Mingle Events Couple at Chestnut Ridge | Nicole & Nate

Thanks so much to this Mingle Events couple at Chestnut Ridge!  Congratulations Nicole and Nate, we loved reminiscing about your gorgeous day! The Proposal:

Nate and I were dating for about 2 years at this point.  We both love California and for my birthday, Nate took me to our favorite place Laguna Beach, California.  My birthday is the 13th of October and It happened to be on Friday that year.  We had the best day. He took me whale watching out on the pacific.  There were a ton of dolphins surrounding our boat swimming and playing and it was one of the most amazing experiences ever.  One of our favorite things to do is to chill by a fire under the stars. So, after dinner, we went back to the condo to sit by a fire.  That is when Nate got down on one Knee. It was the most Magical birthday ever. As soon as we got engaged the wedding planning begun.

The Venue:

Nate and I LOVE the mountains.  We spend most of our weekends in the mountains camping, hiking and exploring new places.  We knew for sure we wanted to get married there. After searching on the internet, I wasn’t finding what I was looking for.  I was very particular on what we wanted. We had to have views. If there are no views, then there is no point on even getting married in the mountains.  I was talking about it with my coworker and that is when he turned to me and said, “hold on, I think my friend’s cousin just opened up a wedding venue near Asheville”.  That is when he sent me the link to Chestnut Ridge. That was it! I sent the website to Nate, my mom and sister and knew I wanted to go tour it ASAP. We drove up to Canton, NC and pulled up to Chestnut.  Just standing there in the parking lot I knew this was the place. I didn’t even want to look at other places. We met Taylor, went over available dates and then booked our dream venue.

Theme/Style:

Planning the wedding I had so many ideas on what I wanted to do. Pinterest was my best friend.  Nate and I love the rustic vintage look. So, I told my mom I wanted to do an “Enchanted woodsy vintage theme with a hint of boho”.  And she went with it. My mom’s vision is impeccable. I knew I didn’t have to worry about anything when leaving this in her hands.

Bridal Party:

When we first were planning our wedding, we were not going to have a bridal party.  We were talking about just having my sister as my Matron of Honor and Nate’s brother as his best man.  But after a while we realized how can we not have our closest friends and family being by our side and getting ready with us?  So, we went from 1 person each in our party to 10 each! That was a huge jump but so worth it. When I was first planning my bridesmaids dresses I wanted to add all different types of fabric and hues.  Some in sparkle, some in tulle, some have different patterns but then that part got overwhelming. So, instead I went with 3 different colors. I was a little nervous about it hoping I didn’t make a mistake with that, but it turned out so pretty.  The girls all wore Show Me Your Mumu. I sent them the link and what color they are wearing, and they could choose whatever style they wanted because you cannot go wrong with Mumu. All the styles are meant to flow together. As for my sister, she is the Matron of Honor and I wanted her to stand out.  So, I chose a darker grey hue with tulle and sparkles. Her dress was from BHLDN. Our groomsmen wore a suit from Men’s Wearhouse. I also wanted Nate to stand out, so we had him wear a royal blue suit with a bowtie and all his groomsmen wore a light grey suit with a tie. The bowtie and tie’s all matched the bridesmaids.  Again, I was a tad nervous but was so happy with the results.

Officiant:

Since we were not getting married in a traditional way, we both wanted to make sure whomever marries us is someone that is special to us.  Someone who can make us feel comfortable and even make us laugh. That is when it hit me. I turned to Nate and said “Paul! What better person to marry us?”.   Paul is my older brother. He is so funny, and we are all super close. It ended up so perfect! He makes one awesome Officiant.

Mingle:

After we booked with Chestnut we had the option of adding a planner.  At first, I was hesitant because I wasn’t sure if we “really needed one”.  After talking with my mom, we decided it would be silly if we didn’t. Having Candace from Mingle was the BEST thing ever.  We quickly chatted after so that Candace can get to know Nate and I and what we vision for our day. She was there to answer any question we had and gave advice on vendors etc.  Anytime I needed to get ahold of her she was there. That to me was so awesome. Things I would have never even thought of she knew we had to do. She was on top of it! Candace had our wedding day timeline started 60 days out and started to go over it with our vendors.  Again, those are things I would have never even thought about. The week of our wedding my mom ended up in the hospital. That was the most devasting thing that could happen especially on the most exciting time of my life. My mom couldn’t make it to the rehearsal and I wouldn’t even know what we would have done if we didn’t have Candace.  She was a trooper. We gave her my mom’s notes and she went with it. She did such an amazing job putting everything together and running through rehearsal with us. My mom was released later that evening of rehearsal night and was able to make our wedding. That was the best news ever! The next morning, we got to relax, have fun, get ready and get married!  Candace worked her booty off. I can’t even count how many people came up to me to say “Y’alls wedding planner is Boss!” Yes, yes she is! So, thank you Candace/Mingles for making our day run so smoothly and giving us our dream wedding. It was like a Fairytale! 😊

Vendors:

Venue:  Chestnut Ridge

Planner:  Candace – Mingle Events

Photographer:  Elissa Ribant – E.Ribant Photography @elissagram

Florist:  Smashevents Inc

Caterer:  Smashevents Inc

Dessert:  Duck Donuts (Asheville)

Make-up and Hair:  Flawless Airbrush

DJ: Neil from Split Second Sound (Charlotte)

MC:  Rashaad from Split Second Sound (Charlotte)

Officiant:  Paul Aquino