Everything they Ever Wanted

Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue: July 2023

Bryn McDermott and Andrew Gavre were married on October 29, 2022, at the Greystone Inn in Lake Toxaway.

They had met more than five years earlier in Atlanta at the bar at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Years later, Andrew would recall that, “When I arrived, I knew there was only one person there I had any interest in talking to.”

He remembered being surprised when Bryn initiated a conversation because she was there with another guy (a co-worker as it turned out).

Though they talked for only a couple of minutes, Bryn was enchanted, “I thought he was charming which was delightful because it’s rare to find a fellow that’s both handsome and charming.” Upon leaving, she slipped him her business card, pretending they had a business connection. He said he’d email.

A week later, they had their first date. Romance happened quickly. By year’s end, they were living together. Later, they talked about how unlikely their meeting was. In April 2017, Bryn was a practicing attorney, defending companies in product liability cases, traveling around the country. But at the last minute, her trip had been canceled. And Andrew, who was working as a sales representative for an industrial supply company, had decided on a whim to go out on a Wednesday night to a bar he had never been to before.

In July 2021, Andrew got down on bended knee and proposed at “the spot” – the couple’s favorite place in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park, a place where they had had a million dates.

“We’re over the moon!” Bryn posted on Instagram.

The couple’s commitment to a wedding celebration that would be a weekend-long experience influenced their wedding planning, eventually leading them to the Greystone Inn in Lake Toxaway. When deciding where to exchange vows, they wanted a place where their guests could all stay in one place, and where they could host the ceremony and the reception.

Andrew was eager to tie the knot in the fall, at a locale where the seasonal color foliage would be the most brilliant. From the moment the couple set foot at Greystone, they knew it was the perfect place for their destination wedding. Not only was the venue beautiful with sweeping views, but it also incorporated everything they wanted in a wedding – the promise of great weather, a farm-to-table menu, and plenty of space for their loved ones. They set the date for October 29, 2022.

The couple’s vision came together flawlessly, perfectly capturing the North Carolina mountains, dressed up in a spectacular autumn palette. Festivities began on Friday night. While the wedding party and immediate family members celebrated at the rehearsal dinner, guests kicked back and enjoyed the sunset aboard Miss Lucy – the inn’s custom-built mahogany cruiser. After dinner, everyone met in the bar for drinks and conversation.

And then it was time for the main event. As Andrew wrote in the note he sent Bryn, “Babe, It’s finally here! I can’t wait to meet you at the altar and get married. What a wonderful weekend with all our friends and family.”

Saturday, Wedding Day, was a marathon. After waking up at 6:00 A.M., Bryn and the wedding party got off to an early start with hair and make-up at 7:00 A.M.

Her beauty vision and classic updo were natural and timeless. The bride, bridesmaids, and both Moms spent the day getting ready in the Rockefeller Suite and the inn’s catering team brought everyone Mimosas, trays of crudités, fruit, and BLT’s.

Bryn had fallen in love with the Rosa Clara Couture princess gown with its long sleeves, lace bodice, deep v-back, tulle ballgown bottom, and long train, the moment she saw it. She went all in on the something borrowed, something blue, and something new tradition – donning blue sandals, her grandmother’s ruby ring and a 4-leaf clover, (which also honored Bryn’s St. Patrick’s Day birthday), pinned to the underside of the gown’s bottom.

At 5:00 P.M. Bryn’s father escorted her down the aisle to the altar alongside Lake Toxaway. A slight mist briefly hung over the 50 seated guests. The bridesmaids wore blue velvet elbow-length sleeved long dresses from Jenny Yoo, that played up the wedding bouquets of white, and ivory florals of roses, and ranunculus with greenery and touches of blue seen in the ribbons. The groom wore a classic black tuxedo with a white shirt and black bow tie. His groomsmen stood beside him in similar black tuxes.

The couple had asked the Associate Minister of their church, Peachtree Road United Methodist, to perform the nuptials, but before pronouncing them “man and wife,” she directed them to share an emotional moment and turn around and look at their loved ones.

“It was amazing, I am so glad she did that; I never would have experienced such a profound pause had she not done that,” Bryn said.

For the cocktail hour, waiters passed trays of brie and fig jam crostini, mini beef wellington, and gruyere and ham gougeres to the assembled guests who mingled on the lakeside patio with its blue umbrellaed tables.

At dinner in the main dining room, white draped tables were set with gold-rimmed plates, and chandeliers swathed in greenery sparkled above. Guests dined on she-crab soup and had their choice of entrée; pork tenderloin or paillard of chicken, served with twice-cooked smashed potato and haricot vert. They finished with a wedding cake of strawberry champagne with vanilla buttercream.

Andrew and Bryn hired a DJ to entertain, and they shared their first dance to a choreographed custom mashup of Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon” (their song) and “You Should Be Dancing” by the Bee Gees. And there was still more; at an after-party at the Mansion, the assemblage ate grilled cheese sandwiches and truffle French fries while Andrew, his Dad, and the groomsmen jammed on guitars into the wee hours.

Update: Since their vows, each of the couple has had a career change. Bryn, realizing that “life needs to be celebrated every day,” launched her online home décor store, thesprucerie.com. As for Andrew, he is now Vice President of Pro-Pest Management, the commercial pest control company his father started the year he was born.