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Getting Married At Almost Heaven Resort Is YOUR Dream Come True!

By Bonnie Neely

ALMOST HEAVEN is the "brain-child" of Megan Ownby of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Megan, the wife of a minister, had already had eight years of experience as a wedding coordinator, chef, and photographer when she was hired by Foothill Oaks Corporation to create and manage this business.

Corporate owners Don and Cindy Sharp recognized that Megan had all the expertise and experience necessary to do the job, as well as a dynamic personality and endless energy and determination, coupled with creative,artistic talent and love for her work. Megan is the perfect wedding planner for any couple to work with, and in the planning stages of each wedding the couple become her friends as well. She told us, "I love my job! It is such a fun thing to do. You're around happy people all the time!"

About forty-six thousand weddings are performed in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge each year, and the Wedding Chapels comprise one of the largest business sectors of the area. This is partly because there is no waiting period and no blood-test required in Tennessee for a marriage license. But primarily couples choose this area because of its beautiful setting in the Smoky Mountains and the myriad of things to do, wonderful places to stay, and great food and entertainment, and because the area specializes in a wholesome atmosphere.

Although there are many choices of wedding chapels in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, any couple of any faith would be very pleased with the

wedding arrangements at ALMOST HEAVEN. The beautiful chapel is inter-faith, non-denominational and is a perfect setting for a traditional wedding. It has held Jewish, Greek, Orthodox, Catholic, and all Protestant ceremonies, and the couple has the choice of using the regular, ordained ministers of ALMOST HEAVEN or bringing their own to officiate. But that is not the only choice for the bride and groom who marry at ALMOST HEAVEN.

For many reasons, some couples prefer to be married outside, or in a non-traditional ceremony. ALMOST HEAVEN has another ceremony location in a lovely, flat, grassy area on a hill-top overlooking the Smoky Mountains. For the "Wedding In The Sky" a latticed wedding arch frames the matchless scenery of the blue-gray peaks in the background beyond a deep,cloud-filled valley below, while the guests are seated on the lawn in folding wooden chairs, or under a gazebo. Your wedding can be at anytime: even at sunrise, sunset, or under starry skies.

If the couple are really adventuresome and want to "push the envelope" of convention, they can be married at the top of Mt. LeConte's seven-mile hiking trail, underneath a waterfall, or on an ancient granite boulder in the middle of a stream, or even in a hot air balloon, or on horseback! Only their imaginations and their physical prowess set the limits because Jeff, one of the ordained ministers for ALMOST HEAVEN, can equal any physical challenge the couple might suggest and perform the ceremony anywhere! Another ceremony which they have specially developed is the three-ring ceremony for second marriages, in which children of the bride and/or groom are included in the vows and also receive rings, marrying the family together.

ALMOST HEAVEN provides a comfortable dressing area for brides and their female attendants, who arrive with hair and make-up already done and just have to slip into their gowns. The dressing suite has big mirrors and bathroom facilities. Men in the wedding party usually prefer to arrive already dressed for the ceremony. By contrast to most other wedding chapels in the area, ALMOST HEAVEN tries to allow plenty of time between weddings so no one feels rushed and groups of guests do not overlap.

Megan is proud of her excellent staff. Photos and videos are a most important component of any wedding, and ALMOST HEAVEN has several photographers and videographers on staff so the best quality of memories is preserved without the bride and groom or their families having to think about it. The quality of the work is excellent. Megan herself makes the silk flower arrangements and bouquets to keep the cost for couples low. Dennis Frierson, a local wholesale florist, provides fresh flowers as requested. Steve Anderson, who once owned the Ginger Jar Bakery, is an expert at wedding cakes and can copy virtually any picture for a fraction of the cost, for ALMOST HEAVEN clients.

Megan at work and with her staff Dawn and Kim

Although they can also provide brief, civil ceremonies if the couple prefer, or time and funds are extremely limited, ALMOST HEAVEN staff are proud that they specialize in "real" weddings, performed by ordained ministers who have formerly had churches of their own, as opposed to a "Las Vegas Style Quickie, " which most people have as a pre-conceived idea of Wedding Chapel businesses. Because they are experienced, well-educated professionals, these ministers enjoy providing marriage counseling to the couple, prior to the ceremony, or during the planning period in the weeks before.

ALMOST HEAVEN, which is just three years old, works with Chef Dave for lovely wedding receptions of any type from simple nuts, mints, and punch to seated dinners for any number of guests at an indoor facility nearby. Soon Megan expects to have their own reception hall built on the mountainside, using big logs and stack stonework and lots of glass to capture the beautiful views at the location they have chosen near the site of their "Weddings in the Sky."

"We specialize in first class all the way, but for affordable prices," Megan says. And they have planned for all the needs of the brides and grooms. Summers and October are the busiest wedding months, with more than one ceremony nearly every day. However, because Sunday is the Biblical day of rest, they seldom have weddings on Sunday.

In addition to all the choices of ceremonies and locations and all the services provided at ALMOST HEAVEN, perhaps the best perk of all in getting married there is the amazing honeymoon cabins you get to stay in! With the wedding, honeymoon cabins are included for a minimum of two nights, or for as long as the couple chooses to reserve it. With only extreme exceptions these nine exquisite, new, log cabins, high in the mountains, are strictly reserved for honeymooning couples who just married at ALMOST HEAVEN. The cabins, built by Foothill Oaks Corporation, are on a small, winding, private road up the mountain in a beautiful, natural setting, and each is named for the mountain which it views. But these cabins are anything but rustic! Each cabin has special decor and total privacy, yet the cabins are nestled into their own little grouping, so that couples can choose to socialize with each other, if they wish.

Attending one of the chapel weddings while we researched this feature made us want to return to ALMOST HEAVEN to have a second wedding and renew our vows in this lovely place. We'd love to stay in one of these great cabins and enjoy all the perfect surroundings of nature and lots of area entertainment!

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