Our Rehearsal Dinner at the Lake Toxaway Country Club

I just poured myself a cup of hot tea, turned on my wedding playlist to get me in the reminiscing mood, and grabbed all the cozy blankets I could find. I love setting my environment just right before I start to write. Today is the start of my wedding series, and I can’t wait to share all of the photos and details with you. Today, I’ll be sharing photos from the day before the wedding when we arrived at the Greystone Inn and the rehearsal dinner at Lake Toxaway Country Club.

The wedding week spent with family couldn’t have been any more perfect.
A Castle Photo
Kyle and I had traveled to the Greystone Inn several times before the wedding. Look at how gorgeous the Greystone is just sitting on the hill overlooking the beautiful lake. I never imagined getting married on a lake, but we fell in love when we saw the Greystone Inn in person. Not only was it a cozy and romantic setting, but it also had everything to entertain our guests. While they stayed, they could horseback ride, kayak, swim, paddleboard, play tennis, golf, hike, get a latte from the bar in the middle of the afternoon, sit by the fire, and the list goes on. Kyle and I plan to come back as much as we can.

We headed up to the Greystone Inn the afternoon before the wedding. We had our welcome bags packed (let me know if you’d like me to do a post on those), all of our wedding decorations, some gifts, and Leo in the backseat. We always stop in Brevard and Hendersonville on the way up. It wouldn’t be a trip to Lake Toxaway without a Caesar salad wrap, a pastry, and a cappuccino from Black Bear Coffee in Hendersonville!
It was so nice to see all the greenery back since we last visited in early spring. After Kyle and I dropped our stuff off, he headed to the Asheville airport to pick up his mom. I didn’t feel like staying in the car another hour, so Leo and I stayed behind and walked around the property. We also sat on the deck, looking out at the mountains. This was Leo’s first time at the Greystone Inn. I love that the Greystone Inn is pet-friendly. After Grumple’s passed, we knew we wanted Leo to be a part of our big day.
We booked the Rockefeller Suite for the wedding weekend. The two-story room is huge and filled with giant mullioned windows! It features a massive stone wood-burning fireplace, king bed, two bathrooms, second-floor loft with double-sized bunk beds, private entrance on both the main and second level, and a private balcony overlooking the lake. If you plan to get married or stay at the Greystone Inn, it’s totally worth the splurge.

On the way back from the airport, Kyle surprised me with an oat milk iced latte since I was on the phone telling him how tired I was. In fact, I ended up taking an hour’s nap while he was out, and it was the best! The bed in the Rockefeller Suite is like sleeping on a cloud.
 Around 4 pm, we got ready for our boat ride with our photographer Amanda, and Les Rue, the caption of the wooden boat!


I fell in love with wedding boat photos like those off the coast of Italy or in Lake Como. When I saw that Lake Toxaway had a wooden boat club, I just had to recreate a moment like that. Our wedding event planner and coordinator, David, set the whole thing up with Les, and it couldn’t have been any more perfect. Our photographer was so excited to capture the boat photos, and we had the absolute BEST captain. Les showed up in the best captain outfit (which his sweet wife picked out for him), and he picked us up right off the dock at the Greystone Inn. He even drove us to his house and switched up boats to have photos in both of them. It was one of the best nights! I will be sharing all of the pre-rehearsal photos from the boat ride in the next blog post. 
A Castle Photo
A Castle Photo

The “boat hair don’t care” look!

We got fortunate because the rain was on and off all week. It rained just before we got on the boat, and the sun was out shining for our ride!
 
A Castle Photo
The Lake Toxaway Country club is only a two-minute walk from the Greystone Inn. I loved that about this venue. We had a catered dinner right outside on the Vanderbilt porch. It has the most beautiful view of the golf course and mountains.
 
A Castle Photo

I am so in love with these photos Amanda took. I have another blog with all the links if you want details about my dress, shoes, and other wedding-related items! Here is the link!

A Castle Photo
When we got to the table, a few beautiful charcuterie boards were laid out for the guests to eat while getting settled in.

A Castle Photo
 We had one of the most powerful rainstorms roll in while sitting down for dinner, but watching it from the porch was somewhat relaxing. The storm cooled everything down, and it made for the most beautiful summer skies.
First up, we had the field green salad with grilled peaches, goat cheese, walnuts, and elderflower vinaigrette. It was delicious and fresh!
The dinner was absolutely delicious. Everything on the plate tasted magical! The guests had the option of steak or jumbo scallops. I went with the scallops since Kyle went with the steak. We always end up doing the “here try this” with our meals. The scallops were served with herb butter buerre blanc and sun-dried tomato risotto & asparagus. Everyone was talking about how good the food was!


The scallops deserved extra photos since they were perfection on a plate. A Castle Photo
We had the best night kicking off the wedding together! This was actually the first time some of our families met each other, so it was even more special.  For dessert, we had signature Lake Toxaway buttermilk pie with brown sugar sauce. I know it was the night before the wedding, and I had a dress to fit into the next day, but it was worth every bite! And it wouldn’t be right if we didn’t end our evening with coffee with dessert!

A Castle Photo
After dinner, we headed back to our room; I quickly washed my face, threw my pajamas on, and headed straight to bed! I was so excited for the wedding day ♥️

My next blog post is going to be filled with photos from our boat ride! ♥️ STAY TUNED! & Thank you, Amanda Castle, for capturing so many great shots the night before our wedding! Not only did she take amazing photos and help us out in so many ways during the wedding, but she also took Leo back to bed and breakfast with her during the rehearsal dinner so he wouldn’t be alone since he wasn’t feeling very well. 😢 She truly is the best! I can’t recommend her enough if you’re looking for a photographer. She truly is the best.

Questions for you!

1. Did you have more than 20 people at your wedding?
2. What made you choose your wedding venue?
3. What questions do you want me to answer in the next blog post about the wedding?