My wife and I hired Benjamin T. and Kat Warner for DJ entertainment, Live Acoustic Music, Live Band…read moreEntertainment, as well for Lighting and Entertainment Experiences for our wedding at Brown Mountain Beach Resort in Lenoir, N.C. Ben and Kat are a penultimate example of how a married couple can far exceed the conventions of atypical business partnerships. Every single experience we had with B&K was a perfect example of professionalism and dedication to customer service. From the first time we reached out to our final goodbyes, Ben and Kat surpassed every expectation and delivered undoubtedly the best wedding experience for our guests and ourselves that we could have possibly imagined. From their well-designed website, attentively managed customer service portal, helpful and informative surveys, and personal communications, to the facilitation of custom musical experiences and flawless execution of their advertised services. My wife and I are in awe of Ben and Kat's ability to manage their own business while seamlessly leading other vendors, without a misstep, in a magnificently arranged ceremony performance, master of ceremonies experience, and coordination of live music and lighting. Ben and Kat's belief that "every wedding should be as unique as you are," is not just a slogan or buzzwords meant to attract unwitting brides to be. B&K are the real deal, 100% authentic and genuine people, driven with the desire to make your special day or event a bespoke and memorable experience. A review cannot describe how important a piece to our wedding's success that was Ben and Kat's services. Our vendor relationship with B&K was undoubtedly the most pleasant of dealings my wife and I had throughout the planning of our wedding, even drawing inspiration from them for my wife and I's own small business. One cannot gush and praise enough. Thank you, Ben and Kat, you made our dreams a reality. Without hesitation, my wife and I recommend Ben and Kat for any event, wedding or elopement services which you may need. Ben and Kat will forever remain unrivaled and unmatched in our minds and hearts. An unprecedented experience was had by all. Bravo to this super duo!

Ben Warner failed to render agreed upon services and refused to refund any monies from deposit…read more On January 2019, we contracted services with a deposit for $627 for a June 2020 wedding. We had close communications during May 2020 to ensure Ben T Warner would be able to work the wedding with all of the uncertainties of the virus and executive orders of North Carolina. It appeared that they were noncommittal in April & May to the extent of recommending to us that we get another company to do the event. Then 3 days later they canceled which allowed us only 18 days to find alternate entertainment. NC actually had exceptions for weddings and funerals that allowed us to proceed. First email after they canceled on us, they did not respond. I sent another email and they responded that they would not refund any portion of our deposit 5 days later.

From the first email to the "I DO", Jon-Paul and his lovely wife, Crystal were the best of the…read morebest. The communication was a 10 out of 10. The reassurance was the same. We came from out of town and were a bit nervous about spending money sight unseen. I think, we would have paid double if, we knew then, what we experienced on our wedding day. If you and your significant other are planning to get married, I cannot scream loud enough - DON'T WASTE MONEY ON A HUGE WEDDING! If you are able, go to Asheville and let JP and his wife guide you through a seamless ceremony. No stress, no worries, no regrets! We were able to pamper ourselves all weekend. We added the videographer to capture all the fun. It was just the two of us along with JP and Crystal. We honestly felt like we were with our friends. They made us so comfortable and relaxed. There was no rushing at all. We can't wait to get our photos and video. With all the money we saved by eloping, we were able to comfortably spoil ourselves to the fullest. Lots of Spa treatments, fine dining, shopping, Biltmore Estate....... Trust me on this......Don't waste money on some huge affair that you have to pay for, for years to come. Thank you so very much JP and Crystal.

This guy gets a 0 on communication. Do not use, we asked to change the date and he never sent an…read moreupdated contract. When I decided to use someone else, he took my deposit and wouldn't return it claiming I had signed the contract already. Stay far away.

Truly disappointing. We were promised an experience that would make our wedding incredibly special…read moreand carefree, but instead were met with more challenges than we would have faced if we had not hired this business. We felt like we were in charge of keeping the timeline throughout the planning process and felt the responsibility to make sure that things were completed beforehand rather than the other way around. We also found and booked many of the vendors ourselves. Toward the end, it was not worth pushing back since we worried our wedding day would suffer if we didn't do everything ourselves. Transparency was definitely a big pitfall with this business. For example, we asked for decor that was considered extra and we were informed we had to pay for that - no big deal, we figured we'd pay and we'd get to keep the decor. When the invoice arrived, we were shocked to find that Silver Fern would be keeping the extra decor even though we paid for it. We also asked for detailed examples of what the day of vision would look like. We received some general vision guides that we approved, but they were clearly not what was planned for our wedding day since the final decorations hardly looked like the vision. As anticipated by the above, our day was lacking. Boutonnières and bouquets were damaged, visions were missed, and guests were placed in random places to make for bad photos (both during the ceremony and at dinner). Decorations were minimal, which we could not believe based on the price we paid. We were truly in shock when we saw how minimal and off the decorations were on our wedding, which is an awful thing to see walking into your ceremony for the first time. We also felt like it was our responsibility to keep time and direct vendors during the wedding. The planner's bare minimum job is to take the time keeping and vendor direction of the couple's plate, but we did not feel like that low standard was met. At the end of the day, our wedding day was incredibly stressful and we were very dissatisfied with Silver Fern Events.

