You are engaged and yearn for a destination wedding that will whisk you and your loved ones far away for a beautiful, romantic, perfect celebration you will remember for a lifetime.
You can almost feel the silken white sands of the Caribbean between your toes or hear the calls of brightly colored parrots wheeling overhead in the South Pacific.
However, a destination wedding is but a dream, and you know that.
Perhaps it is because your grandfather's health will not allow him to travel that far, and you do not want to marry without him there to see you.Or a destination wedding is but a fleeting thought because you have a pinkie swear from third grade with your BFF that you will be each other's maid of honor. Now, your BFF is married and has a baby and a demanding job that makes it impossible for her to join you on a trip halfway around the world.
Having your family around you matters more than flying to the other side of the planet to exchange vows. However, there is no reason for you to feel down.
If you use some creativity and get your imagination juices to pumping, you can fashion a "destination wedding" all your family and friends can attend. If money was not the reason you are having a home wedding, you can use what you would have spent on airfare and hotels to invest in the decor, flowers and other accessories to create a fantasy wedding.
Possibilities for a Wedding Venue
The following venues and accompanying wedding styles are just examples of what is available in one county in East Tennessee. Similar sites can be found in your own area with some investigation.
- In Greeneville, Tennessee, USA, sits an elegant little chapel with European style and materials. Only the finest was imported when Christ Chapel was built adjacent to First Presbyterian Church on Main Street. If it is elegance you want, scout out the churches and chapels in your hometown. You may be surprised with what is available. The church adjoining Christ Chapel has a couple of reception areas where the celebration can continue. This chapel calls to mind the beautiful rock chapel at Callaway Gardens, and there must be hundreds more located around the world.
- For brides who choose not to have the reception in one of the church halls, they can cross Main Street to the General Morgan Inn, a historic hotel in the center of town. The Inn offers not just ballroom reception sites, but a second-floor garden terrace that has a view of numerous church steeples and the Dickson-Williams Mansion. For those who don't want a church wedding, both the ceremony and reception can be held on the terrace. Many towns have lovely hotels with roof gardens or landscaped grounds that might be perfect for your own wedding. Why not plan to spend a couple of Saturdays just wandering through the hotels in your area?
- If European elegance is not what you have in mind for when you exchange vows with your fiance, maybe a white frame country church will be more to your liking. Dozens dot the East Tennessee landscape and much of the heartland of America. In Greene County, you can find a picturesque church with spectacular mountain views. You can wed in a quaint, peaceful sanctuary, then have a reception under white tents on the church grounds with your decorations limited only by your imagination.
- Having been the home of Andrew Johnson, 17th president of the United States, Greeneville is a "Presidential Town," meaning it has sites under the management of the National Park Service – the Andrew Johnson Homestead, Early Home, Visitors Center and National Cemetery. Sometimes brides want to marry on the grounds behind the Homestead, where giant weeping willows and a wall of trimmed hedge provide a verdent backdrop for their ceremony. According to a staff member of the Andrew Johnson Visitors Center, the fee is $50 to $100, but no receptions are allowed there. Brides in other areas can check out local parks and historic mansions, even the grounds of some museums. Any public building with landscaped lawns might be a perfect destination for creating your one-of-a-kind wedding.
- Because art galleries are often housed in quaint or architecturally interesting buildings, they can be intirguing venues. The art on the walls and the sculptures then become the decorations. A floral arrangement or two and perhaps a few candles are all a bride needs to concern herself with.
- Several family farms in Greene County are involved with agritourism as the owners seek to retain the land and find a way to make it pay. Some of these locations will schedule weddings on their grounds. Agritourism, which bring tourists to agricultural sites, started in California, but has worked its way across the country and will likely provide a questing bride with note-worthy choices for her wedding venue. For instance, Still Hollow Farm is on the National Historic Register and dates back to before the country was founded. A 21st Century bride will find a cool creek and woodland path, or a meadow in which to raise a tent, where she can exchange vows with a historic home and the blue ridges of the Appalachian Mountains in the background. Another agritourism site is Myers Pumpkin Patch, which seems to host most of its weddings in the fall, when much of the decoration is autumn-themed. Walnut Ridge Llamas does not host weddings, but other llama farms across the country do. Photographs with the exotic-looking animals in the background are especially attractive for those interested in a rustic theme. Winemaking is enjoying incredible growth, and many wineries and vineyards have beautifully landscaped areas that will cater to weddings.
- The birthplace of frontiersman Davy Crockett is also in Greene County, so some brides choose to marry in the state park, along the banks of the Nolichucky River. Brides outside Greene County will want to consider the state and national parks within their own areas and decide if one is perfect for creating their dream wedding.
- Barns and the more up-scale stables are being used as scenes for receptions, though decorating may take several days. Miniature white lights can be draped high in the loft for a starry night effect, a dance floor and bandstand laid in the hallway, quilts or other "country-style" decorations used lavishly, and a gazebo brought in for the cake tables. Brides who love horses or whose family owns a farm might want to consider having a wedding on the lawn and a party reception in the barn.
If you want to find just the perfect location within your area, but in the past haven't given much thought to venues, there is no need to be concerned. There are people who know what you need and who will enjoy helping you.
Brides should call their Chamber of Commerce or equivalent. The staff will have ideas and perhaps brochures and other publications to share about possible destinations and the right people to contact.
Another resource might be the local newspaper. The person who handles the weddings will have accumulated knowledge of local sites. Try to schedule an appointment because a call around deadline is extremely inconvenient and you won't get the help you might otherwise. Your success here will depend upon the personality of the editor in your own paper.
One of the greatest benefits of a regular destination wedding is that the resort or venue does all the work for you. But for your hometown wedding, you can use a wedding planner, who will also handle every detail for you. Check online or your local newspaper. A recent addition to Greeneville is Team Bridal, which is exactly what it sounds like. Team Bridal is a group of businesses that work together to help brides create their perfect day. Someone in the group will have a venue. Another business will have the flowers, candelabra, aisle markers and whatever decor you require. Another member might be a travel agent to book the perfect honeymoon. Another will be a caterer to provide a stylish cake and food for your reception. The team works together so the brides don't have to work, but can have time to enjoy the parties and fun leading up to the actual ceremony – and to be able to forget cleaning up afterward.
Ann Birdwell, owner of Still Hollow Farm and one of the founders of Team Bridal, said that busy, educated brides generally know what they want, but are so busy they delegate much of the work while continuing to maintain somewhat of a "hands-on approach" to their weddings.
So, no matter where you live, there are most likely businesses in place that will take much of the work out of creating the perfect ceremony with which to start your new life.
A bride who wants a "destination wedding" without leaving home can create her dream event by doing a little investigating to locate a venue or destination that is a perfect place for exactly the setting she has envisioned.
Velma Southerland - Velma Southerland has been employed in the lifestyles section of an award-winning East Tennessee community newspaper for more than 20 ...
