Life in Asheville provides many unique pleasures. For me, one of the best is the promise of meeting genuinely fascinating people. I am a bit introverted, but this is a writer’s dream, as inspiring new characters are literaly around every corner. Every city has a heartbeat, but in this city, the presence of the human heartbeat is unmistakable.
A few weeks ago, we were in the throws of the fitness series, and Jess dragged me on a weekend morning to an Instameet/workout at Rogue Combat Club. Unfortunately, I do have to admit that it was actually a lot of fun and I will be back to this gym. (By the way, my sprint work is still excellent, thanks every Coach ever!) Somewhere between Cardio Kickboxing with Jenn, and Yoga with MaryBeth, we were lucky enough to meet Emmaleigh.
Emmaleigh Argonauta was born in Missouri and when she was 1 year old her parents moved to Asheville and she has been here ever since! That’s almost as Asheville as it gets when it comes to a local! She’s wiry and redheaded, and has a certain spark in her eyes that reveals the wild, generous spirit within.
To put it simply, Emmaleigh is a wedding coach. In reality though, she does so much more. In addition to coaching her business, Just Bloom Together, also provides consulting services, virtual assistance, and styling packages; all while ensuring that everyone has a great time. When you talk with her, you will find that this is almost her motto, not just for her business but in her approach to life.
“I aspire every Asheville wedding to be intentional, fun, and perfectly imperfect for each couple. Intentional wedding planning incorporates every decision made during the engagement, requires lots of communication, and helps create memorable experiences. There is a lot of outside pressure that creates an expectation for an unattainable goal: which is that your wedding day will be the most perfect and biggest day of your life! Spoiler Alert: Your wedding day will NOT be perfect, and that’s okay! Let me assure you that it WILL be perfectly imperfect, just like You and Your Person!
Now, you guys know that we love some local support. We happily discovered that Emmaleigh’s background and expertise makes her a veritable goldmine of information when it comes to planning a wedding here.
As far as the biggest day of your life goes, “big” is a word that means different things to different folks. When you are planning a wedding and choosing to join your families, you are forced to elaborate on a word like “big.” Ya’ll might say you want a ceremony on a “big” ol’ mountaintop (is it Mt. Mitchell “big”, or is it Max Patch “big”?) and with a “big” band for your reception (is it a “big” band as in the jazz genre, or is it a “big” name band like you booked Toubab Krewe (shout out to these Asheville peeps by the way)?
An intentional Asheville wedding incorporates each couple’s unique favorite sentiments, reasons, and feelings for choosing Asheville to celebrate their love and commitment. Asheville gives a couple many choices to express themselves and highlight their sentiments about our town! Many want to marry for the same reasons we choose to visit, relocate, or remain here: multiple award winning local chefs and bakers, musicians that convey the romance of the songs these mountains sing, and that drop beats that shut the party down at Tuesday Night Funk Jam. We don’t have to travel far for beautiful custom wedding attire made by local clothing designers, and we can effortlessly find flowers that were picked this morning at the farm right outside of town. In fact, locally created flatware made from the scrap metals that were leftovers from our handmade wedding rings could be arranged, and the glass blown in RAD could be for everyone to drink their locally brewed beer out of!”
At the end of the day, a wedding is supposed to be a celebration. What better way to pull this off than with the help of someone committed to celebrating every single day? She’s an engaging person who makes everyone feel more alive just by being near her. Be sure to keep up with all Emmaleigh’s shenanigans by heading over to her website here, and following her on social media here.
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Hope you’re loving the wedding series! There are only a couple more stories left so be sure you don’t miss it! And as always, we love to hear how we’re doing! Be sure to tell us what you think!
Photography done by: Adrain Etheridge