Answer Woman: How much does a wedding cost in Asheville? Themed bridal parties downtown?
ASHEVILLE - A reader asks about Asheville’s wedding tourism industry and the celebratory outings of wedding parties. Got a question for the Asheville Answer Man or Answer Woman? Email Executive Editor Karen Chávez at KChavez@citizentimes.com and your question could appear in an upcoming column.
Question: I feel like I’m seeing more and more gaggles of women in bridal parties around Asheville, dressed in matching T-shirts, or tiaras, downtown, in restaurants and even on hiking trails. Does Asheville advertise in national bridal magazines as a good place to get married? How many weddings are there each year in Asheville? How much does a wedding cost in Asheville?
Answer: Before answering the questions, let’s address “gaggles of women.”
According to Merriam-Webster, a “gaggle” is 1. “a flock of geese when not in flight”; 2. “a group, aggregation, or cluster lacking organization” or 3. “an indefinite number.”
The second or third definition may be what you’re going for but it’s definition No. 1 that’s ruffling my feathers.
Also, it’s more than women who embark on pre-wedding adventures en masse and in themed fashions, like the flock of Guy Fieri lookalikes I spotted at Ben’s Tune-Up on the South Slope.
Pre-wedding entertainment
Kyle Samples, general manager at LaZoom Tours, has seen bevies of bridal parties and platoons of grooms come through the city to celebrate couples' impending nuptials since he began working with the local sightseeing bus tour company in 2017.
He said the company, founded in 2007, is a top choice for bachelor and bachelorette parties, and most guests are from out of town.
For LaZoom’s Fender Bender: Asheville Beer Tour, a live band plays for riders as they are chauffeured to multiple local craft beer taprooms throughout the city before returning to LaZoom’s lounge on Biltmore Avenue.
Bachelor and bachelorette party trends continue to evolve and become more creative, he said. And coed parties have become popular. Earlier this month, Samples said a couple rented out an entire LaZoom bus tour and hosted a joint bachelor and bachelorette party.
“We see all kinds of fun stuff. We’ve seen bachelorette parties dressed as little old ladies with wigs. We’ll see more classic styles where everybody wears the same flannel shirt,” Samples said. “The best one I think I’ve seen was when everyone dressed as their favorite ‘Michael’ ― Michael Scott, Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson ― it went on and on. It was pretty wild. The groom’s name was Mike.”
Downtown is a go-to destination for a concentration of social settings, but the fun doesn’t end there. Many are choosing engaging entertainment on hiking trails and at restaurants, bars and breweries across the city and region to celebrate the last days of singlehood with friends and family.
“We have a pretty good nightlife in the South Slope around Ben’s Tune-Up. You can’t beat it to come here and have your celebration,” Samples said.
On the low end, there may be one to two bachelor and bachelorette parties every weekend and the number increases to about five or six in peak season, he said.
Peak season is in the warmer months and runs through October for wedding groups, but Samples said business stays steady even in the winter, which is a slower tourism season for Asheville.
On the weekend of Jan. 23, Samples said there were two to three bachelor and bachelorette parties booked with the tour group.
“Our bus holds up to 40, so on a public Fender Bender tour on Saturday we can have as many as five bachelor/bachelorette parties on one bus,” Samples said. “It’s a lot of fun especially when there are different themes going on.”
Why are wedding parties flocking to Asheville?
Shay Brown, founder and owner of Shay & Company, offers all-encompassing wedding planning and event services from day of to full planning, including assistance with booking, producing and decorating venues for events and venues.
Shay & Company, founded 23 years ago, manages bookings and tours, and other events for eight venues in the area.
Brown said about 60% of clients are from out-of-town, primarily from Florida, New York, California and Chicago. And 40% of clients are local.
People come to Asheville for the views, the mountains and the fall leaves.
“We are so booked between September and November. It’s a destination paradise for everybody to come here,” Brown said. “The local food scene has also created a buzz in Asheville, so people are wanting to get married and have great food at the venues, as well.”
The city’s popular venues include Biltmore Estate and The Omni Grove Park Inn due to their “amazing views,” she said. People also gravitate toward venues that can host all wedding-related events, including the ceremony and reception.
Asheville’s vast brewing industry is a leading attraction. Brown said many welcome and rehearsal parties are hosted at breweries, distilleries and cideries downtown and citywide, including Highland Brewing, The Mule, Pleb Urban Winery and Urban Orchard Cider. Co.
Golf outings and hiking are group activities that Shay & Company organize for clients, and Brown said her team often works with Explore Asheville to coordinate things to do. However, many clients desire to stay downtown.
Wedding tourism and marketing
Asheville is often featured in national publications as a wedding destination. Brown and Samples both said they’ve been interviewed, and their companies have been featured in national publications regarding weddings.
Brown said Shay & Company is featured in Explore Asheville and the Chamber of Commerce's wedding destination guides, and that the organizations do a lot for destination weddings in the area.
Other print and digital marketing campaigns are ongoing, too.
Explore Asheville has a webpage dedicated to assisting with wedding planning in the city with complimentary services including reserving guest accommodations, recommending wedding guest gifts, promoting local businesses and creatives, and providing travel guides to distribute to guests to help them navigate the city.
"While more than 90% of visitors to Asheville and Buncombe County come for vacation, groups including weddings, milestone gatherings, conferences, and events also play an important role in our overall visitor economy,” Vic Isley, president and CEO of Explore Asheville, said in an email. “Explore Asheville has a sales manager dedicated to weddings and social events; weddings are one of the top segments. Our team connects destination weddings with local businesses, from florists, photographers, makeup artists, and musicians to hotels, restaurants, caterers, and unique venues like museums and farms.”
Isley said that according to the organization’s most recent visitor profile data from Longwoods, an international market research consultancy, “7% of overnight visitors and 4% of day-trip visitors to Asheville and Buncombe County mentioned attending a wedding as one of their activities while in Asheville."
Wedding tourism's economic impact
Brown and Samples agreed that destination wedding tourism in Asheville has a great economic impact locally. Brown called it a “huge driver.”
According to Wedding Report, a research company that collects wedding statistics for the wedding industry, there were 4,324 weddings in metro Asheville in 2022.
The company reported that the average wedding cost $23,285 and the average number of guests was 125-135 in the same year.
According to Explore Asheville’s Public Information Manager Ashley Greenstein, “that would contribute more than $100 million to our economy annually.”
However, Brown calculates wedding costs at a significantly higher cost.
Brown said a wedding with about 50 guests may cost $25,000-27,000.
For a wedding with 100-150 guests, the lowest cost may be about $37,000.
Most weddings are between $47,000-50,000, which is all-inclusive of services including décor, band/deejay, floral, catering, cake, venue, transportation and officiant, Brown said.
Samples said the volume of bachelor and bachelorette parties has declined in 2023 compared to 2022 at LaZoom.
“The reason is that in 2022 we were still getting through a lot of backlogs of delayed weddings due to COVID so the number of bachelor or bachelorette parties, they dropped significantly, probably by 50% from 2022 to 2023,” he said.
Samples said 2023 may have evened out to pre-2020 COVID-19 pandemic booking volumes for the company.
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Tiana Kennell is the food and dining reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at tkennell@citizentimes.com or follow her on Instagram @PrincessOfPage. Please support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville thrives as 'destination paradise' for weddings, experts say
