Maya and Jordan toured the property on a wet Sunday in February, eight months before the wedding. Maya wore boots she'd borrowed from her sister. Jordan was the one taking notes. They didn't say much during the tour. Then they got back to their car, and Jordan rolled down the window and said, very simply, "We'd like to book it. Saturday, October 18."
The first look happened on the porch of the 1908 farmhouse. Maya came around the corner in an ivory column dress her mother had altered (she'd worn the dress at her own wedding in 1989, in Vermont). Jordan, in a warm earth-toned suit with brown shoes, was standing on the porch holding two mountain laurel boutonnieres that Maya's grandmother had pinned that morning. They didn't say anything to each other for a full minute. Then Maya laughed and said "we're really doing this" and Jordan kissed her on the forehead.
The ceremony was in the meadow at 4:30 PM. October light. The trees on the far ridge were every color. The aisle was wildflowers — a five-foot cut Cole had made on the Wednesday before, intentionally rough. The arbor was draped in eucalyptus and a single mountain laurel garland. Maya walked in to a fiddle and banjo duet by the Boone-based trio The Cardinal Three. Her father walked her halfway and her mother walked her the rest of the way.
Dinner was family-style at eight long farm tables down the length of the barn, set with ironstone, taper candles, eucalyptus runners, and a single sprig of dried mountain laurel at each place setting. The caterer was Tilden & Howe (preferred vendor). Pork shoulder, white beans, kale salad, brown butter cornbread, and a tomato pie that Hannah had asked specifically for because it's a Calloway family recipe. There was no first-course/second-course choreography — everyone passed the platters and ate when they ate. Toasts started at 7:15 and ran until 8:45. The bride's brother gave the longest one. Nobody minded.
The Cardinal Three came back at sunset and played from the open barn doors. First dance was "Wagon Wheel" — Maya had been afraid it was too on-the-nose, but Jordan insisted. They danced until eleven. The bonfire was lit at nine. Cole had stacked the wood that morning. Maya and Jordan walked down to the creek with thirty-eight guests at 11:15 and stayed there until 1 AM. The last marshmallow was eaten at 12:48. We have a photograph.
Maya called me three weeks after the wedding to ask if we'd kept a piece of the eucalyptus runner. We had. Cole drove it to her in Asheville on a Saturday morning. She had it pressed and framed. It hangs in their kitchen now.
"We toured eight venues. Hearthstone Hollow was the only one that emailed us a real price the same day."
— Maya, the bride