Woodsy + Romantic Mountain Wedding at Spence Cabin

This Florida couple choose the mountains in eastern Tennessee for their woodsy and romantic wedding because they wanted to give their wedding guests a unique and memorable experience. Their maroon, burgundy, and blush color palette with gold touches elevated the woodsy, rustic vibe without competing with it. And would you believe this intrepid couple planned this fabulous fete in only 4 months? How’d they do it? By finding an amazing vendor and trusting their recommendations. The couple found and booked their photographers, Kathleen and Jo from JoPhoto, and from there, they were recommended an all-star wedding team, including LBFloral.

Claire + Jon
Spence Cabin, Great Smoky Mountain National Park
June 20, 2016

Wedding day weather: Perfect for a June wedding! Cool and Shady
Number of guests: 40
Your budget: $6,000
Biggest splurge: Florals and Photography
Biggest savings: My wedding dress was actually a considered a bridesmaid’s dress on BHLDN

Why did you choose the Mountains for your wedding?

I’m from Florida and beach weddings are very common in my hometown. Growing up I could never picture myself getting married on the beach. Jon and I are both more drawn to the woods and tall trees, so when my family reunion was located in Sevierville, Tennessee, we saw the perfect opportunity to have our little wooded wedding with our family.

Wedding day theme:

Our wedding didn’t have a theme, but our style and decor came from thrift stores and decor we already had such as antlers, lace fabric, and frames. Altogether it looked rustic, eclectic, and inviting. Our color palette included berry colors like maroon, burgundy, blush and sage green. Luckily the colors also tied into the unique colors Spence Cabin.

Where did you find your inspiration?

At first I used Pinterest to plan my “dream wedding.” I had numerous boards (public and secret) where I pinned my heart away. When we got engaged, Pinterest was used less and less. We picked our colors, talked to our florist about ideas and our mentality from there was to make guests comfortable. Keep in mind that we would be taking everything from Florida up to Tennessee in two cars. Our wedding inspiration became the picture of simplicity and the goal of getting two love birds married.

What was your favorite part of the reception?

Our favorite part was getting to see family that we haven’t seen in years. We were so honored that people traveled to share in the celebrations with us.

What are three things you’re super glad you did?

We provided snacks for hikers that would be in the area since there are trails surrounding the cabin. I think it encouraged people to be courteous and let us have our privacy.
We were so blessed to have chosen such dependable vendors!
We had an “unplugged ceremony” and I loved being able to see peoples reactions instead of their devices.

Anything you wished you hadn’t worried about?

The RSVP list. We had a lot of confusion on who would be able to make it, but in the end we had lust enough chairs for everyone.

What was the biggest challenge in planning your mountain wedding and how did you overcome it?

We had to plan everything online. The task at first was daunting until I came across JoPhoto’s website and found the Spence Cabin. From there it was a piece of cake when we also found LBFloral’s work in their pictures. It was also a challenge to plan the wedding in less than 4 months! We didn’t hire a cake baker, string trio or a beauty team until two weeks before the wedding. We were short on time, but thankfully it all worked out.

How did you find and choose your vendors?

I did a lot of Googling and looked up numerous reviews for vendors. JoPhoto was the first to be found, they were very helpful in giving us recommendations of other professionals from whom they have worked with before. I found my hair and makeup team (Southern Sirens) off of Facebook.

What is your best piece of advice to other mountain brides who are planning their weddings?

Talk to your vendors for advice and recommendations! We would’ve had a hard time trying to plan everything with out their help. Also, create a map or direction guide for your venue. The mountains are patchy in signal and I’m sure half of our guests would not have made it with out our guide.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Wedding Vendors