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An Engaging Weekend: Our Trip to Biltmore

Aubrey
Nov 14, 2016
8 min read

I still cannot believe how amazing this weekend was.

We've had SO many bad travel experiences (hit and runs, missed cruises, missed flights, overcharged hotel rooms, bad weather- you name it!), but this one was truly amazing. I've never been more in love with my fiance, and I've never enjoyed one of our weekend getaways as much as this one!

Cory and woke up early on Saturday morning and traveled nearly five hours to Asheville, NC to take our engagement pictures!

Cory worked all night on Friday (he got home around 2 a.m.), so Saturday morning was a bit of a struggle. We hit the road nonetheless, and were northbound. I couldn't contain my excitement!

I love taking road trips with Cory. We love to talk and play games (ie. Magic Radio) and sing country music to each other. We roll the windows down, fight over the AC and eventually I usually fall asleep. This trip, though, I stayed awake the whole time, never got car sick, AND managed to sing the entire "Crazy Ex Girlfriend" playlist to Cory on the drive. I think he wished I'd fallen asleep...

We checked in at the Comfort Suites Outlet in Asheville, which, might I add, was fabulous! We got a really great deal on our room, and it even included 2-day passes to the Biltmore Estate!

We unloaded our bags (well, his one bag and my five bags) and hurried to find some lunch before our pictures. We intended to find something light but filling. We walked around the outlet mall food court, and of course, every restaurant was closed for renovation. We have the worst luck when we're in a rush. Finally we found this hole-in-the-wall pizza place about a mile from our hotel and decided to check it out.

When we arrived there were literally NO cars in the parking lot. We were the only customers in a rather large establishment with a flickering "open" sign. My initial thought was..."sketchy...!" But I was hungry, and when I'm hungry, I'll do a lot of dumb things. So we ventured in.

We each ordered two slices of pizza, which I figured would be about average. We sat down and began to look through a Pinterest article I found on how to pose for pictures (this helped us NONE, just so you know, but the article was still cute). When our pizza arrived to the table, we thought they'd messed our order up. We each had two GIANT slices of pizza.

Honestly, this was some of the best pizza we've ever had! It was perfect. We each only finished one piece and had to take the rest back to the hotel. So much for our "light" meal. We felt like we'd had Thanksgiving dinner by the time we were finished. Whoops. Anyways, thanks Four Brothers Pizza. We loved it!

We then headed back to our room to get ready for engagement pictures!

I'd spent months looking through Pinterest and magazines and stores trying to figure out what to wear, how to style our outfits, how to pose; I didn't actually do any physical packing until the night before though... I'm more of a planner than a do-er when it comes to packing. As I got ready for our pictures, I started panicking.

Do our outfits look okay together?! Should I wear the necklace!? Can I still suck into these jeans after that pizza!?

Finally I calmed down, listened to some more "Crazy Ex Girlfriend" songs, and finished getting ready. We were off to Biltmore!

Neither of us had been to Biltmore before. In fact, we hadn't even originally planned to take our pictures there. Cory and I both wanted Fall engagement pictures. We love the changing leaves, the scarf and boot weather and the crisp air. Unfortunately, we live in South Georgia, and those Fall elements just don't exist.

We told our photographer, Brittany McCool, what we were looking for and agreed that we wouldn't find that look in November in Statesboro. She called us a few weeks ago and said she and some friends were planning on going to NC and that Cory and I could meet her there for our pictures! We knew this would require some travel and budgeting, but once we saw pictures of the Biltmore, we knew we couldn't turn that offer down!

We arrived at the Estate and took a shuttle to the home. Brittany had already scoped out the best picture shots, so we got started right away!

There was a heavy smoke-fog from the forest fires that enveloped the estate. I was nervous that it might ruin our pictures, but aside from a few coughs and runny noses, the fog ended up looking quite romantic! Brittany had us pose all throughout the landscape, and the smoke helped to mask the shadows and harsh lights!

*Full disclosure, the smoke worked in our favor, but we still hope those fires get put out. We are not proponents of burning down the state. Just thought I should clarify.*

Aside from our outfit choices, I was very nervous about posing with Cory. I'm an amazing selfie-taker (self-proclaimed) because I can see myself and determine which angles and lighting looks best before I snap a picture. My body, however, does not know how to naturally move when a camera is in front of it. I am especially awkward when posing with other human beings. I just don't know what to do with my hands!

Cory is also not the most photogenic when forced in front of a camera. He tends to cheese like a little boy. He's much more natural and handsome in candid shots.

