As Asheville wedding planners, we are always thinking about the “what ifs”. What if it rains? What if someone cancels? What if dinner is late? We are constantly prepared to pivot. 2020 is the year of The Pivot. Rather than being on-site at back to back weekends from May to October, we’ve become proficient reschedulers. We’ve worked hard to find ways to celebrate safely during a pandemic. We’ve laughed and cried and said very bad words. We’ve done what Asheville wedding planners do. We planned. And we prepared to pivot.
Emily and Jason was our first (and almost last) wedding of 2020. And you know what was super awesome about this wedding? It happened “before”. So… literally everything was awesome 😉
We met Emily and Jason when they were touring a different venue on a day when we were doing a wedding! They stopped by to see our setup and the event room and had some questions about the space and some other venues they were planning on touring that weekend. We were so happy when they reached out again after they picked Lioncrest for their wedding!
From the very beginning, working with Emily and Jason was a great experience. Emily and Jason were living in NYC, but were in the process of moving to Raleigh. They were both very involved in the wedding planning process and were always ready with opinions and ideas. We are thrilled with how everything came together for them.
It’s so fun to watch to wedding day magic happen from behind the scenes.
gorgeous girls getting all glammed up 😉
and a seriously good looking group of guys!
(y’all. the cuteness is unbearable!)
Emily’s dress was stunning.
a few finishing touches…
a final bit of bling…
deep breath…
The best part about a First Look is the time that our couples have to be alone for a bit. The quiet time allows you to remember the whole point of the day. Your love.
Plus, when there’s a First Look, everyone can wait together prior to the ceremony. It’s more fun AND more convenient 😉
We love that they chose to pair the traditional and elegant look with more modern elements like acrylic. In design, opposites are attractive 😉 Juxtaposing contrasting textures and styles provide a really nice tension.
There are no rules when it comes to your wedding! And you should really have what your heart desires. Emily and Jason wanted to honor their friends and family as their wedding party but really wanted to stand solo at the alter. It was beautifully simple and very intimate, and their wedding party still walked down the aisle, they just sat in the first two rows.
The space at Lioncrest has a beautiful Southern veranda with gorgeous exposed wood. A perfect backdrop for their ceremony.
Seriously. This is stunning.
The Biltmore Estate never fails to be spectacular.
And it is officially time to celebrate!
The band was so good – Emily and Jason spent a lot of time choosing Soul Psychedelic, and we think their choice totally paid off.
And finally… MILK AND COOKIES!!! Who doesn’t like late night milk and cookies?!? Particularly, cookies from Levian Bakery in NYC. We had a fair number of guests from NYC at the wedding and the squeals were audible when guests saw the cookies. Super fun way to end the night!
Congratulations Emily & Jason! Thanks so much for choosing us as your Asheville wedding planners 😉
and as always…
Huge thanks to the vendors who made this wedding day happen! We are super thankful for you!
Venue – Lioncrest
Photographer – Two Ring Studios
Caterer – Lioncrest
Florist – Flora
Reception Musicians – Soul Psychedelic
Officiant – Asheville Marriages
Baker – Lioncrest
Hair Artist – Hughes Hair Design
Makeup Artist – Blush
Asheville Wedding Planners – Verge Events
Grove Park Inn is a wonderful space to design for. We love utilizing the different spaces available to us. In the case of Lindsay and Nathan’s wedding, we added luxurious fabrics, classic floral in glitzy arrangements, and lots of fantastic lighting.
Lindsay and Nathan wanted a show stopper at their ceremony. Something that would add a jaw drop to the already fabulous view. So we built a huge arbor with a working hanging chandelier. It was a perfect juxtaposition to the mountain setting. 
We ordered a custom runner with their monogram printed on it. After the wedding, we kept the monogramed part for them so they could frame it in their house later. It was a very dramatic and super sophisticated touch at the ceremony.
This North Carolina wedding design is full of custom touches. We worked with our friends at 
The couple liked the pavilion at Grove Park Inn, and they particularly loved the view that it gave them, but it didn’t quite capture the elegance and glam that they wanted. So in order to dial of the drama, we worked with 
Another detail that I love that just really upped the glam was the couples monogram projected on the dance floor. It was perfect for this North Carolina wedding design! 
Finally, because the room is so big, and the ceilings are so tall, we decided to go high with the centerpieces – when you’re designing it’s important to take scale into account. If you have a really big space – or are competing with nature you need a big element to really pack a design punch. We think that this North Carolina wedding design does a fabulous job of enhancing all of the great elements of this venue… with a healthy sprinkling of glam all over!
oh my goodness… how precious is this wonderful grandmother?! 
love. this. 
and so happy! 
The weather held out for us so we could have an outdoor wedding – which is a rarity in Asheville (particularly when we have a major ceremony set up like that arbor 😉 ). It’s definitely something for couples to think about if they are picking an outdoor location… particularly for the reception. There is so much setup that goes on at a wedding (linens, place settings, centerpieces), so setting up a wedding can take anywhere from 5 hours to multiple days. Once things are set, they cannot be easily moved. So if you have ANY chance of rain on the forecast you’re playing with fire. In Asheville, in particular, it’s hard to predict the weather because we live in rainforest that is in the mountains. We have a saying here “wait 5 minutes and the weather will change”. Thankfully, we got seriously lucky with the weather on this day, and everything turned out beautifully.
Grove Park Inn is a gorgeous location for North Carolina weddings. This outdoor ceremony set up was just lovely. (So lovely that we will be sharing an additional post for Lindsay & Nathan’s design!) 
Paper was Elizabeth’s number one favorite and most important design element. Small touches. Big impact.
Fun detail! The escort card wall! We love a really big escort card display, and this one was awesome. The country club is located on a golf course with lots of surrounding greenery so we brought in boxwood to make everything feel green and lush. We love the way this turned out.
The tent was a show stopper. Clear top tent with twinkle lights and lots of hanging greenery. The design also had a hefty dose of modern elegance mixed in – things like the chandeliers in the tent and the coffee tables in the lounge leaned away from classic and traditional and more towards clean modern design
another favorite detail was the custom bar – it was just so elegant
and no. the bars do NOT need to match 😉
We love classic floral. This timeless white and green is just perfection.
We love the guys getting ready room here. The room is full of texture, and there is plenty of space to spread out.
Love how unique this first look is! When it is drizzling outside, sometimes the back up plan turns out even better 😉 What makes this even more special – it is at Elizabeth’s grandparents home, right down the road. The first look and all family pictures were done here, and on the grounds – making for some really special moments to look back on.
These are 2 of our favorite images from this wedding. Timeless and Classic!
Once pictures were finished, we headed back to Biltmore Forest Country Club. It is time to get these two married!
There is always so much anticipation in these moments. Everyone is in place…and then time seems to slow.
and just that fast, the waiting is over.
Such a stunning entrance!
These moments never get old.
Time to party! Because almost all of the pictures were done ahead of time, they could join thecocktail hour under the tent… and wait until you see this tent! (Design blog coming soon!)
We then moved guests inside for dinner. With two rooms filled with guests, we put a sweetheart table in each room so that they could spend time in each room during dinner. Love how thoughtful this is.
Then… time to party!
The best way to wrap a wedding night up is to fill the dance floor with people and party til you drop 😉
Congratulations, Elizabeth & Van! We are so happy for you both. It was a fantastic day, and we are thankful to have been a part of it!
