Mountain Wedding
As we first mentioned here, last weekend my cousin Megan and her now-husband Anthony got married in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. It was a beautiful (though chilly) weekend filled with nice views, family, thrift stores, and – oh yeah – “I Do”s.
The wedding ceremony was held on a open-air mountain top chapel called “Pretty Place.” Let’s just say it lived up to its name and then some.
After Clara happily babbled her way through the ceremony (yes, we were those people) we headed to Rainbow Lake Resort for the tented reception filled with fall colors.
This was Clara’s second wedding (her first being Sherry’s brother’s back when she was 4 months old), but it was the first one that she didn’t sleep through. So a big thanks to whoever thought of the awesome idea to put out crayons and a Megan & Anthony themed coloring book for all of the kids. Between that, her big crazy hat, and a box of raisins, Clara had no clue that fall weather was upon us.
Congrats again to Megan & Anthony!
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Ah, you were so close…my dreams of meeting you all are getting closer. Pretty Place is gorgeous. Yeah for happy weekends!
I know so many people who have been married at Pretty Place! My best friend’s parents were wed there in the early 70′s. Glad you enjoyed NC. Next time come a little closer to the coast to visit with some totally-not-psycho-stalker fans! ;)
I love that they served IZZE at their wedding reception. The grapefruit is my fave!
We loved that! It was how you found your seat (your tag was tied to it). Such a cute and creative wedding!
xo,
s
My husband and I wanted to get married there. We ended up ruling it out because we got married in early March and it would have been freezing!
Is her little sweater hand-knit? Looks lovely.
That’s from Old Navy on clearance- $2!
xo,
s
What a beautiful place to get married! I love the autumn colours in the table settings too. Taking babies to weddings can be hard work. Our very dear friends got married in Nornalup (Western Australia) http://www.valleyofthegiants.com.au/ earlier this year. It was a cozy affair with seven guests (plus guests’ children, another five). I took our 15 month old son for the trip on my own (hubs was best man at another wedding – timing!). It was a difficult weekend, between nappy changes in the forest, demands for snacks mid-vow and the poor bride helping to clean up vomit after the wedding dinner (I could have died). So if you thought you were ‘those’ guests… don’t worry – it might have been worse ;)
Oh my gosh! Sounds crazy! That link sure made it look gorgeous though.
xo,
s
A road trip that involves gorgeous flowers and free Izze is always a winner in my book!
I absolutely love Pretty Place!! An old childhood friend of mine has a house right up that road, and we would go play there all the time. Great place for a wedding!
What a beautiful wedding! Thanks so much for posting the details. It’s already made its way to my Pinterest boards!
We stayed in a cabin on the GA side of Blue Ridge for our family reunion and I must say….breathtaking!! Downtown was so quaint and old tradition shops. Love all the fall decor they used!
Looks like we were in the same area this past weekend! We’re currently moving back to Boone, NC, and were there with family/friends, celebrating moving back :-) It was a crisp weekend, that’s for sure! I LOVED your friends wedding cake!
I love Pretty Place! I went to college in Greenville, SC and we used to go up to Pretty Place! It’s so gorgeous!
Two of my best friends had their minister announce at the start of their wedding: “don’t leave if you kid cries or talks or shrieks. we knew you had kids when we invited you. we’ll all do what you usually do and ignore them.”
It was an awesome way to explain that they didn’t want anyone standing in the back of the room or leaving. Very touching!
Of course Clara’s so cute I’m sure any talking was instantly forgiven :)
That’s so cute! Thankfully our whole family just giggled and the show went on.
xo,
s
I LOVE that they had the minister announce that-it was incredibly thoughtful and I imagine it took so much stress off of the parents.
I like the sounds of kids at weddings-it’s an affirmation of life and all that the future holds.
So pretty! I went to college at Clemson which is just a few hours from Pretty Place, one of my favorite spots! Such a good place for a wedding.
It’s so weird to me when you talk about everyday places i’m used it! I’m from the Brevard/Asheville area and live in Charlotte. Makes it all seem full circle :-)
OMG! Our good friends just got married at that exact place a little over a year ago!!!
It’a absolutely breathtaking, isn’t it?
Small world….