If there has been one thing I've recommended to my friends who are getting married, it is to hire a…read morewedding planner. Erin ensured all details of my wedding were perfect and took so much stress away from me so I could truly enjoy my wedding day. She is so hard working and she shared my excitement for my big day, which made her such a joy to work with. She stepped in to solve problems with vendors and supported me through navigating contracts and rentals. So many of my friend and family have commented that our wedding was the most fun ever, and I can really attribute that to Erin's planning and guidance.

If you're even thinking about wedding planning services, you should give these folks a call. While…read morethe services may cost a bit, their expertise with vendors and budget-friendly options will recoup much of the cost. The time you will save, and the high quality work they do, is priceless. My husband and I got married last weekend in Lake Lure, NC. Summer, from Firefly, helped us with our event. And believe me, she had her work cut out from her: two grooms, neither of whom had a clue about weddings, and were coordinating from Massachusetts. Summer spent the time to learn our tastes. Well, more directly, she spent the time making us figure out what our tastes were so we could tell her. We went with a steampunk meets Doctor Who theme, which is admittedly a bit off the beaten path. She ran with it, coordinating the floral arrangements, cake, and decorations to match. Her selection of vendors was also top notch. With some of the recent opposition against gay weddings in the news lately, we were a little concerned we might run across not-so-progressive vendors who might cause heartache for our event. Summer understood our concerns and ensured we did not have any such issues. While this may be a relatively rare concern, Firefly works with people to make things happen. The actual event was amazing: great food, great service, and great times. We received all sorts of praise from our guests about how well done it was. We could not have asked for anything more.

Jocelyn and her Firefly crew did a wonderful job coordinating the day of our wedding. The set up…read morewas absolutely perfect and they helped make the entire night flow extremely well. We didn't have to worry about a single thing! Leading up to the wedding, Jocelyn was always timely responding to any questions I had and was helpful finding vendors, all of which turned out great was well. I would highly recommend the firefly crew! Great people to work with, experts in wedding planning and coordination, and you'll have a guaranteed stress free wedding day!

I had no idea that Cordial and Craft had a Yelp page! I'm even more bummed that I didn't think to…read moreadd one. How can I be the ambassador for Yelp in Asheville when I'm not thinking outside of the box of things to review! Cordial and Craft is seriously righteous. Being that I live in Asheville, I attend a lot of weddings. I don't know if that's because something in the air here makes people want to get married, or perhaps it's just this sort of band wagon thing... like, HEY! Our friends are getting married, we should get married! I mean look, I got married! What's even crazier is that people come to Asheville to get married and throw awesome weddings that they can post all over instagram because they look so damn cool and everything is perfect and it's got that wonderful and charming handmade rustic class. So yeah, I think I'm up at about 5 to 6 weddings a year, which is great. But when I spot the bartenders of Cordial and Craft as I approach a wedding reception I'm ready to high five everyone within a 30 foot radius. When it comes to charm, class, and presentation nothing beats the bartenders from Cordial and Craft. I'm having a tough time even figuring out how to communicate just how great they are. You know those pictures you see on pinterest of drinks that make your mouth water, that have been custom designed for the event, with cute straws and beautiful colors? That's what we're talking about here. When you go to a wedding that has chosen Cordial and Craft to provide their bar program for the evening it's basically a sure fire sign that the event planner/bride and groom/venue has put great thought and care into each element of the event. Call them mixologists, call them craft cocktail masters, call them friends, just make sure to call me a cab because after a wedding reception with this wonderful company I'm not driving home.

Cordial and Craft was the bartending service our daughter chose for her wedding. Heidi and Lexie…read morewere great - from serving beer, wine and mixed drinks of all kinds. Our daughter and new Son-in-Law also chose a few speciality drinks as well - which they served to everyone's enjoyment. At the end of the evening - they even created a special drink that they named in their honor. We did supply our own alcohol but as the day drew near I knew we wouldn't have time to get all the fruit, mixers, etc. I called Heidi the day before the wedding and she was willing to do that portion for us and collect the costs at the venue the next day. These ladies were so pleasant to work with - everyone commented on what great service. We would recommend them and would recommend you allow them to handle the shopping part as well - that is a service they can provide! Vicki and Gary

Josh and Shelley captured the most beautiful moments on our wedding day! I say moments rather than…read morephotos for this reason- Their talent for capturing natural moments between family, friends, bride and groom makes for the most excellent photographs to cherish, I noticed, more so after seeing the final photos that you can find someone who will snap a family picture if you tell everyone to look at the camera and smile, but it takes TRUE TALENT to capture the special moments as they are naturally happening. Shelley and Josh maximize on capturing the event as it is naturally occurring. They were also able to maximize time spent because their ability to tag team, and weaved through the event seamlessly without disturbing any guests or ceremonies. Also, they are very comfortable people to be around, which sounds silly but makes a world of difference on the most stressful day. The commitment and creativity I observed while they shoot the wedding was unbelievable. They have several camera's and lenses, which they often switched for certain photo's, they were always aware of the lighting and best places to photograph (and take excellent outdoor photo's). The value and quality we received is unbeatable, especially being able to access all the photos! After receiving the photo's and seeing my wedding through the eye's of Josh and Shelley, I can honestly say it was magical. And my wedding photo "like's" on Facebook are blowing up! Couldn't Thank them enough for the work they did!

