Have your Fantasy Spring or Summer Wedding in the Heart of the Smokies! Here are 10 of the Top Wedding Venues in the Smoky Mountains!
While wildflowers begin to explode with the joys of springtime over mountains and into valleys, the heart of the Smokies is bustling and alive with activity. Over every hill and dale, nearly, a team of event planners is getting someone’s special day ready. Let yours be next!
Nature’s Cathedral…Great Smoky Mountains (photo: New Beginnings Photography)
Have your fantasy spring or summer wedding in the heart of the Smokies! A Gatlinburg, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge or surrounding area wedding will bring together the elements of scenery, style and fun in an event you and your guests will remember for a lifetime. The astonishing array of venues and diverse and talented community of wedding professionals up in these hills means that you can spend as much or as little as you choose and still have a one-of-a-kind wedding in a very special place.
The Lodge at Brother’s Cove in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is one of the most popular spots year round. In the spring and summer, this venue offers stunning vistas of the lush, green springtime glory of the Smoky Mountains. Most weddings celebrated there take place outdoors, making full use of a gazebo site with sweeping mountain views, something the lodge, which is located on a mountain ridge, is legendary for. If you are imagining wedding photos with a heavenly backdrop, you are correct! Most brides opt to move the party into the lodge after the ceremony, which can accommodate up to 300 guests (depending on set-up) after the ceremony. The lodge itself has panoramic views and provides a very nice rain option for the ceremony as well. The resort offers two options; a “Consulting Package,” which means that the bride simply rents the facilities and plans and carries out her own wedding, with an event team member on hand to offer professional suggestions, and a “Full Service Turn Key Package,” which delivers a dream wedding planned and delivered by the event team at the Lodge.
For smaller, more intimate weddings involving 40 or fewer guests, The Lodge at Brother’s Cove offers the cabin wedding option. Brides may rent one of the resorts large cabins and enjoy an outdoor ceremony on a huge deck with an amazing view, followed by a reception inside the cabin, which would feature an expansive, open floor plan. All of the elements of a traditional turn-key wedding, such as a DJ, food, and a professional hostess can be downsized into this venue as well or the bride may plan and carry out her own event.
Almost Heaven Resort and Weddings in Gatlinburg offers similarly stunning mountain vistas above Cobbly Nob. Brides will thrill to the great expanse of the Smoky Mountains National Park spreading out below the wedding of their dreams. This 130-acre mountaintop resort offers all-inclusive wedding and reception packages that will fit nearly any budget and/or wedding size, with onsite reception capabilities for up to 200 guests. Amenities at Almost Heaven Resort include outdoor wedding sites, a unique log chapel, a climate-controlled pavilion, cabin weddings for more intimate events, and a professional wedding planner and wedding staff. There are also private mountaintop honeymoon cabins for rent to complete this dream venue.
The Preserve Resort offers a variety of Smoky Mountain-area locations for the mountain wedding extraordinaire. A popular spot is The Chapel at the Preserve, located near Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, but a bit tucked away. The traditional chapel will seat 100 guests, offers the latest in video technology, and is within comfortable walking distance to the meadow or outdoor pavilion should the bride wish to hold her reception or pose for photographs in either of these locales. The Meadow at the Preserve is another near-perfect spot for a mountain wedding. Located 2,000 feet above sea-level, this site will accommodate a larger crowd than the chapel (no limit to number of guests) and is within walking distance of several Hearthside Cabin Rentals, which would prove convenient for wedding party members or guests who would enjoy staying in these rentals.
The Preserve Resort also offers an indoor alternative for small weddings. Parties of twenty or less can enjoy a lovely rustic ceremony inside Creekside Cove Chapel, or outdoors in the gazebo or on the small bridge.
Nothing is more symbolic of the mountains than a cool, refreshing waterfall in spring or summer. Above the Mist Wedding Services offers wedding services near a waterfall or riverside, as well as garden and chapel weddings. Packages range from an intimate service in the gazebo at the minister’s home to a ceremony with up to 100 guests.
On “The Peaceful Side of the Smokies” as the town of Townsend, Tennessee is known, The Barn Event Center of the Smokies offers a fine venue for weddings small and large. Weddings may be held outside or in the center’s indoor facilities, which feature a built-in stage and dance floor. The Center offers some special effects lighting and decorative accessories, and can provide tables, chairs and linens, including cloth napkins and other amenities such as cake plates and forks and chair rental and setup for outdoor ceremonies as needed. Some of these details become part of a wedding package set up to accommodate the bride, who can also request a rehearsal time. A Wedding Director will help make sure the event goes off without a hitch. The Center has a florist on-hand who can help with decorating. Although the bride, should she desire that alcohol be served, must provide the alcohol and hire her own bartending service, the Center will provide set up, ice and glasses. The Center offers full banquet facilities and is known for excellent service and professionalism. Spring and summer brides will enjoy the beautiful landscaping and flowers gracing the Center’s environs.
