VSEPR theory and hybridization in determining the shape of a molecule
The VSEPR theory can indeed be used to predict geometry a priori. You would count the number of substituents around a central atom, counting any lone pairs as substituents also, and then find an arrangement that maximises the distance between all substituents. This theory works well for elements of the first period and compounds in which the central element is in the highest oxidation state, but tends to fail very rapidly for all others, most notably because it cannot account for anything outside of the traditional 2-electron-2-centre bond and because it considers all lone pairs equal even though they are typically not.

The hybridisation theory can only be used to predict geometry in a very limited number of cases that involve carbon atoms, and it only works because carbon is extremely regular. However, using hybridisation to predict carbon geometry is basically circling back onto VSEPR: you check how many atoms are bound to a certain carbon and thereby deduce whether this carbon atom will be $\mathrm{sp,sp^2}$ or $\mathrm{sp^3}$. Carbocations and carbanions can also be accomodated for (by either counting the anionic lone pair or ignoring it — as in VSEPR).

In general, however, it is not possible to predict the geometry following a certain hybridisation. Rather, one determines the geometry by an independent mean (e.g. quantum chemical calculations, gas phase diffraction), deduces the bond angles (and bond lengths) from the geometry and then derives a hybridisation. In short: hybridisation follows geometry, not the other way around.