Wedding in Asheville, NC - May 2011

valeriewheelock

Hi - I got engaged on New Year's Eve and would like feedback on wedding planners, venues and photographers. 

Wedding Planners - I've reached out to about 10, but if you can recommend someone that did a great job and is very creative, that would be great!

Venues -  Biltmore Estates, Grove Park Inn and Lake Luke so far. 

Photographers - Mcnabb?

Weather - I've researched the weather, but many people have told me that Asheville may be unpredictable.  What do you think?

Thanks!  Any thoughts and advice you can provide would be great!

booboo122887

First of all Congratulations!! I got engaged last New Year's also! We are getting married at Rumbling Bald Resort in Lake Lure. It is absolutely gorgeous! We looked at Biltmore and Grove Park also but really liked the outdoor venue at Rumbling Bald....plus its cheaper. There are also some great places like Claxton Farms and The Farm in Candler. Our photographer is Amber Wiseman out of Marion. I hope this helps! Good luck with planning!!

SD3194

Congrats! I live in Asheville so I'll try to give you some ideas. I can't help much with planners or photographers though, sorry.

I'm not sure what your budget looks like but the Biltmore and Grove Park Inn are very expensive. The cheapest package the Biltmore offers is $150 a person, $3200 to rent the facility and a $12,000 minimum food and beverage order. The most expensive package is $15000 to rent the facility, $220 a person and a $15000 minimum food and beverage order. Pretty pricey stuff. PM me and I'll email you the packet.

There are plenty of beautiful locations in Asheville aside from these two places. The Venue downtown is beautiful and has amazing food (PM me for packet). A few other nice venues are the Crest Center, Fontaine Vineyards, Packs Tavern and Claxton Farms. RomanticAsheville.com has a pretty good sized list of venues too.

I also recommend Laureys Catering. I was a chef there for many years and the food is great.

Weather is really nice here. It doesn't rain a whole lot and it's not very humid. Late October is prime time wedding season because the leaves are changing, it's also the driest month of the year.

tarheelbabs

Congratulations!!  A friend's daughter got married at Biltmore in August. I did not attend the wedding, but have seen the photos and talked to the mom.  The photos are gorgeous and they seemed very pleased with everything.  I know they used a wedding planner who coordinated flowers, etc.

One thing I do know is that they used Woodward and Rick photography.  I had seen their photos on SMP and they're gorgeous.  She also had her e-pics taken on the Biltmore Estate--cool idea.  All the photos were beautiful.  And, I think W&R was very easy to work with and generous about sharing the pix.  Nice.  If you'd like more info, PM me and I'll ask her who else they used.  Happy planning!

ash12380

Hi!  If you want to get married in Asheville in May, my advice is to get things booked fast!!  I'm getting married at the Crest Center in Asheville in August and we are having a few hurdles getting our first choice vendors for our day.  We have friends getting married at Claxton Farms (just outside of Asheville) in October and they are having a terrible time finding vendors.  May, September and October are popular times to get married in Asheville!

In Lake Lure, we really liked the Inn on Lake Lure - it was our second choice venue.  It's very unique and has a lot of charm.  It's also where they filmed parts of Dirty Dancing.  They were all extremely nice and they do a lot of weddings there so they do a great job!!  Rumbling Bald was under construction when we went up there and no one was around to answer questions, but it looks like it is nice enough.

You may also want to look into Hendersonville.  It is a quaint town about 30 min outside of Asheville with beautiful sites and charm.  I'm not sure of many venues there - but their country club is absolutely gorgeous!  It has beautiful views on the mountains and an indoor atrium that is fabulous!  The food is also very good there.

For photographers, we liked Two Ring Studios and Corey Cagle.

jmep1902

If you want an absolutely awesome photographer, Kristen Byrum  would be great, she is in Charlotte but travels and her husband works with her.  You can google her and look at some of pictures but so many of my friends have used her, and loved her and their pictures.  Also Biltmore is so pretty, I had my engagement pictures taken there and they turned out really nice.