We drove up to Western NC on October 15th to the 17th. I-40, I-26 and Highway 74 were all clear, safe, and passable! The section of I-40 that is closed until further notice is beyond the exit you would take to get to our venue.

Our amazing wedding planner also drove from Charlotte to the venue with no issues!

The three of us did not have any issues finding or getting gas.

While in Western NC, we visited the towns of Dillsboro, Sylva, and Wayneville. All three of these towns are open. Cherokee was not hit by the storm, and we know they are open with no road closures or damage!

Waynesville appeared to be the town that was hit the hardest out of the three; however, they are completely open. They do have one detour to avoid a bridge that does not appear to be down, but may have not been inspected yet. This bridge is not near their main road. All of the restaurants and shops on their main road are open and did not appear to have sustained any damage because they sit a little higher. One of our favorite breweries, Frog Level Brewing Company, is open and excited for the business! They are located within the flooded area but have already cleaned up their brewery and reopened. Please go check them out if you get the chance and have a great pint of beer!

The town of Dillsboro is open. Including Foragers Canteen, who will be catering the wedding, so give them a try if you are staying near that area! They did have some flooding but you cannot tell after their clean up efforts.

Finally, our wedding and rehearsal dinner venues sustained absolutely no damage and are ready for us to celebrate!

We hope this is able to put everyone's travel concerns at ease to the WNC area.

We cannot wait to celebrate with you all 2 weeks from today!

Love,

Caroline & Macey

Hurricane Helene was devastating to Western North Carolina; however, the area in which we will be getting married, Cherokee/Whittier, was not damaged.

You all mean so much to us and under no circumstances would we ask our friends and family to travel to our wedding if it was unsafe to do so.

We have been told that the roads to Cherokee are clear, safe and passable. Our venue owner and other vendors have driven I-40, I-26 and Highway 74 between the venue and Asheville and have reported that the roads are safe. We will be traveling to the venue October 15th - 17th and will confirm that they are safe. But by all measures, everyone can make it up to our venue from South Carolina and North Carolina.

The hotels in Cherokee, including the Casino and Fairfield Inn, did not sustain any damage. The Casino is serving as housing for FEMA; however, current reservations will still be honored as they are only utilizing one of their three towers to house FEMA right now. The Grand Cherokee Hotel is another hotel close to Harrah's. Harrahs is the bus pick up and drop off location. This hotel is open and accepting reservations. As well as The Holiday Inn in Cherokee.

Waynesville, the town below Cherokee and our venue, did flood. However, as of the week of October 7th, the businesses in the area are starting to re-opening and are eagerly awaiting guests!

These towns in Western North Carolina rely on tourism; October and November are their busy season. A lot of businesses have been able to recover from damage sustained or did not sustain damage and now rely on tourists coming to their area to continue employing their neighbors and supporting their communities economy. We are eager to have our wedding in such a beautiful area in the WNC and help stimulate their local economy so they can all continue to pay and support their employees.

If you have any questions, we have not addressed in our update, please text me (Caroline) at (803) 546-6011 or Macey at (704) 776-5414.

We cannot wait to celebrate with you all on November 2!

Love,

Caroline & Macey