Going outdoors

As most of those who plan a wedding know, having the date is one thing but you also need to have a venue available at the date of your choice which is why it's always best to be flexible.

Well, we both knew we wanted to have an outdoor ceremony. I was ready to have it somewhere on top of a mountain, that I have to admit would have made me very happy.
We are after all having a fall wedding and even though it will be late fall we hope and cross our fingers that there will still be some colors in the trees. How could we pass on having such a beautiful and natural background?

Our search started back in the summer of 2007. Every hike we went on became a possible site.
We though about Dupont State Forest, Craggy Gardens and many other places whose name now skips my mind. There was a problem however: one of our guests, Hubby's grandmother has difficulties moving because of Parkinson. She is not on a wheelchair but she has to use a wheeled walker. So as much as we love the outdoors, there was no way we could have a ceremony in a remote location because we wanted to include her.
We though about some of the overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway, but the traffic there isn't the most motivating site.

Of course there are a lot of beautiful venues in our area such as Biltmore Estate, the Grove Park Inn, Chimney Rock Park, Grandfather Mountain, the Crest Center and Pavilion, Claxton Farm or Hidden River Events. But we are after all on a small budget and had to play around that.
So as much as we kept looking around we could not find the perfect location for what we had in mind.

We needed something with a beautiful background, outdoors, with an easy access, not too far from Asheville to avoid extra driving and with an easy access for the elderly.
Thankfully we have many friends who are or just got married and therefore a lot of inspiration to work from...

(to be continued...)