Outdoor Wedding Down by the River
We Grow Food, We Grow Flowers, We Grow Love…Hidden River Events is a North Carolina 16+ acre event center/farm and all-inclusive outdoor wedding venue with onsite vacation rentals. We partner with our neighbors to provide additional housing, making it possible to host 60 people comfortably. Surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains view, we offer full-service, all-inclusive outdoor wedding packages, with guaranteed pricing known at the time of contract signing for your entire stress-free wedding or event. Yes. There is a way to do this while still being able to customize and give your event your beautifully unique signature.
Located just 15 minutes from the heart of downtown Asheville, our farm is in one of the most beautiful valleys in the region. With long-range views of the Craggy Mountains, the nurturing ceremony sites are next to the Swannanoa River.
Our staff believes in love above all and doing everything possible to give our couples a stress-free all-inclusive outdoor wedding planning experience. Instead of thinking, “Let’s get it over with” on your wedding day, our 12-year record of satisfied couples will send you into married life, saying, “We never want it to end!” That’s the way it should be.
At Hidden River, we believe in “Love Multiplies.” If two people commit to loving one another through all life brings them, that should give them the strength to make a positive difference in their families, local communities, and beyond. To celebrate this truth, we donate a portion of each event to a local charity to honor our couples.
THE RECEPTION AT THE TENT
Our 6800 sf reception tent, complete with cathedral window sidewalls, heaters and fans as needed, lighting, vintage furniture and more is perfect for up to 225 guests and makes a lovely backdrop for your event.There is little to compare with the simple elegance of a tented wedding reception. It looks so simple, and it is, when you have a company that already has the tent there waiting for you, along with all the infrastructure needed to make your event the success you desire. There’s no need to think through every individual item that is needed to create this festive space. We already have it for you, with nothing forgotten. Plus, our architectural tent is beautiful and unique. There are only a few of this kind in the country. People tell us the style reminds them of the Sydney Australia Opera House or the Denver airport. It has those elegant lines that are difficult to forget. It makes a statement. There is little to compare with the simple elegance of a tented wedding reception. It looks so simple, and it is, when you have a company that already has the tent there waiting for you, along with all the infrastructure needed to make your event the success you desire.
Likewise, we want your celebration to be perfect and to reflect your personality as a couple. Our wedding tent is a canvas for your creativity and personal style, and our event manager will work with you to create the perfect ambiance for your reception. When considering an outdoor wedding or a farm or garden wedding, there are many factors that come into play: Will you opt for the security of an indoor site but sacrifice the naturalness that comes with a tented reception? Might all the ways we have worked to insure that your reception is comfortable and safe allow you to feel secure if the weather doesn’t turn out to be the best ever on your wedding day? Consider for instance, that our tent is attached to the ground with 25’ earth anchors and sits upon a 6800 sf concrete floor. Certainly, it will not be possible to ignore the weather but, thankfully statistics suggest that, more often than not, you will be able to enjoy the outdoors on your wedding day instead of wrestling with it.
All-Inclusive Outdoor Wedding Packages
Flowers
BreathtakingAnnual cut-flower and perennial flower gardens provide bursts of color throughout the property and romantic backdrops for your continuing love story.
Catering
DeliciousFrom the garden to your plate, whenever possible, our caterer provides a menu that reflects your style with a presentation that is as beautiful as it is delicious.
Custom Touches
Ceremony FeaturesOur all-inclusive wedding packages include custom touches such as an elegant wedding carriage, pulled by a gentle giant (“Dr. Love”) as he whisks the couple away to the reception.
Housing
Lovingly & UniqueOur onsite housing and our agreements with neighboring vacation rental homes means you can have housing to host 60+ people, allowing your all-inclusive wedding to be about the joining of two families not just about a few hours at a venue.
THE RECEPTION AT THE TENT
Our 6800 sf reception tent, complete with cathedral window sidewalls, heaters and fans as needed, lighting, vintage furniture and more is perfect for up to 225 guests and makes a lovely backdrop for your event.There is little to compare with the simple elegance of a tented wedding reception. It looks so simple, and it is, when you have a company that already has the tent there waiting for you, along with all the infrastructure needed to make your event the success you desire. There’s no need to think through every individual item that is needed to create this festive space. We already have it for you, with nothing forgotten. Plus, our architectural tent is beautiful and unique. There are only a few of this kind in the country. People tell us the style reminds them of the Sydney Australia Opera House or the Denver airport. It has those elegant lines that are difficult to forget. It makes a statement. There is little to compare with the simple elegance of a tented wedding reception. It looks so simple, and it is, when you have a company that already has the tent there waiting for you, along with all the infrastructure needed to make your event the success you desire.
