Emma & Thomas | Atlanta, Georgia & Weaverville, North Carolina
Weddings, at the core, are truly just a small chapter of a greater love story. Emma and Thomas’s wedding happened to be a chapter that got interrupted, rewritten, and completed anyway – two times, and twice as beautifully as we originally planned.
Their wedding was initially set for October 2024, in the mountains just outside of Asheville, North Carolina. Just two weeks before their date, Hurricane Helene tore through Western North Carolina; it was a storm so unprecedented and beyond anything the region was prepared for (or had ever experienced), and it changed everything literally overnight. Roads became impassable both into the area and out of it (which created a major problem, since Emma and Thomas reside in Atlanta). Over half of the vendor team was directly affected: homes and businesses were damaged, rental showrooms were flooded, and flowers and food were no longer available to source. Two weeks before their wedding day, we had to have one of the hardest conversations we’ve ever had to have with a couple: the mountain wedding and all of the details we’d planned for a year were just not going to happen… at least not for now.
Photography by Raven Shutley Studios.
First Things First: A New Plan – and Quickly
There really wasn’t much time to grieve the loss of the original vision. Within that two-week window, our team booked flights to Atlanta, and we, alongside the couple’s family, built an entirely new, more intimate celebration at the Swan Coach House from the ground up. It was smaller in scale, but certainly not smaller in love. Emma and Thomas were wed by a close friend with the most beautiful lush green view flanking them – perhaps not the mountains, but incredible nonetheless. After their ceremony, the party continued into a private room at Barcelona Wine Bar – one of the couple’s favorite places – where courses of abundant tapas were shared, cake was cut, and beautiful words were shared.
It wasn’t the day that we had pictured for over a year, but it was still, unmistakably, their day. At the end of it all, that was what really mattered.
Revisiting the Mountains
Although Emma and Thomas did get legally married during their more intimate day, they still wanted the party with all of their loved ones that they’d initially planned. Though it was not possible to do it in 2024, the venue and vendors all worked together and found a date the following September. It gave the mountains space to breathe and heal a bit, and gave us another year to make the plans even more special. As destiny would have it, their new date fell on the same day that Hurricane Helene had hit Asheville – just one year later.
Round 2 came with its own complications. Throughout the morning, drizzle came in waves, and fog sat heavy on the mountains. As their planner (and, of course, checking the radar every 2 minutes), we made the decision to hold out on any final decisions; we knew that the universe had clear skies planned for them – it was only fair.
As luck would have it, about an hour and a half before the ceremony, the entire fog line moved, and the sun cracked through. It was ethereal to watch as the sun warmed the mist and pulled it back into the sky. From there, the day just unfolded. The girls were wrapped up in blankets giggling all morning, the guys were absolute menaces during photos (in the best way), the incredible golden sunset glowed over cocktail hour, their sweetheart table was framed by the incredible mountain view, the dance floor RAGED, and the happiest little exit was done in a vintage car.
The Design & Details
When we originally started planning, we knew that we wanted the design of the day to lean into the beautiful fall foliage that the WNC mountains provide. We chose blooms in warm terracotta, deep peach, burgundy, dusty pinks, and plenty of greenery to balance it all out. We didn’t want to detract too much from the natural already-present beauty that surrounded the venue, so we utilized the rolling hills as the main backdrop for the day.
Emma fell in love with a toile-style linen in dusty rose early in the process, so we built that into the design as well – something delicate to balance the richness of the other details. From cocktail hour through to the reception, it added the perfect hint of vintage femininity, balanced with warm copper linens and napkins. The vintage hints bled through to other parts of the design, including the antique vessels the flowers were styled in and the cut-glass vintage goblets at each place setting. We even continued the rounded style of their invitations through to the day, with each guest having an arch-shaped menu that greeted them at their seat, and curved arches in accent mirrors and their seating chart.
A day so nice, we had to do it twice – literally. We could not have fathomed the situation that arose when we started planning in early 2024. Even once the storm hit, we weren’t immediately sure what the plan would transform into. Together, we all weathered the storm, creating something beautiful and full of life – and we truly couldn’t have asked for a more wonderful couple to do it with.
Vendor Team
Wedding Planning & Design: Vow & Verve
Photography: Raven Shutley Studios
2024 Atlanta Ceremony Venue: Swan Coach House
2024 Atlanta Reception Venue: Barcelona Wine Bar Atlanta
2025 WNC Mountain Venue: Henderson Acres
Catering: Sage and Spice Catering
DJ: Discoboxx
Floral Design: Snake Song Farm
Rentals: Professional Party Rentals
Rentals: Curated Events Raleigh
Cake: Publix Bakery
Hair & Makeup: AnaRie Beauty
Guest Transportation: Van In Black
Vintage Getaway Car: Elite Global Transportation
Vow & Verve is an award-winning luxury wedding planning and design team based in North Carolina that specializes in personalized design, thoughtful execution, and a warm, high-touch planning experience – even when it means planning your wedding twice over.
