Party Perfection Weddings + Events — Local services in New Bern

Unfortunately, my husband and I were disappointed with Geneva and her team regarding how our wedding was managed. To provide some context, we hired Geneva later in our wedding planning after changing our venue, which required a wedding planner. Yet, at this time our wedding was still a year away. I had read through the positive reviews on her page and felt encouraged to hire her. However, due to time constraints after switching venues, my husband and I had not met Geneva in person before hiring her.

We chose the partial planning package offered by Geneva and her staff. During our first meeting with her, it became evident that she was quite curt, and our family also noted her lack of friendliness. Despite this, we decided to trust that her personality was well-suited for the wedding planning industry. We hoped she would help ensure our day ran smoothly, which was the main reason we hired her.

As our wedding day approached, Geneva requested a meeting at the venue. At this time we had invited our families to join us at the venue. Unfortunately, Geneva had to reschedule for the following day due to a family emergency, which we understood. In hindsight, had we known that this was meant to be a final walkthrough, we would have requested more preparation from her. The venue staff did not attend this meeting, likely because they were also unaware it was intended as a final walkthrough. Furthermore, Geneva's assistant, who would be helping with the rehearsal, also was not present. It was during this final walkthrough that I requested our rehearsal to take place the night before the wedding, as opposed to Geneva's suggestion of having it the morning of the wedding.

In the week leading up to our wedding, I received several messages from Geneva trying to coordinate our rehearsal. However, by this time, our officiant had already scheduled a walkthrough at the venue, the catering for the rehearsal dinner had been arranged, and invitations for our welcome party had already been sent out. While we communicated this to Geneva, we were informed that her staff would be late.

Geneva's assistant was kind and unfortunately faced more criticism than she deserved due to the miscommunication between the details meeting and the actual rehearsal events—this was not her fault. Though Geneva had handled all our meetings, she suddenly became unavailable for the rehearsal.

On the morning of our wedding, my husband informed me that Geneva had inappropriately asked him to settle our invoice. This invoice had been paid in full prior to our wedding day, just like all our other payments. It was unfortunate that this conversation occurred while my husband was getting ready with his family and groomsmen.

As a bride, my husband and I understood that there might be hiccups on our wedding day. However, we underestimated the significant details that would be overlooked, such as our wedding cake and hundreds of dollars worth of champagne not being served to our guests. We also learned from our vendors that supplies were not provided to them (like non-alcoholic beverage options for our guests), and Geneva claimed she did not know where these items were. This likely happened because she was not present during the rehearsal at the venue, where all the items were located.

Ultimately, I would strongly advise any future brides to reach out to previous clients of Geneva and schedule a meeting with her before hiring her as a vendor—this is where we believe we made our mistake. I feel that our wedding was not a priority for Geneva, which is unfortunate, especially since we had booked our event at a brand new venue. I would expect this to be a priority, as it could lead to future bookings for Geneva and her staff. We were informed that Geneva and her team had booked four weddings on the same day as ours, and our wedding was the smallest of the bookings. I’m curious to see if this feedback remains on her page, as it appears she only has...

We hired Geneva in summer 2020 for our wedding in May 2021 and we are so glad that we did. Geneva was always there for us when we had questions and concerns, especially in the covid era. When we needed recommendations for vendors, Geneva had the best list of people to choose from. When we wanted to book our venues at Tyron Palace and Cypress Hall, Geneva already knew exactly who to contact and got it done. She reviewed every contract and every aspect of our wedding. On the day of our event, Geneva was so on top of everything that had to be done, and all we had to do was enjoy our wedding day. Usually you hear about one or two things that go wrong during a wedding, for ours there were 0, and we attribute that to Geneva and her team. After our wedding, we both said we could NOT have done this without her, and we truly mean that. If you’re thinking of hiring a wedding planner for your wedding, run don’t walk to Geneva. If you’re thinking you might not need a wedding planner, reconsider that thought and think about all of the things a wedding planner does to make your day perfect. To summarize, just hire Geneva and her team for your wedding, you...

If you’re on the fence of hiring Party Perfections, DO IT. Haley Thomas played a huge role in making our day better than we could’ve ever dreamed of. Having a multicultural wedding (I’m Mexican and my husband is White), I was a bit worried about how our wedding day would play out with the Mexican traditions I wanted, but when I tell you Haley and her assistant, Grace, were on top of every single detail. Wherever they were needed, they were there. I live in Raleigh and my wedding was in New Bern. Haley was so flexible with dates/times to meet to finalize details and she was ALWAYS available by phone. My family has never used a planner before and my parents were in awe at how Haley communicated so well with everyone, her professionalism, and attention to detail. We’re not used to sitting back and not touching a single thing, and there was a point where Haley told us to sit back, relax, and enjoy our day. If we could give her more than 5 stars, we would! We seriously could not thank...