decor, make sure to confirm their staff did it and not renters. 2. Critical requirements sent days before. Two days before our wedding weekend - when family was arriving and we were drowning in final preparations - they emailed asking for our bartending vendor's COI and sent detailed check in/out instructions for the first time. I'm lucky I even checked my email to see them. Even worse - when the COI provided didn't meet their specs, they expected me to mediate between them and the bartending company the day before my wedding, when I had a hundred other things to take care of. This should have been handled months in advance! 3. Hidden lighting charges. During our tour, we were shown the wall lighting and told it could be set to any color and brightness. I specifically said I wanted this because I hate harsh overhead lighting. They never mentioned it would cost extra. On our wedding day, I arrived to see only the overhead lights on. My husband had to call Nneka to come turn on the wall lights during cocktail hour, with guests already there. We were billed $250 for turning on these permanent fixtures we thought were included (reduced to $100 when my complaint went to management). 4. Unreasonable cleaning expectations and fees. After our reception we collected all items and trash, wiped tables, stacked chairs, and left the venue in good condition (see photo). They emailed me the next day claiming "it does not appear that any cleaning was done" and tried to charge us $400. After I pushed back with the photo, they reduced it to $250, saying we didn't sweep the floors and haul trash to the dumpster. A commercial venue expecting exhausted clients to leave the space move-in-ready for the next renter is absurd, especially when the full checklist is emailed to the bride only 2 days before the weekend. 5. Zero on-site support. Staff appeared briefly at setup, then vanished. No one was there during or at the end of our event. We were completely on our own, expected to leave the venue ready for the next renters, and lock the doors ourselves. My family poured our hearts into making this night beautiful, and it was--but no thanks to Hibiscus staff. This is a commercial venue but they manage it worse than an Airbnb. It made our wedding exponentially more stressful than necessary - so bad that I'm writing this when I should be enjoying newlywed bliss!

I do not recommend this place at all, for the following reasons:…read more1.- They charge you for absolutely everything; the price is exorbitantly high considering what they offer. 2.- They require a deposit, but I advise you not to bother cleaning or doing any cleanup work, because you won't get the money back anyway. We cleaned up, took all the trash to the dumpster, arranged the chairs one by one, and scrubbed and mopped the bathrooms, yet we still didn't get the agreed-upon deposit back--even though we did everything they asked of us. 3.- Also, you will be watched constantly during the event because they have cameras covering every angle to monitor what is going on. I also want to mention that they tell you to call if any emergency arises and they'll be on top of it; there were many issues on their end during the event, and they never answered.

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.

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!!

Amanda was personable and likable she promised so much and then failed to deliver in almost every…read moreway possible. She breached so many parts of her contract, took no accountability on our wedding day, and created such a mess others had to take care of. She was incredible unprofessional, lacked accountability, and seems very disorganized, lacks professional judgment and problem solving abilities. She was disorganized, failed to deliver what she had agreed to and showed up without an assistant which she was supposed to have then tried to just short us the wedding coordinating hours, she failed to communicate throughout the whole day, she showed up to our backyard wedding without any supplies, she was supposed to have food labels for the food but did not so those with allergies did not know what was safe to eat, she lost my personal items she borrowed like a scissors because she showed up completely unprepared like it was the first wedding she had ever been too! If that was not enough she showed up with her teenage daughter to our no child wedding without asking who was having a mental health crisis. Her daughter was on and off crying in and out of a main room in our home and taking over our bathroom which killed the mood of a wedding! She sent an incorrect timeline to me, I had to correct it, which took me more time. She sent incorrect information to the vendors about the wedding so I had to correct the emails and this created additional work for me. She did not communicate with the other vendors well at all that she was suppose to be coordinating as the bride many things all of this was done last minute so it added an incredible amount of extra stress on me. She was late and clueless at our rehearsal so as a bride I had to run my own rehearsal! Which made this not as special or enjoyable, I wish I would have fired her then even if it was 3 days before the wedding! She was supposed to come to our reception to help setup and bustle my dress and then bailed and almost left us without the wedding cakes because she almost forgot to deliver them. She was clueless to so many things even though she talked so confidently about her experience. She tried to delay the start of our wedding because she was not ready. She failed to clean the aisle so my husband, best friend and the florist stepped up. I would never hire her if you want to enjoy your event as she is not professional and tried to hide her inability to coordinate. She asked other people what she should be doing as she was completely clueless the whole day! She even sent our bridal party down the aisle with such incompetence that the violinist had to repeat the song.

From the owner: I believe in creative collaboration over competition. I believe that your event should reflect your…read morestyle and personality no matter how unique or “taboo” the concept may be. As long as it’s genuinely unique to you and your hearts desire, I will help feed that passion! If we align feel free to reach out! Let’s chat about how to create an unforgettable event with flare!

Book your wedding reception at Bay 7. My husband and I had only considered locations in New Jersey…read morebefore we decided to host our wedding in NC. Upon making that decision, we only considered Bay 7 and The Pavilion. Bay 7 was the perfect spot for our many out-of-town guests. They were able to stay at a hotel within walking distance and explore the American Tobacco Campus when not at a wedding event. If you have ever been to the Angus Barn, you expect exceptional service at Bay 7 and you will not be disappointed. As vegetarians, we cannot vouch for most of the meals (though all our guests raved), though the vegetarian option we chose was delicious. Wendy, our contact, said that though it is not served at Angus Barn regularly, if we reach out before we head there, they'd even whip up our wedding meal for us! Wendy had everything covered. I had zero stress about the reception thanks to this team. I cannot recommend them highly enough. Thank you, Wendy and the entire Bay 7 team, for working with us to have our perfect wedding day.

We came here for a friends wedding and it was a super cute wedding venue. We had an amazing time…read more The cocktail hour started on the balcony and then we moved downstairs for dinner. The food was great and the servers were great. One thing I particularly liked was how the servers didn't take away your drinks when you went to the dance floor, which usually happens at weddings.

Lynn is AMAZING!! So happy we chose her as our planner. Her attention to detail, organization, and…read moreall around sweet nature made her a pleasure to work with. Highly recommend this company!!

From the owner: Happily Ever After is a mother/daughter wedding planning business that specializes in Day Of,…read morePartial Planning and Full Planning services. We also offer a wide selection of décor rentals ranging from mason jars and milk glass vases to windows, doors and furniture. We strive to make every wedding as unique and special as our brides. We work very closely with our brides in order to get to know them personally, their groom, their love story and their idea of the perfect day. We pride ourselves on attention to detail, organization and really hearing what our brides want and helping them bring all their dreams and plans together for the perfect day. If you are not in need of a planner but would like to rent some of our items you can do that too. Check out our website, Facebook page and Wedding Wire reviews to see what we can do for you to help with your Happily Ever After. We are also available to travel so contact us today for more information. We'd love to meet you for coffee to chat and get to know you better.