1. Real Weddings

Elizabeth & Daniel: A Formal Wedding in Asheville, NC

North Carolina native Elizabeth's wedding to New Yorker Daniel showed guests from all over the country the meaning of 'southern hospitality.' THE BRI

North Carolina native Elizabeth's wedding to New Yorker Daniel showed guests from all over the country the meaning of 'southern hospitality.' THE BRIDE Elizabeth Woody, a nonprofit development officer THE GROOM Daniel Ford, an urban designer THE DATE June 2 For people who grow up in Asheville, the Biltmore Estate is just another tourist attraction, muses Elizabeth (who herself grew up in Asheville). The 'locals' can't and don't claim it as their own because it is so grand and 'over the top.' But Elizabeth saw a completely different side to the famous 250-room chateau when she visited with her fiance Daniel, in search of a site for their wedding. We chose the estate, not for her grandness or her pride, explains Elizabeth, but rather for her humility, found in the Blue Ridge Mountains, magnolia and rhododendron bushes, and rolling green hillsides that magically disappear into the morning fog and evening sunsets. Dan grew up in upstate New York, and the couple now live in Colorado, but they met when both lived in Boston. Their relationship began as an easy friendship, and three-plus years later Dan proposed by presenting Elizabeth with a diamond ring inside a small metal box that he had made in high school.

The Couple
The Cake
Six years before the wedding day, Elizabeth lost her father to cancer. I chose to honor my dad as best I could through my bouquet of flowers, she explains. He was a huge University of Tennessee football fan, and the saying 'Go Big Orange!' was very common in my household. She walked down the aisle with a bouquet of orange roses in hand, a singular splash of color in an otherwise simple, timeless theme. Elizabeth's brother and her youth minister performed the ceremony.
The Programs
Elizabeth's first order of business, after securing the wedding site, was finding a photographer who could capture the setting. Everything else was really secondary in my mind, she explains. The best part of planning a wedding is making it a true reflection of not only you as the bride, but of both of you -- or 'y'all', as we say down South.
The Ring Bearer and Flower Girl