When Billy and I got engaged, I knew I wanted a destination wedding. Since we would be getting married in the summer, and I wanted an outdoor wedding, heading north to the North Carolina mountains made the most sense to try and get some cooler weather. I had always wanted to visit Old Edwards Inn, and figured our wedding might just be the time to do it!
Planning a destination wedding sight unseen isn’t that uncommon. Luckily for us, Old Edwards Inn is a short 2 hour drive from Atlanta, so we were able to go up and visit two times before our wedding. The first time we went to decide on a venue location, we absolutely fell in love. The scenery is stunning, the town is as idyllic as you’d hope, and the Inn is perfect. We had multiple options for our smaller (46 guest) wedding, and decided to go with the Springhouse. The Springhouse is commonly used for rehearsal dinners, but since our wedding was small, it had everything we wanted – a bar/terrace area overlooking the courtyard we got married in for the cocktail hour, a separate dining area with room for a dance floor, and on site bathrooms no one would need to go outside to get to in case of rain.
Old Edwards has MANY venues to choose from, and their packages are reasonably priced, in my opinion, for the service, venue quality and food. Our venue included chairs, tables, place settings including the chargers, and white linens, which saved us a lot of money not needing rentals. We stuck with a simple centerpiece (candles and vase from Michaels and green wreaths from Costco for a total of $150 for 6 tables) and that was all we needed since the room was already beautifully decorated.
As soon as you arrive at Old Edwards Inn, you’ll be greeted with champagne and someone will escort you to your room. The beds are the most comfortable, and the bathrooms are amazing, especially since they all have heated floors! There are also delicious treats throughout the hotel such as cookies in your room upon check-in and unlimited dove chocolate bars, which I may have had the morning of my wedding while getting my hair done (thanks, Dad for getting that for me!).
The hotel has a few main areas to stay in, all within a 3 block walking distance. The Historic Inn, located right on Main Street, the Lodge, which is behind the Inn across the street, and the Falls Cottage Cabins, right behind the Lodge. When we go back, the Lodge are personally our favorite rooms, as they are a nice size, have a little more privacy since the doors open to the outside, and their central location. Our wedding venue was in the Falls Cottage area, and this is where I got dressed. Billy got ready at the Lodge rooms so he was able to just walk across the street when it was time for the ceremony. Most of our wedding portraits were taken in the Falls Cottage area, so you can see how beautiful it is! We took the 2 minute walk back to the Lodge so we could get a few portraits with the mountains in the background and took a few minutes of alone time before we went to the cocktail hour.
Old Edwards Inn is part of the Relais & Chateaux network, and it’s obvious to see why! We love Old Edwards Inn so much, we found another Relais and Chateaux property for our honeymoon in French Polynesia, Le Taha’a, and it was as perfect as we could have hoped! I’ll write a full review of staying at Old Edwards Inn and Le Taha’a later!
If you need help planning a weekend getaway, honeymoon, or destination wedding, I’d love to chat! You can email me at victoria@viabankstravel.com.
Victoria
Photography: Heather K Cook
Wedding Planning: Like The Dazzling
Flowers: Ginger Rose
Cakes: Pastry Shells
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