What a weekend! After the 4th of July, S and I spent three
days visiting almost every single venue in which you could possibly host a
wedding in Asheville. Mostly for
my own recollection, here is a quick recap of what we saw and what I thought of
it:
1. Country Club of Asheville: I knew I would love this
venue, because I grew up right across from the street from it. I’ve spent countless hours at the pool,
tennis, and restaurants here. More
importantly, I have watched countless sunsets from the balcony of the
club. This has a fantastic view of
the mountains to the east and when the sun sets, it is just magical. The club is a top contender for the
wedding,
2. Century Room: the CR is above Pack’s Tavern, a popular
downtown restaurant. It is a large
loft with a rustic feel, but still central to everything happening on the
streets of Asheville. To me and S,
this venue just lacked the “wow” factor – ¾ of the view from the windows was
obscured by trees and the other fourth was just downtown, no mountains, no real
magic. It was nice but probably
not what we want. It may remain on
the list for price reasons, however.
3. The Venue: a cool upstairs/downstairs space with patios
on both levels (each level would only host one wedding), which was nice. This view was a little better, while
the location remained central.
However, two things stood out to us: first, the bathrooms were minimal –
only one per gender! No one wants to stand in line for the bathroom when a
party is ongoing! Second, the
price seemed to break things down instead of including what we wanted in the
initial price. It may have not
become a problem, but I felt like I might experience some hidden costs here.
4. Capital Club: an awesome new venue – it is right behind
the church and on the 17th floor of the building with a great patio. You can see the downtown and views from
all around. It might be a little
small for our group but is still in contention. It is a great space with lots of control for people who like
planning the details
5. Avenue M: we dropped by this restaurant as a potential
rehearsal dinner spot. It has a
nice neighborhood feel and the private room would be great if we have a
slightly smaller room. They had a
projection screen that would have been able to show a slide show or something
during the dinner, and I love the food there. The owner said the kitchen could handle a number of various
allergy/food preferences which is obviously needed. It’s on the list!
6. Grove Park Inn: we did not get an official tour here but
really we just grabbed a drink on the terrace here. The ballroom is nothing to speak of and it is expensive as
all get out. But the views are
preeeeeeetttttttyyyyyy
7. Tressa’s: we looked at the top floor at Tressa’s for a
potential rehearsal dinner spot.
The downstairs is an awesome jazz venue but the upstairs was a little
disappointing in comparison. I
think it would have been too small anyway, although it would have been an easy
after party, but ultimately just not our style.
8. Taylor Ranch: we did not have an appointment here, we
just drove up and looked at the place.
It was a great rustic feel, on a large property, but with nice bathrooms
and other facilities. The
structure was three-fourths walls and one-fourth open, but with plastic that
would roll-down to cover the opening in case of bad weather. It would hold a lot of people and a
band, easily, and looked out on a lake.
Great option.
9. Hickory Nut Gap Farm: I used to go to horse and art camp
here, and the family that owns it knows my family as well. It was a great space - the ceremony
place was enclosed by the stones and trees around it, and the reception area
was nice a big. The history of the
venue was great as well. The
problem for us was that the only bathrooms were port-a-potties and that was not
ideal for us.
10. North Carolina Arboretum: this was another self-guided
tour -- it was hard to visualize
exactly how things would be set up here and both S and my allergies were
flaring up there, so we nixed that idea.
11. On Broadway: this venue’s location is pretty self-evident,
right on Broadway street in the heart of downtown. It has a big, open floor plan and is owned by Celine and
Company, a catering company. Big
shocker: my mom knows Celine. It
is a very pretty space and an awesome location, so it is on the short list.
12. Orange Peel: the peel (I just made that up as a
nickname) is a concert venue downtown.
I have been to a number of concerts there and it is a really cool
space. My childhood dreams of
being a rockstar were definitely piqued in this space. Definitely on the short list.
13. Altamount:
another concert venue, this one is named for Thomas Wolfe’s pseudonym for
Asheville. This is literally right
across the street from the church so it would be extremely convenient. It was a bit too small for us though,
and the bathroom was on the lowest level, past the bar, which might have been a
glitch.
14. Homewood: located in historic Montford, Homewood is an
old castle-looking building.
Montford is the neighborhood where James Taylor did rehab and wrote
‘Fire and Rain’ and where Zelda Fitzgerald died in a mental hospital fire. The ceremony location was gorgeous –
visitors would walk down a spiral stone path to a secluded, peaceful area and
the bride and groom would be standing up a little elevated area. There were two problems: the first
owner was a dookie and modeled Homewood after that gothic architecture; also it
was too small, which is really the problem.
15. Biltmore: what can you really say about Biltmore? It’s
historic, it’s beautiful, there are so many venues that are available. However, the price is out of our
budget, particularly if we used it for the reception.
16. The Farm: this is a gorgeous, rustic location with some
great cabins on the site in which the wedding party could stay. It had a lot of décor that could be
included in a package deal, even some awesome archways under which we could get
married. So pretty, but a bit too
pricey for a rustic locale.
Other things we did that trip: two cake tastings (Short
Street Cakes and Blue Ridge Bear – both great, and some fun flavors) and ate
dinner at Posana, an all gluten-free restaurant downtown. The trip was super packed, but also
very productive and fun. I am so
excited to plan this wedding!