My husband and I couldn't believe how lucky we got to have Shelley photograph our adventure…read moreelopement in South Iceland! She was easy to communicate with and so personable in person. I pretty much instantly felt comfortable working with her, even though I never got to meet her in person until the actual elopement day. My husband doesn't comment on services very much, but he was so impressed with Shelley's creativity and fearlessness in getting the best shots. She would sometimes be laying on the ground and get completely soaked by the waterfalls, and she would have us stand so close to the edge of a cliff and so close to the waterfalls. My husband got to see a sneak peek of a few shots on her camera, and his mouth literally dropped at how beautiful the photos were. We completely trusted her opinion on the stops we made in Iceland not only because she has been to Iceland before, but also because she just has that creative vision to know what looks good (her website/blog says it all). Another bonus is that she scouts the wedding ceremony area for you beforehand and chose our ceremony site, which we are so grateful for. It was intimate (away from the crowds), peaceful, and beautiful. If you and your partner are looking for someone who loves candid photos, dynamic photos with a lot of movement, and epic landscape photos, Shelley is the best photographer for that. We can't recommend her enough!

Absolutely the easiest production company I have ever encountered. Bob Peck made exactly the video…read morerecord of our daughter's wedding that we/she wanted. Post production work was top notch, special requests accommodated flawlessly, and final product delivered on time. If you want a wedding video, and someday you will, these guys will deliver.

Do not look any further!!! These guys are the best. We looked at many videographers in Asheville…read moreand we really loved their work. And they did not disappoint. I had many people tell me it was the best video they had ever seen. That was the number one thing I heard from other brides, that they regretted not getting a video. Believe me, you will want one. The day goes by so fast and it is indescribable to get to relive it. And I would definitely get the package that includes the short "wedding film." We watch it more often than the full length, as you get to relive the whole day in 10 minutes as opposed to a full length video. Happy wedding planning :)

So my wedding photographer dropped out on me with a week to go (!) and I called Blue Bend. Nick…read morecalled me back and even though he was booked, proceeded to be super helpful and nice. He contacted another Blue Bend collective photographer, Kevin, who was also busy but was willing to shift things around to help us out! This kind of customer service and compassion in the face of a panicking groom is rare. Very very nice people @Blue Bend

Communication is of great importance when choosing wedding vendors. Blue Bend proved a lack of…read moreprofessionalism by disengaging with us after the contract was signed and a sizeable deposit was paid. Less than 3 weeks before my daughter's wedding Blue Bend had not responded to emails or phone calls to touch base with us on final details. We lost confidence Blue Bend would provide services promised, and had to scramble to find a new photographer. Nick, owner & photographer, was completely unresponsive after we booked services six months before the wedding date. Then, just over 6 weeks until the wedding we tried to touch base with a few questions . Between the bride and mother of the bride, we made 8 attempts to reach Nick over a 3 week period. Emails to the very address he had previously corresponded with us were unanswered, but "delivered." We phoned the same mobile number he had previously used, but our calls and voice messages were ignored. I even sent a letter in the US Mail to his PO Box asking that he contact either the bride or me. This makes three methods of communication (email, phone & postal mail) in which two people (from different phones & email servers) were unable to get a response from Nick over an extended time. We then noticed that none of Blue Bend's social media had been updated in over a year. Out of concern Nick may have had a personal crisis, or Blue Bend may have gone out of business, the bride left a voice message with another Blue Bend associate. The associate never responded back either. We did receive an auto-generated final bill that did not even state the amount owed for final payment. Money is due in full before any service is rendered. This form letter had a blank where the amount owed should be. We had no assurance a photographer would be there on wedding day if we made the online payment. If we did not pay the balance in full, we would lose our sizeable initial deposit, and have to find another a photographer less than 3 weeks before the wedding date! The bride sent an email to Nick 6 weeks before the ceremony, with the subject containing the words "Cancel Contract." And suddenly, Nick responded to that within a couple of hours (after 5 months of silence). He gave lots of excuses for poor communication - he changed mobile email provider & had been having trouble accessing emails on his phone; he couldn't find the emails we were referring to (I have a record they were all delivered); he claimed he didn't get my letter because the US Mail is unreliable (the letter was never returned to sender as undelivered). Nick made no excuse or apology for not returning phone calls. Nor could he explain why, if he was having trouble retrieving emails on his phone, he did not think it was important to check business emails on a computer. Nick ignored our requests for a refund. But when pressed, he refused the deposit refund, saying he would "forgive" our final payment of the remaining balance. We are out about $900, and Nick did no work for his money.