P.S. my post with an almost identical pic!!
http://thejenksfamilyblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/weekend-out.html
So funny! Such a small world.
xo,
s
You went to Pretty Place! My cousin got married here as well – in fact, it’s on Cleveland Cliff, named after my family, and I used to work at the YMCA camp the chapel is a part of. Ah, memories. :) So glad you were able to see a piece of this beautiful part of the country.
I was at a Cleveland wedding at Pretty Place in 2006!
More, more, more. I love hearing about other people’s weddings.
How pretty! I love the colors of the flowers. And I agree with everyone else — mmm Izze!
My parent’s live on the road to Pretty Place! We sit on the porch a lot of Saturdays and watch all the wedding guest drive by… love the mountain life!
I think it’s wonderful that there are people who welcome children at their weddings. Weddings should be all about family, after all, since marriage is the beginning of a new family unit.
We took our daughter to a wedding when she was almost 2. When the processional music started, my daughter started belting out her ABCs. It was cute and funny, but I chose to take her out in the hallway for the rest of the ceremony … just in case.
Haha, adorable!
xo,
s
omg. gorgeous. hmm.. maybe we’ll have a vow renewal there (they’re all the rage now I hear!)
Oh! My! Gosh! That’s the place the hubs (a minister) officiated a wedding about eight years ago. It was a cold, rainy, fall weekend and the fog rolled in and completely hid the view. Bummer! Still, the wedding was fun and memorable.
Side note: Brevard is the home of the FlyLady, Marla Cilley, who some have mentioned on your site from time to time.
Love it!
xo,
s
Oh my gosh, is that cake supposed to look like a white birch tree? I’m dying over here! Love the centerpieces… I had similar flowers at my wedding. But the apples really make it. Love, Love, Love.
Isn’t that cake amazing?! It was actually sitting on a big slab of wood, and the icing had striations like birch. So pretty! And delicious too.
xo,
s
I feel like I just had a celebrity siting! This is only about 45 minutes from me, we go there several times a year. SO beautiful! I’m sure the wedding was gorgeous :)
My husband proposed to me at Pretty Place 5 years ago! He placed our digital camera on the stones beneath the cross to take a photo of us w/ the mountains in the background with the self-timer. After the photo snapped, I ran over and picked up the camera to view the picture, and the ring box was behind the camera! :) Awww…the memories!
Aw so cute!
xo,
s
Lovely spot! My good friends got married earlier this year in Cashiers, NC, in a gorgeous mountain valley. It was breathtaking as well. We actually spent our very short honeymoon in Cashiers last October – lucky for us, my cousins have an awesome mountain “cabin” that they loaned us for the long weekend. It was free and so peaceful. A great kick off for married life.
What a beautiful place to celebrate a weddin! Being foreign myself, i´ve been to a couple of weddings in the south, would you say there are a lot of differences in the way weddings and other family events are celebrated in the south compared to the north/ other parts of the u.s? what does Sherdog a.k.a. Jersey girl think?
Oh yes, I definitely can tell the difference between a northern wedding and a southern wedding! Love them both.
xo
s
Every summer we go to family camp at Camp Greenville, where Pretty Place is located. It is one of my most favorite places! I was so surprised to see your cousin was married there- small world!
Hey! Beautiful wedding! BTW…is that John in a suit??? lol! I love those flower arrangements….’ahh’ Clara is a dolly too!
Haha- he’s so dapper.
xo,
s
Ooh! I almost got married at Pretty Place!
Oh my goodness gracious – we almost got married there but went elsewhere since we have a July wedding date!! For a second I was confused and thought I had clicked on an old bookmark of mine when I saw the first photo :)
Our son is about the same age as Clara and did the same thing at a wedding last weekend! He sat patiently up until the vows started and the whole place was quiet and then started in with silly bee-dee-bee-dee-bee-dee noises! SO embarrassing. I was strongly encouraging him to put his sippy cup in his mouth, even though he’d already drank everything.
Totally off-topic but I saw this today and thought of Burger:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzuiymgMJXQ
Two questions: 1) was he so adorably cute as a puppy?! 2) would he have the guts to take on a big dog like that?
Haha- yes! He looked just like that! And yes- he’s still a very brave guy- but as a puppy he was crazy brave!
xo,
s
I used to hike to Pretty Place when I was an awkward kid in summer camp in Brevard. I have such a clear memory to nervously chatting with my first major crush (there is no love quite like 12 year old summer camp love) on the rock wall there. Too much!
