Date: July 31, 2023. Guests: fewer than 50. Elevation: 3,484 feet. Dara Russell and Mike Bussard had an intimate summer ceremony on the highest plateau in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We’re thrilled to revisit this dreamy mountaintop wedding in Cashiers, North Carolina.
“Mike and I were introduced by mutual friends in June of 2021,” Dara says. “Our first trip together was later that fall to the beautiful mountains of Cashiers, North Carolina, where we explored all the natural wonder of the area.”
Fast forward to a little more than a year later, and Mike was down on one knee proposing to Dara with the magnificent North Carolina mountains as the backdrop. When it came time to select a wedding venue, it was an easy decision. “We knew we had to get married in the place that had become so special to us,” Dana says.
Jessica Clark of Ink Nashville designed the most spectacular rehearsal dinner and wedding invitations, which provided a first glimpse of Dara’s overall design. The Chattooga Club offered the perfect setting, with its lush green croquet court set against the majestic mountains.
“We had both the ceremony and reception here,” Dara says. They also planned a welcome cocktail party to kick off the weekend festivities. “It was supposed to be a lovely poolside evening event at The Chattooga Club. The funny thing is that the pool had a serious leak — which no one knew about until the day of our event when the staff showed up to find it completely drained,” Dara says with a laugh. “We still had our poolside cocktail party with an empty pool.”
Despite Sunday’s slight snafu, Monday — the day of the wedding — flowed beautifully. Inspired by Western North Carolina’s lush landscapes, Meghan Lock worked her floral magic with light blue, white, and green hydrangeas, white and green roses, white lisianthus, and native greenery.
“This was a second wedding for us, so we opted to keep it small — fewer than 50 total — with just family and a few close friends,” Dara says. “The highlight of the ceremony was having our four adult children stand up for us.”
While Dara and Mike did exchange fairly traditional vows, they opted to skip some of the “extras” of most wedding days, like the first look, the first dance, and even the traditional wedding cake.
Longtime family friend and Nashville singer/songwriter Amy Stroup opened the ceremony with a heartfelt rendition of her original song “Hold on to Hope Love” accompanied by strings. Dara and Mike exchanged “I do”s, surrounded by their dearest friends and the perfect mountain scenery.
Cashiers is consistently lauded as a remarkable rural dining destination, and this wedding meal was no different. Guests were wowed by a three-course seated dinner by Chef Jason Whitaker. “He completely outdid himself,” Dara says.
“We had puréed asparagus bisque to start, followed by sautéed North Carolina mountain trout with a succotash of local lady peas and sweet white corn with a dark cove goat cheese finish,” Dara says. “And the final course was a slow-braised beef short rib with whipped golden potatoes and jumbo-grilled asparagus and tomato confit.”
At the end of the night, Dara and Mike chose to dance and mingle with guests for as long as possible, foregoing the traditional departure. They plan on honeymooning in Italy this fall.
Thank you for bringing us back to your beautiful wedding day, Dara!
RESOURCES
Venue: The Chattooga Club
Florist: Meghan Lock
Photographer: Terri Clark
Rentals: Professional Party Rentals
Music: Carolina Music Planner and Preston Prince
Makeup: Pop of Color
Officiant: Love and Wisdom
Invitations: Ink Nashville
Calligraphy: Kristen Carpenter
Bridesmaids’ dresses: Bella Bridesmaids
Wedding dress: The Bride Room
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