Sarah & Andrew

September 25, 2021

Appalachian View | Newland, NC Nature-enthusiasts at heart, Sarah and Andrew centered their wedding around their love for outdoor recreation with details such as a trail mix bar and adventure-themed decorations. The couple was all smiles while sharing their love for the Western North Carolina mountains with friends and family as they tied the knot.

Photos by Natural Craft Photography

a lifetime of

Adventures

by Sophia Lyons

Bringing together friends, family and

their talents, Sarah and Andrew’s early-fall wedding featured food, florals and music from their communities highlighting local flavors and themes.

They met at church in Sylva, NC. Although they attended Western Carolina University at different times, they ended up having mutual friends and kept bumping into each other, going hiking and backpacking with different groups of friends. In January 2020, Sarah and Andrew went to Snowshoe, W.Va., with a group of other friends and they realized then “the rest was history,” Sarah says.

While they were dating, Sarah moved to West Jefferson — she recommends Hole Lotta Donuts and Bobby D’s, a pizza restaurant, in the area — and they dated long distance for a year before moving close to Asheville. They still go backpacking and hiking together, in addition to playing soccer.

They got engaged on Sept. 12, 2020. They’d planned to go backpacking with another couple, but they kept waffling on whether to go due to rain. They ended up going to the other couple’s house in Greenville where they went on a hike early on a rainy Saturday morning. At a waterfall, about two miles into the trail, Andrew proposed on the rock in front of the waterfall. Sarah said the timing was “a total surprise,” but he’d planned to go to the other couple’s house all along.

The most stressful aspect of the planning, according to Sarah, was a comprehensive “day-of timeline” to include vendors arriving at the correct times, friends and family arriving from out of town, scheduling photos and time to just relax.

But, the couple already knew folks who worked in the wedding industry, and the experience was helpful and made it more personal to have people they already loved and trusted involved. Sarah enjoys planning parties and events, and they had a whole year to plan the wedding; she said they’d take a bit less time, though, if they could do it again.

To plan the wedding, Sarah and Andrew worked with a day-of planner, but not someone during the planning process leading up to the day. Quite a few friends’ talents were featured on their special day: their cake was baked

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by a friend who had previously baked wedding cakes, and the friend agreed to bake theirs, although she wasn’t currently selling them. One of Andrew’s friends, who’s a professional musician, put together a group of other musicians to make up the band for the day. The flowers came from one of her mom’s best friends from Alabama, where Sarah grew up; she drove up from Alabama to be part of the wedding. Sarah’s mom was also instrumental in helping arrange tables and keep the day going; she even made a memory table with pictures and candles of Sarah and Andrew’s family members who had passed on.

They chose Sept. 25 as their date, knowing in the High Country the landscape would still be lush and green, but not hot and humid for their outdoor wedding. They toured several venues in the West Jefferson area, but landed on Appalachian View after hitting it off with the owner, it being more budget-friendly than some of the more expensive venues closer to Asheville.

The venue was decorated in cabernet, rose gold and dusty rose with an emphasis on textural contrast — one bridesmaid even wore a rose gold-sequined dress. The two looked for different textures to emphasize the variety, even considering Pinterest boards full of prints before settling on a color palette. The mountain theme was subtle, but present, featuring mountain decor, a mountain cake topper and photos of the couple backpacking and hiking. A relative even gave them a portrait of them and their dogs drawn on top of a mountain as a gift.

Their late-afternoon ceremony featured a piece of Sarah’s mom’s dress fashioned into a ribbon for her bouquet and the pillow for the ring bearer. They’d taken many of their photos in advance, so their reception began with a cocktail hour and lawn games before serving fried green tomato chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables and mac and cheese.

In addition to the cake, the couple also served miniature pies from Asheville Baked Pie Company, as Andrew isn’t a huge fan of cake. They’d even included a space for a pie flavor request on the RSVP to be sure all of the guests got a pie they’d like.

The late-afternoon ceremony allowed the whole party and reception to conclude by 9 p.m. Their party favor was a trail mix bar, where guests could mix up their own blend, to go in bags labeled “happy trails.” Sarah also mentioned it functioned as an affordable snack bar as well.

Their first dance was to “Stay with You” by John Legend, but the most special moment was at the end of the night. Andrew and Sarah made an exit, took their pictures, then while everyone else was leaving and milling around outside had a private “last dance,” just them and the band before heading out.

“You get so carried away talking to other people,” Sarah said. “It brings you back together.”

their story

Bride Sarah, physical therapist

Groom Andrew, physical therapist assistant

How they met “We met at church and started hiking together, and we quickly realized we have a lot of common interests. This blossomed into a friendship that after two and a half years turned into true love!”

vendors

Cake Friend to the couple, Natalie Haynes

Catering Frugal Gourmet

Day of Coordinator Dava Lunceford

Dress The White Room Lebanon

Flowers Blossoms by Bev

Makeup and Hair Mia’s Mark Salon

Music CaroMia & the Tulas

Officiant Randy Covalt

Photographer Ashley Warren, Natural Craft Photography

Suit Express

Venue Appalachian View

Videographer Roush Video Production

Wedding coordinator Dava Lunceford