THE RECEPTION AT THE TENT
Our 6800 sf reception tent, complete with cathedral window sidewalls, heaters and fans as needed, lighting, vintage furniture and more is perfect for up to 225 guests and makes a lovely backdrop for your event.There is little to compare with the simple elegance of a tented wedding reception. It looks so simple, and it is, when you have a company that already has the tent there waiting for you, along with all the infrastructure needed to make your event the success you desire. There’s no need to think through every individual item that is needed to create this festive space. We already have it for you, with nothing forgotten. Plus, our architectural tent is beautiful and unique. There are only a few of this kind in the country. People tell us the style reminds them of the Sydney Australia Opera House or the Denver airport. It has those elegant lines that are difficult to forget. It makes a statement. There is little to compare with the simple elegance of a tented wedding reception. It looks so simple, and it is, when you have a company that already has the tent there waiting for you, along with all the infrastructure needed to make your event the success you desire.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is your ideal couple at Hidden River?
Our ideal couple loves the outdoors, wants a beautiful event but does not wish to stress about the details and wishes to keep costs in check and reasonable. Hidden River can be as simple or fancy as you make it. Our photos show examples of weddings that have been designed to look like the tent at the Biltmore Estate down to couples who choose to just have the ceremony and 20 of their closest friends, with the main decor being the flowers from our garden and the horses in the background. The venue is, in and of itself, beautiful. That saves you money from the get go as much of your ambiance is provided by nature!
We seek the couple who understands that the wedding is about GETTING MARRIED and who understands what an amazing opportunity and choice this is. We want couples who do not wish to get lost in the details or to spend time with matters that will take them apart during the months of their engagement instead of bringing them closer together. Because we have the onsite housing, most of our clients come from out of town or have a significant number of guests coming from out of town. This turns the event into an “occasion.” It becomes about two sets of family and friends coming together, not just about four hours in your life.
Are you an environmentally friendly and/or sustainable business?
That is our intention and we do our best to follow through. We donate flowers at the end of each event to Hospice, if you do not wish to keep them and we donate leftover food to the Rescue Mission if you do not take it with you. We use electric vehicles whenever possible; tru-earth detergent sheets to avoid the massive amount of plastic containers that would result and environmentally friendly cleaning chemicals; we compost as much as we can; grow most of the flowers that are used, thereby avoiding exotics and shipping costs; we rescue all of our animals (dogs, cats, horses, donkeys, goats); we grow food for giveaway to local agencies that feed the food insecure population of WNC; our caterer uses whatever we grow that can be utilized, at no cost to them.
Can we adjust (remove or add) to existing packages?
Yes. You can remove food, flowers, dessert, and/or photography. Typically, food is $20-$25/person plus tax; dessert is $4-$6/person plus tax; photographer is $1500-$1750; flowers range from $350-$1200 typically, depending upon the size of the event. With the food, if kept in the package, you have several choices of meals and within each choice, several choices as well. You can also upgrade to a custom menu. If you do so, you would just pay the difference per person between what is already included and what you would like to add. So if your included menu was $20 per person and your upgraded/custom menu is $22 per person, then you’d be responsible for an additional $2 per person. With dessert, there are several choices: cake, pie bar, cupcakes. With flowers, we use locally grown, mostly from our own farm, loosely arranged in a wildflower kind of look, with mixed colors. There will be an up-charge if you require special flowers or a certain color scheme. With the photographer, this includes 4 hours of shooting, all of your images that have been edited, with unlimited single party printing rights. It also includes an engagement photography session. Additional hours can be added for $250 per hour.
What is the back up plan in case of bad weather?
As of February, 2022, with over 950 weddings at our venue, only 58 have been affected by weather. We have two back up plans: Plan B and Plan C. Plan B: Wait 15 or so minutes and start later. Plan C: Do everything in the tent. Plan B has happened about 120times and Plan C has happened 38 times. We look you in the eye and tell you: “It could be you!” But, if it is, we do everything possible to keep you and your guests comfortable. Overall, our statistics are pretty good. There are no guarantees with outdoor events, so it’s good to have an “It’s all good” attitude with a largely outdoor wedding. In the case of the cold, we have tent heaters, patio heaters, and a full set of sidewalls. The tent can get downright toasty if we use all three of these, plus body heat. We offer winter weddings thru the third week in December and beginning the second weekend in March.
Who are your main vendors for these items?
- Photography: Jesse Kitt and Michael Oppenheim are our most frequently used photographers r.
- Food:Anne’s Custom Catering.
- Anne’s Custom Catering, Filo Bakery and Ultimate Ice Cream are our main vendors. Ultimate and Filo are frequently the ones used for up-graded or custom orders
- Flowers: Hidden River to the Heart
Tell us about your DJ and can we bring in our own?
No. The DJ is one of the items that cannot be removed from the package. Our DJs work only for us in order to abide by the sound ordinance, music must be off by 10:30 at the latest on all nights. Guests must exit the tent no later than 30 minutes after the music ends. We own our own equipment and music. The DJ has three main responsibilities: to play your music, not to be cheesy (unless you ask for it), and to make sure we abide by the Buncombe County sound ordinance which is “reasonable to the nature of your business and complete quiet at 11 p.m.) Our DJ’s are great and they also MC your event and can play in between sets for bands.
CONTACT US
Let Us Make Your
Special Day A Dream!