This was just a disaster waiting to happen. We shared our concerns with our photographer, and she promised to help us as much as possible! She helped guide our hand placements and body angles. She fixed my hair and scarf and told Cory when to bend his legs "less 'all-man."

She also had us laughing the entire time! She told Cory to just remind me of funny things throughout the shoot to get some candid, genuine smiles and laughs, and that we did! We were laughing the entire time. She says my laugh was cute, but I know that I "laugh with my entire face," and that usually looks more like this than cute.

But whatever. We'll take her word for it.

We walked ALL OVER that estate for these pictures! We changed outfits in the bushes (one old cougar was especially excited to hear that Cory had to change shirts! hahaha) and trekked for what seemed like miles through the trails and hills of Biltmore. We're really upset about not having our FitBits with us during this adventure. Those steps don't even count.

We finished up just as the sun was setting. We truly had so much fun, we didn't even realize how much time had passed! We can't wait to see our pictures in a few weeks!

After the pictures, Cory and I were exhausted (especially him, since he'd stayed up working nearly all night, driven all day and hadn't rested yet!). We wandered through a few shops and then got back on the shuttle to our car.

At that point, we were still so full from the giant pizzas that we decided to do some shopping before calling it a night. Our hotel was literally across the street from the Asheville Outlet Malls, so we couldn't resist! I hit up Ann Taylor, Francesca's and Dressbarn- hard. Unfortunately there weren't many Cory-stores, so this was mostly an Aubrey adventure.

I stocked up on mall kettle corn and pretzels, we hit up Taco Bell for Cory, and we called in a night!

The next morning we woke up early to make our 9:30 a.m. tour of the Biltmore home! We, of course, were still running late, so we ended up eating dry cereal and tiny cups of orange juice in the car on our way.

We arrived at the home just in time to start our tour! Since Cory and I are the most impatient people in the world, we bypassed the tour and decided to view the home on our own terms. ....When we somehow finished looking at everything in 30 minutes, we realized we might have missed a few things. So we ended up having to get back in line to go through the main parts of the house again. Whoops!

The Biltmore was BEAUTIFUL! Wow. I'm so thankful we came at this time of year too, because the Christmas decorations adorned the entire home! There were enormous Christmas trees in nearly every room- each with its own theme and look. The rooms were extravagant, the ceilings amazing, the furniture stunning. The grandeur of it all was just breathtaking.

I can't even imagine what it would be like to have that kind of money. It's stupid money. Like, their servants lived nicer than I do.

When we finished our home tour, we grabbed some hot chocolate at the little cafe (well, Cory got hot chocolate, and I drank most of it). We toured the gorgeous gardens and took pictures of, well basically everything we saw.

Then we got back on the shuttle and headed to Antler Hill Village! At first there didn't seem like much to do. We went through the legacy museum and looked at wedding traditions from the area (so fitting!) and then through a few tourist shops. We were about to leave when we ran into this very enthusiastic estate attendant who showed us the other free things to do on site!

Although we were STARVING, we wanted to make sure we saw everything before we left. We went through the winery (although the line was too long for the free wine tasting- bummer!) and then to the old dairy farm. We watched some woodworking demonstrations (kind of), looked at some old machinery, and got back on the bus to find food cheaper than $50 a plate.

We hated saying goodbye to the beautiful landscape on the estate. Truly, there were some of the most breathtaking images in those hills and gardens.

Our Tips for visiting the Biltmore Estate:

1) Buy your tickets in ADVANCE. Look for special deals with hotels and group rates in the area. Ticket costs increase closer to the time.

2) Bring extra batteries! Your camera will die, and you will want to keep taking pictures.

3) Also, bring an empty memory card. Don't let that fill up!

4) Bring snacks! I wish we had realized we could go back to our car and/or carry snacks around. The only place you can't bring food is in the house, but we could have enjoyed some little snacks during our hikes!

5) Wear comfortable shoes. 2,000+ acres is no joke.

We went across the street from the estate into the Village. Cory had been craving Mexican food, and we found a little restaurant close by. We chowed down on shrimp and chips and cheese then headed back to Georgia (*another tip: don't eat Mexican food before you go on a long road trip*).

This drive I was not as inclined to stay awake. Cory turned on Sunday football on the radio, and I promptly passed out for five hours.

We seriously had so much fun this trip. We laughed so hard. We got to spend so much quality time together- just the two of us. I wish we had been able to stay just one more day/night, but it all worked out for the best. It's Monday, and we're back to the grind!