Wedding DJ at Blue Ridge Mountain Lodge in Union Mills, NC

The Space

Set on roughly 65 acres outside Union Mills, this mountain lodge began as something else entirely: the planned Discovery Center Sales Center for a Jack Nicklaus golf course that never got built after the 2008 downturn. Cabins of Asheville bought the property in 2021 and spent about a year remodeling it into the whole-house rental it is today. At close to 9,000 square feet, it reads less like a rented hall and more like a mountain house built to be filled by one group for a weekend.

That history shows in how the rooms are arranged. Instead of one open hall, there is a large living room with a stone fireplace, a separate TV room, a game room, a sitting room, and a glassed-in sunroom with its own fireplace and a hot tub looking out at the mountains. A wedding weekend here moves through these connected rooms rather than staying put in a single space, which changes how a couple lays out their day.

Capacity & Layout

The lodge sleeps up to 22 guests across 11 king-size bedrooms, four on the first floor and seven on the second, with seven bathrooms split between four full baths and three half baths. That is not an event capacity in the ballroom sense: it is a full-property buyout where the wedding party and close family stay under one roof for the whole weekend, which is the appeal for an elopement or a small, intimate wedding rather than a large reception.

Because the group is small and the house is not, couples get real choices about where things happen. The fire pit area outside works for a ceremony with mountain views behind it, the glassed-in sunroom with its hot tub suits a relaxed cocktail hour, and the living room, with its stone fireplace, is the natural gathering point for dinner and dancing once the sun goes down.

Amenities

Guests have run of a fully equipped kitchen, a bar, and an outdoor patio, plus two pickleball courts and a cornhole setup for the parts of the weekend that are not the wedding itself. The sunroom hot tub and the fire pit extend that same logic outdoors, giving a rehearsal dinner or a Sunday morning after the wedding somewhere to happen that is not the same room used the night before.

Practical details are covered too: the property is climate controlled throughout, has WiFi, and several bathrooms include grab rails and step-free access. It is pet friendly, which matters for a couple who wants a dog in the wedding party or simply does not want to board one for the weekend while everyone else is staying at the lodge.

Location & Getting There

Rutherfordton is about 15 minutes away, Marion about 20, and Forest City about 30, so a couple who wants nearby dining or lodging overflow for extended family has real options without a long drive. Asheville Regional Airport is roughly 78 minutes out, which is close enough for flying guests but far enough that the lodge feels like a genuine retreat rather than an airport-adjacent venue.

Cabins of Asheville, the company behind the remodel, was founded in 2006 by cousins Eric and Joey along with their wives Christy and Jill, and that same small-operator feel carries through the property. For a DJ, the separate living room, TV room, and sunroom mean sound generally stays contained to whichever room is hosting the reception, so setup means picking the one room where dancing will actually happen and building around its fireplace and windows rather than fighting one huge open space.