Wedding Venues in Asheville That Feel Like Home

If there is one thing I absolutely love about the evolving nature of wedding venues, it’s the way that some of them can really make you feel at home

Back before I was a photographer and found myself at weddings strictly as a guest, I can remember walking into many wedding venues and basically feeling like I had entered the Taj Mahal: “Do Not Touch Anything! Knees together Ladies! Hands in the lap, this is a Wedding for Fluffs Sake!” 

But NOW! Not only is the “Wedding Culture” changing, so are the venues. And if there is one thing this quiet, introverted Wedding Photog loves, it is a venue that feels like I’m hanging at home.  Or someone else’s home…someone that cleans much more than I do. These are the venues where you CAN kick off your shoes, you CAN crack jokes with the bartenders, and yes, there is probably a living room for grandma and aunt Vickie to hide away in throughout the event. I only know they are in the living room because I am probably the one decompressing with them. 😉 

The Twisty Maple. 

This was the very first venue I shot at that gave me this feeling, and this place will always have my heart (and one of my water bottles that I left at the end of the night).  This venue feels like a home because it actually is! 

The reason The Twisty Maple feels like home is because it actually IS a home. A home turned Wedding Venue! My first wedding there was so sweet and cozy. When I arrived the bride and her ladies, who had all stayed there the night before, had their girly mess everywhere; just like at home. The parents of the bride were in the kitchen talking with the wedding planner over coffee while the makeup artist set up in the living room where all of the friends were gathered laughing. Even the parking lot is so beautiful that I always tend to pull my clients there during golden hour!

If this were the 90’s, we would have found a story about this in “Chicken Soup for the Introverted Wedding Photographers Soul”…if you know, you know. 

This venue is like a soft embrace. I could totally live there.

The Heavens

Similarly, I could also live at The Heavens!  Friends, this is the cutest little cabin tucked away in the mountains of Hot Springs, North Carolina, that is a beautiful mountain wedding venue. It’s small, elegant, and has a wide open field on property that photographer dreams are made of. The first time I visited this venue chickadees sang to me all the way up the driveway, swallows swooped from the roof and criss-crossed the field that I mentioned, and each blade of grass was beaded with perfect little drops of dew. 

While your guest list would need to be at no more than 30ish people, this venue offers the opportunity to have one of the most breath-taking intimate ceremonies you can imagine. 

Your Own Home 

While not everyone has this option or would ever dream of such an undertaking, some folks are truly breaking the mold and turning their own yards into the wedding venue of their dreams. 

I had the opportunity recently to photograph two amazing people as they were married in the same front yard where the bride learned to walk, surrounded by friends and family who had known them both probably longer than that. Their driveway held a beautiful tent with decorations that would rival any other dedicated venue, and the personal touch of being in their own space provided a backdrop and memory that cannot be touched. Have I already mentioned that “Chicken Soup for the Introverted Wedding Photographer’s Soul”? (I don’t even know why I keep referencing that- it’s like 90 degrees and chicken soup sounds terrible.) 

Anyway, I digress…..

But wedding venues with a touch of home certainly do not. 🙂 

Big Hugs, 

Wild Marie