Wedding At The Ridge Asheville | Mallory & Dan

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This wedding at The Ridge Asheville was the perfect spot for Mallory & Dan to host their friends and family for this intimate moment (and tradition!). Here all about the bride’s planning and design process below!

Getting married on July 4th is an unofficial family tradition. So even before my husband proposed, we had the wedding date in mind! We are proudly the fourth generation in my family to be married on July 4th in Asheville, North Carolina. During our frequent travels to Asheville to visit family, I fell in love with the Blue Ridge Mountains and dreamed of getting married there. I knew the Blue Ridge Mountains would create the most magical and memorable wedding backdrop. Additionally, the mountain wedding allowed us to enjoy a wonderful outdoor Ceremony and Reception without worrying about subjecting our guests to excessive summer heat.

Our wedding design theme was “Parisian Garden Party.” The idea was born out of my husband’s and my love of France and our desire to have a casual, relaxed, and intimate event surrounded by nature. We chose colorful and calm pastels that were cheerful and felt elegant at the same time. My florist did an amazing job incorporating many colors without making the color theme feel like a rainbow explosion. We also incorporated a ton of fresh fruits and berries into our decor and floral to emphasize the gorgeous nature and summer vibes. That extra detail really elevated the floral design – I loved it! For dinner we went with food stations as stations create shorter lines (I didn’t want guests waiting in long buffet lines) and allow for casual seating and a relaxed atmosphere. We didn’t want the reception to feel too choreographed or stuffy – no assigned seating or set meal times; just sit where you want and eat when you want! We wanted our station menus to compliment each other with sophisticated food choices inspired by the summer season but to also reflect our personal palettes. Even though we were too busy during the reception to try every dish, we didn’t choose any food items that we wouldn’t enjoy. It’s really important to have your wedding feel like you and reflect you and your spouse, even in the food choices!

One of my favorite aspects of wedding planning was designing unique spaces around the Reception venue where guests could create memorable, intimate experiences. For example, we created a lovely photo booth area with a mountain backdrop and had an adorable coffee cart and summer inspired drink station, adorned with greenery. We also added a comfy bench swing facing the mountains for guests who wanted to step away and enjoy the scenery. We placed lawn games and cozy lounge seating with fire pits around the outside of the venue, so guests could wander in and out freely with multiple spaces to enjoy. We didn’t want our guests to feel confined to one space or table. We also set up a flower adorned refreshment cart for guests to enjoy upon their arrival at the venue for the Ceremony. My husband and I tried to anticipate our guests’ needs by thinking about what we would want if we were the guests!

A significant factor we considered when planning our wedding was Covid. We had no idea what the rules and regulations would be when our wedding day rolled around, so we planned everything with the worst case scenario in mind. We ensured all our food stations were attended by staff so the guests did not share serving utensils, we kept the wedding small and only invited our closest friends and family, and we had an outdoor Ceremony and an indoor-outdoor Reception. We wanted to make sure all our guests felt comfortable and could safely attend.

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See below the images for the full vendor list of this stunning wedding at The Ridge Asheville.