Interview with a Wedding Venue: The General Morgan Inn

It’s cliché, but true: if you build it beautifully, they will come.  And come they do to the General Morgan Inn... find out why when they gave the Pink Ladies an inside look into their spectacular venue and working in weddings.

1.   What about your company or services makes you stand apart?

Brides and event planners at the General Morgan Inn enjoy the advantage of having our full attention throughout the event planning process, from the first visit until the last dance. As a full-service facility, we take care of all the details. With 52 beautifully detailed guest rooms, our Inn is designed to host social groups in a charming, intimate atmosphere: our oversized lobby often turns into the social center for families and friends who are attending the wedding.  The addition of our second-floor outdoor terrace overlooking the historic district, with its church steeples and historic homes, is an ideal location for weddings and receptions.

2.   How did you find your way into weddings?

The General Morgan Inn, originally built in 1884, was designed with the social and leisure traveler in mind, offering beautiful, large rooms that are perfect for parties. During the hotel’s massive renovation in the mid 1990s, designers wanted to maintain the tradition of hosting special moments in a charming atmosphere. Because the Inn is a full-service facility that can offer guest rooms, event space, catering, staffing, bartending services, plus set-up and clean-up for these events, party planners and brides gravitated to the destination. It’s cliché, but true: if you build it (beautifully), they will come. 

3.   Describe the type of bride and/or couple that will have the most success working with you.

The typical couple that celebrates at the General Morgan Inn want a location that provides a great deal of service and support. Because we have a lot of the products (e.g. dance floor, tables, chairs, linens, etc.) needed for a wedding, couples can really stick within a budget. After working in Greeneville’s wedding industry since 1995, the staff at the Inn has also created relationships with other vendors in Greeneville that we are able to use to help couples design a signature wedding.

When considering atmosphere, couples who want an intimate wedding event in a traditional atmosphere also find the General Morgan Inn’s Victorian-era architecture to be very romantic. Our couples are typically traditional, perhaps with a classic vintage style.

4.   What type of bride and/or couple would not be the right fit for you? 

While we like to think we have something special to offer everyone, each couple has their own unique style.  For those brides & grooms who want something unexpected or entirely outside-the-box, they may find the restrictions in the Historic District, where the General Morgan Inn is situated, a bit confining (e.g. the Inn has to maintain the town’s noise ordinance, which limits the volume and duration that a live band can play on our terrace).  As a downtown business with residential neighbors within 200 yards of the Inn, there are limitations to what we can do. Some couples have very specific and quirky ideas: if someone wanted a pony in the wedding party, that would be something we could not offer. We love creative brides, but sometimes we have to help them tailor their ideas into a workable solution.

That advice we would offer any bride: be sure that your ceremony and reception ideas are in the style of your location. Choose a location that works for you, and choose people who will work with you to create your signature event of a lifetime. If a couple does that, they cannot go wrong. It's the best insurance policy for a perfect wedding.

To find out more about the General Morgan Inn, visit their website.  If her answers feel like the right fit for you, check them out and make sure you let their event team know you found them through the Pink Ladies!  

Images Courtesy of Lana Kiser and the General Morgan Inn.