I had the pleasure of attending a candlelight musical here. The property is very well taken care of…read morewith great staff to assist you during the event. Parking was made simple and with great ease. There is a walk from the parking location to the building - something to take into consideration for those who love their HIGH HIGH thin heeled shoes :) It made for a great location for a musical event. To experience the music bouncin off the ceiling and walls - truly magical!

Went to the Candlelight: Tribute to Adele concert. Besides the concert being great, the venue (what…read morethis review is about) is definitely 5 stars or greater. The location is on Old Falls of Neuse Road in an upscale countrisque setting in the Southwest Wake Forrest area. There is a private road that provides access to parking under a covered horse show area or nicely kept grass fields. The ride to parking itself is very aestheticly pleasing. One drawback is that disabled parking is at a different address, so call ahead to get this information if you need to. The facility claims, and I am positive, it is ADA accessible; however, I did not see the elevator which is probably on the opposite side of the barn from the stairs by the bathrooms. The upstairs space is large and open. This is where concerts and weddings are held. Downstairs is a hallway with two staircases on one side of the barn and bathrooms and probably an elevator on the other. The entrance is in the middle facing a lawn that goes to parking and open areas for outside venues with outside fireplaces. Little rooms open to the center hallway exist as small sitting rooms and bar stations on the ground floor. A very incredible venue. Worth considering for a wedding, business event, concert, play, etc. Candlelight regularly hosts concerts here. Check them out at https://candlelightexperience.com/ Candlelight Concerts: Official Tickets. My companion and I had a wonderful experience attending the candlelight concert at the Historic Wakefield Barn.

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!

We had a fantastic experience with Alyssa at A Southern Soiree for our daughter's wedding. Alyssa's…read moreexpertise and professional demeanor was reassuring in the months leading up to the wedding and particularly in the final planning stages. There are so many moving parts on the day of, and Alyssa insulated us so that we could soak in the day and enjoy the moments throughout. Thank you, Alyssa and A Southern Soiree, for everything you did to orchestrate a truly beautiful wedding!!

We hired Priscilla about a year before our October 2013 wedding. Upon meeting her my mom, (now)…read morehusband and I loved her! We knew her focus was on her customers: the bride and groom and this planning was about marriage. She has her priorities straight in this world that often finds wedding vendors thinking of you and your special day as their art project and their vision. Trust me...we met enough crazy vendors during the wedding process to know someone with their head on straight about marriage! Priscilla made our wedding come together in wonderful ways! Our wedding was everything we ever dreamed of and more. She helped us mostly with day of planning, selecting and communicating with vendors and making recommendations throughout the process. During wedding planning crazy-ness she made myself and my mom feel comfortable with all aspects of the process. Being a project manager and graphic designer at a busy publishing company, I had little time to focus on the smaller details of the wedding. I wish she could still help me plan out my weeks at work!! Priscilla had an answer and a solution to any questions or concerns we had. I definitely recommend having a day of coordinator at the very least! My mom and dad wanted to enjoy the wedding and not worry about details like making sure the caterer arrived on time, everyone walked down the aisle in order, coordinating the setup of the ceremony, dismissing tables to eat, etc. And things you think won't go "wrong" will sometimes. It doesn't matter how many spreadsheets or phone calls you make before the wedding either. For instance, the cake my husband and I were to cut didn't arrive for whatever reason from the baker. Priscilla was there to fix it on the spot. She was so calm and came over while we were eating dinner and asked us what our favorite cupcake flavor was. Priscilla quickly re-organized the cake cutting into a cupcake cutting! I was so caught up in the joy of marriage, love, being surrounded by family and friends that I totally forgot we had ordered a smash cake to cut! Priscilla made it work without it being a big deal. It all worked out as we got to enjoy the cake the next week when the baker delivered it! And, as a project manager myself and working with 60+ clients at a time...she does work on your wedding behind the scenes and as certain deadlines near, she will respond promptly and you'll find your concern was already taken care of. I don't respond within 1 hour of my clients calling me about their project that is printing in 6 months or in a year. Of course, I do try to respond within a few days, but like everyone else in the world your best friend is prioritization! Just make sure you have your expectations in order when booking any vendor wedding or what have you in your life. I highly recommend Priscilla and her team. She is very personable and knows what weddings are truly about! Plus, she gets stuff done! :-)

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!

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

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!!

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!

Our catering team had the pleasure of catering a birthday celebration here early this year. Great…read morespace, extremely clean and well maintained. The owner are very friendly and helpful.

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 highly recommend Gina Myers as a wedding planner. She was a real life saver to me and my family…read more I foolishly took on the job of planning the wedding of my son and his finance all by myself, and for a month and a half I was miserable. The details were just overwhelming. I finally decided I at least needed a "day of" planner and contracted with Gina. The breaking point came when the place I had contracted to do the reception fell through. Gina was by my side and she quickly swung into action. Within an hour, we had an appointment with another venue. From that time on, I asked her to take over, to be the full planner. She graciously agreed. She was invaluable in helping me locate and book a soloist for the church, a DJ, a band, a makeup artist, transportation, a graphic artist, a wedding cake baker, and other needed vendors. Her voice of experience was very helpful for me as well as my son and his finance. None of us were that familiar with all the wedding etiquette and protocols, but she's a pro. My son and his finance quickly grew to like her and trust her. It was very helpful to have a go between between me and the couple so they could feel like they could share openly and honestly. The best part was that she was always cheerful and upbeat and seemed genuinely interested in our needs and wants. Her years of experience made her quickly able to assess the likes and dislikes of the bride and make appropriate recommendations. My only regret is that I didn't hire her from day one.

From the owner: Wedding Planning, Event Planning, Event Design, Month of Coordinationread more

From the very beginning of planning our wedding, I knew I wanted a videographer to capture our…read morewedding day. Thankfully, my parents supported that decision, and Morgan Scott Films was recommended by our wedding planner, Amanda Blair by Design. From our first conversation with Elijah, I felt like he heard me and saw my vision for our wedding film. He even sent me a couple examples of past weddings that perfectly depicted the intimate vibe I wanted for our film. Then, COVID-19 rocked the world, and with two weeks left leading up to our (rescheduled) wedding day, it was apparent that we wouldn't have a reception, and thus, no reception on our film. With the help of our creative planner, Amanda Honeycutt, and venue, The Merrimon-Wynne, we were still able to incorporate traditional aspects into our ceremony, and Elijah and Gabriel were ready to capture it all even as plans changed. Elijah suggested that my now-husband and I film interviews giving our respective accounts of getting married and going through with our wedding during a pandemic. I am SO thankful that we took him up on that. It is already so special to watch it and remind ourselves that God's blessings are nonstop even during a weird time where struggle seems more prevalent than joy. I can imagine that years from now, us sharing that film with our children and grandchildren will be so special. The final product was perfection. They captured the emotions that we'd felt leading up to a wedding in the midst of a pandemic, and they made it flow effortlessly despite our wedding not looking like others typically do. I am SO thankful we got to work with Morgan Scott Films for our August 7, 2020 wedding.

I can't even describe how incredible it was to work with Elijah at Morgan Scott Films. His calm…read morepersonality, professionalism, and creativity made him truly amazing to work with. His work is beyond perfect, and our video couldn't be better. He captured every emotion of our day with perfection, and it is beautiful. Elijah exceeded any expectation we had and we couldn't be happier. Thank you so much for giving us the gift of these memories that we can cherish forever!