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Lara + Justin’s Asheville Destination Wedding at Biltmore Estate!

October 21, 2019

Travel, Weddings

Not just a typical destination wedding at the Biltmore estate…WEDDING OF THE YEAR!

In the 5+ years I’ve known Laura Grier of Beautiful Day Photography, her destination wedding gigs have never disappointed. “HOW IS THIS WORK?!” I always ask myself. This epic trip would turn out to be no different.

I met Lara and Justin through Laura, who she’s close friends with. Their engagement party was held in San Diego in early 2018 and I shot it for Laura who, at the time, was traveling out of the country. I loved them and their friends so much and was so excited to be asked to shoot their wedding in Asheville, North Carolina with Laura in June of 2019.

This wedding was to be Lara and Justin’s third and (final?) chapter of their wedding adventures. Prior to this one, they’ve traveled to, got engaged in, and exchanged vows in the most exotic of places, the latest being at Burning Man at the Altar of Intentions last year in 2018. Laura photographed it, naturally.

Lara grew up in Asheville, North Carolina and has always wanted a wedding at the massively historic and famous Biltmore Estate. Well, that’s exactly what she got…on the 4th day of the ultimate, action-packed, week-long, OG LOVE FEST!

Play this as you read/scroll. Let’s get weird!

DAY 1: BRIDAL FALLS

On the first day of this ultimate journey, Lara and Justin rented a 15-passenger van, stuffed in the first round of the gang that arrived in Asheville, and drove us all to a popular hiking spot called Turtle Back Falls, a swimming hole and natural rock water slide in the Pisgah National Forest, a real deciduous heaven. Since the waters and current were too rough because of the recent rains, we decided to hike to Rainbow Falls aka Umbrella Falls, a 150ft waterfall about a quarter-mile downstream. This spot even has a rope someone has tied onto a tree to help you climb the small cliff to the top of the falls for a thrilling jump over the 20-foot drop of the curved rock face…

Not pictured: Cliff-jumping 30ft into the water below! We had no cause for concern until Lara (OUR BRIDE!) slipped as she was preparing to propel herself off the rock as she jumped and landed *almost* too close to the rocks. We all held our breath until she surfaced in one piece! That was TOO close! We can’t possibly lose the bride on our first day of this Love Fest. However, this is how good stories are created. From this moment forward, we now dub thee; *BRIDAL FALLS.*

Also not pictured: the shrooms some of us ate to make this experience in this level of nature that much more extraordinary – necessary to jump off a cliff beside a waterfall into crazy waters 😉 See more from the crazy year that 2019 was here!

After this cliff-jumping adventure, we all dined at Canyon Country, the perfect place for a lovely summer dinner in the south!

Day 2: Boho-Themed Rehearsal Dinner

For some pre-Big Day Zen Day action, us ladies got our spa on at the Grove Park Inn Spa while the gentlemen played golf at the Biltmore Forest Country Club. After, we all met on the Sunset Terrace at the Grove Park Inn for a nice lunch where Lara was greeted by more of her wedding guests arriving into town. Later that evening, we donned our finest “farm” attire and headed south to Fletcher, where Lara’s cousin owns the land which houses a venue called Taylor Ranch for Lara and Justin’s wedding rehearsal. This place is SO southern and SO beautiful, it’s magical! It’s on a lake, with a mini forest that gives you a whimsical firefly show when the sun goes down.

Rustic wedding details for bohemian themed rehearsal dinner on a lake

Rustic wedding details for bohemian themed rehearsal dinner

Bride and groom nuzzle in front of lake for bohemian wedding portraits

What would a rehearsal wedding on a lake, on a farm be without the ultimate petting zoo?! We had access to piglets, baby bunnies, chickens, and even a dolled up wedding llama!

As the sun began to set, everyone took their seats for supper on the lake for some buffet-style southern BBQ! (What else?!)

DAY 3: BRIDAL SHOWER LUNCHEON TEA PARTY & NILE FLOATILA BOOZE CRUISE

After Lara’s bridal shower by the pool, all 30 or so of us got dressed up in our best Egyptian garments and headed toward the river!

Let me explain this real quick so you understand the Egyptian theme – the only two rivers in the world that flow north are the Nile River and the French Broad River. When Lara plans, she plots! This obviously wasn’t about to be just any ordinary booze cruise. It was an inter-tubing-tubular barhopping journey on what would become a day we will never forget…

Let’s tie 30 giant innertubes together with rope and float down this river on them while drinking champagne…what could go wrong?!

Apparently, a lot could go wrong! We could, for instance, get caught in the middle of a wall of an overpass which resulted in every last one of us becoming absolutely shipwrecked as the strong current pulled all of us under and popped almost all of the floaties as they snagged on a dam underneath that overpass!

This was incredibly dangerous and we got very lucky that the most we lost were maybe a few phones, some floaties, and some flipflops….OH, AND LAURA’S 70-200mm LENS! If you know what those are, you know they’re valued at $2500, give or take. THIS IS WHY WE HAVE INSURANCE. The waters are only 2-5ft deep, however, the current is VERY strong and the rocks underneath are so slippery that you can’t gain any traction in your bare feet…and some of us were in heels! Don’t look at me like that. Water shoes don’t go with this costume!

Luckily, after the wreck, we made it to our destination to keep the party going, which was conveniently very close to where we all crashed. We laughed about this over cold beers and margaritas. I’m sure nothing could have prepared the bar staff for a large group of half-naked, soaking wet people dressed as Egyptians to take over their bar!

Day 4: THE OG LOVE FEST!

Here it is! The big day! We had 3 big days before this one, but this was THE day where we all dressed up as American royalty to celebrate the love of Lara and Justin at this great historic estate!