If your idea of the ideal Smoky Mountain Wedding would ooze southern class, charm and attention to detail, then perhaps Bluff Mountain Inn in Sevierville, Tennessee is the venue for you. This charming, five-acre estate offers ceremony venues on the lawn or hillside, in the garden or in a darling white country chapel modeled after one of the historic chapels in Cades Cove. A certified wedding planner will walk the bride through the details of a heaven-sent event. The Bluff Mountain Inn does catering for small events and brings in top-notch outside caterers to handle large ones. The Inn boasts its own professional staff photographers to capture every classy detail of their perfectly choreographed events. If the bride chooses an all-inclusive wedding package, she can rest easy as the Bluff Mountain Inn staff swings into action decorating, setting up tables and making sure her special memory is picture-perfect, whether she has twenty or 200 guests.
Country, or rustic southern chic is in, and The Barn at Chestnut Springs in Sevierville, just outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the perfect venue for elegant and casual weddings alike! The weathered, gray wood barn features a large main room with high ceilings and the exposed wood beams that embody mountain charm. This venue will accommodate up to 120 people. Rental includes chairs and guest and serving tables.
For brides and grooms-to-be who want to say their vows in the heart of the area’s shows, restaurants and family fun activities, the Sevierville Civic Center offers a great indoor venue. The over 2,500 square-foot LeConte Auditorium will hold 300 people in a theater-style setup and 200-250 banquet-style. The Council Hall holds 110 people theater-style and 50-75 in a banquet setting. A stage and lights, video and sound equipment, dressing rooms and a kitchen are available to help launch your one-of-a kind event. The Civic Center also offers two lovely outdoor gazebos which may be used for wedding ceremonies. There is ample parking for guests and the large lobby may also be used free of charge with any rental. Staff members are available to suggest area caterers and vendors to help plan your dream wedding.
Say “I Do” in the Smoky Mountains! (photo: Smoky Mountain Wedding Association)
If you’re reading this blog post and shaking your head, because your idea of the IDEAL mountain wedding would take place in one of the most heavenly locales your nature-loving heart can imagine, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park itself, don’t despair. You can (and probably should) get married right inside the park itself.
There are numerous places throughout the Smokies where weddings are permitted (with permit and reservation. See Great Smoky Mountains National Park Permits for details).
Cades Cove, one of the most beloved sites in the park, offers several wedding sites, including three historic churches. The Gatlinburg Overlook Parking Areas 1 and 2 are also designated areas for park weddings. With the city below and in the background and mountains all around, this spot could frame the perfect wedding memory, perfectly joined with the memories of happy vacations past.
Several overlooks on the Foothills Parkway West and the Foothills Parkway East would offer otherworldly backdrops, especially in spring and summer, when the mountains are resplendent with lush, green vegetation and wildflowers.
Interesting structures such as the rustic Mingus Mill (on the Mingus Mill access road near the Mingus Mill Trail), the Noah Bud Ogle Cabin (on Cherokee Orchard Road near the Noah Bud Ogle Place Nature Trail), the Smokemont Church (located on Smokemont Road near the Smokemont Stables Trail) and Palmer Chapel (on Cataloochee Entrance Road near the Cataloochee Horse Trail) are among the many and varied wedding sites approved by park officials. The latter two sites are reminiscent of the Cades Cove churches with their rich historical flavor and beautiful simplicity. Potential wedding sites near the Appalachian Trail include the parking area for Newfound Gap and the Oconoluftee Overlook. The parking area for Clingman’s Dome is also a designated wedding site and provides proximity to some of the park’s most beautiful views.
Other interesting potential wedding sites in the Great Smoky Mountains include a site in the Greenbrier area (near the Duds Branch Concession Horse Trail). The spaces in this site approved for weddings include roadside areas and the “beach” area along the Middle Prong of the Little Pigeon River. Cataract Falls (on Sugarlands Residence Road near the Cove Mountain Trail) is the perfect spot for a natural ceremony drawing on the beauty and serenity of the mountain forest.
Whether the ceremony you long for is large and elaborate or small and intimate, there’s no better place to merge a fantastic wedding with the honeymoon of your dreams than the Great Smoky Mountains! For more information about the wealth of venues and professionals the area offers to get you ready for your special day, be sure to visit The Smoky Mountain Wedding Association and HeySmokiesWeddings.com!
Laurie Crater Battles – journalist, blogger, hiker, biker, mom, wife, animal and coffee lover who makes her home in Knoxville.