When you get back to Asheville, you must stop by The Screen Door: http://www.screendoorasheville.com/ And then eat some biscuits at Tupelo Honey.
Off-topic question (though related to weddings you attended.) You wrote about dyeing your wedding dress silver-gray, and then wearing it to a different wedding. Someone asked if the dye job held up after cleaning and you said you didn’t know since you hadn’t cleaned it yet. Now that it is years later, how did the dye hold up? I assume you’ve had it dry cleaned by now? Also, did you end up wearing it (post-dye job) more than once?
It held up great! No issues at all with dry cleaning! And yes, I’ve worn it probably five times! So glad I dyed it.
xo,
s
My brother and SIL were married at Pretty Place! I recognized that first photo immediately. Such a gorgeous place for a wedding! (although our daughter, the flower girl, got a little carsick on the way up the mountain. Thank goodness she didn’t have on her fancy dress yet!)
To everyone who lives near Asheville like me….who have been to Pretty Place a cabillion times like me…who got super giddy like me because our favorite DIYers were close by- ever thought about getting together for a YHL craft party?
Sherry/John, I’d love to host a Christmas themed YHLovers craft-a-palooza in the Asheville, NC area. I bet we could coordinate these in various cities. You’d just need a brave person in each designated city to coordinate it. Then we could send you fun pictures from the party of all your YHLove fans.
That or we could do a Halloween party and dress up like you guys. HAHA J/K
Haha- that sounds like so much fun! Send me pics for sure! We’d love to road trip down there soon!
xo,
s
Awesome! I moved to Brevard 7 months ago when I got married and I now work for a local florist. I would have been so geeked out if I found out I worked on flowers for your cousin’s wedding! :-) We’ve done weddings at both Pretty Place and Rainbow Lake, but alas, not last weekend. :-)
Looks like a beautiful wedding!
I should have mentioned this on the main post comments, but be sure to visit Screen Door (SO cool) and the Tobacco Barn if you are in Asheville some other time. There a actually a bunch of really big antique stores in the vicinity of the Tobacco Barn.
Thanks for the suggestions Sue!
xo,
s
Oh my goodness! The second I clicked on Young House Life I recognized Pretty Place! As a teenager I spent summers at Camp Greenville. We would hike up to Pretty Place, climb over the railing to sit on the rocks and watch the sunrise. Magical times. I’m so glad you guys got to experience a family wedding there! So many memories attached to that chapel (and the view).
Ah! My names Meagan and my boyfriends name is Anthony.. is this a sign? lol
Haha- yes!
xo,
s
Hi cousins!! Thanks so much for the posts on the wedding. We were certainly glad you all were able to make it down and loved the background noises from all the little ones. Glad to hear people loved the IZZES..wasn’t sure if it was going to be a hit or a flop…but looks like at least this audience approves :) Love your fans for that!
xoxo
Oh yes- so much fun!!!! Hope you sweet newlyweds are having a fabulous honeymoon!
xo,
s
Ahh, you were so close! Pretty Place is a beautiful place for a wedding. I looked into it when my husband and I got married. Yay for fun weekend trips and weddings!
I should have known it was Pretty Place when I I saw “Brevard wedding” on YHLove. How did you like the mountainside ride up to Pretty Place? It was a bit of a nail biter for me :)
Oh yeah, it was quite the twisty turny trek!
-John
It was a chilly weekend – we were camping not too far away! It’s such a beautiful part of NC.
Looks like a beautiful wedding. Love the colors and that cake – oh, my!
Ahhh that cake is to die for!! I am so copying that idea for our wedding next fall. Love. Pinned. Love!
Hey, I’ve been there! You were in my neck of the woods. It really is a “pretty place.” :)
Do you know who made the cake? I’m thinking it was made by a very talented friend of mine! So glad you liked the NC mountains. My husband and I moved here from NY about 15 years ago and we just love it : )
So sorry, we’re not sure! Too funny that you might know the cake designer though! And it tasted delicious.
xo,
s
Are there any more wedding pics? It’s so beautiful! Are you not using flickr anymore?
Those are all the wedding pics we shared, but we do plan to upload stuff to flickr too (just to back it up off-site – but it’ll probably be repeat pics).
xo,
s