Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the Tri-Cities region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The Tri-Cities.
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Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 219: Where Music Meets Marriage: The Story of Fleetwood's Rock and Roll Wedding Chapel
What makes Mary Kelley with Fleetwood’s Rock and Roll Wedding Chapel a good neighbor?
Ever wondered what happens when wedding bells meet rock and roll? Mary Kelley, co-owner of Fleetwoods Rock and Roll Wedding Chapel, takes us behind the velvet curtains of Asheville's most unconventional venue where wedding dreams, vintage shopping, craft cocktails, and live music coexist in perfect harmony.
Mary reveals how she and her business partners transformed their combined passions for architectural salvage, vintage treasures, and music connections into a thriving business that has hosted nearly 400 weddings since opening in 2017. What makes this venue truly special isn't just the gold velvet curtains and disco ball that adorn the stage where couples exchange vows—it's the genuine community they've fostered. From bar patrons spontaneously serving as wedding witnesses during elopements to their whimsical "Married for the Weekend" package complete with "fake as hell" certificates, Fleetwoods creates experiences that defy convention.
The chapel's ability to outshine established venues like the Biltmore Estate (winning "Best Place to Get Married in Asheville" three consecutive years) speaks to how they've tapped into couples' desires for authentic, affordable celebrations. But weddings are just one aspect of this cultural hub. The venue hosts touring bands Thursday through Sunday across rock, punk, rockabilly, and metal genres—all with remarkably accessible ticket prices rarely exceeding $12. Their Sunday "Junk-O-Rama" vintage market transforms their parking lot into a treasure hunter's paradise, while their resilience following Asheville's devastating hurricane demonstrates their deep commitment to maintaining community morale even through hardship. Whether you're planning an unforgettable wedding, searching for your new favorite band, or simply wanting to experience what Mary calls "the coolest place in Asheville to have a drink and soak up some local culture," Fleetwood's offers a quintessentially Asheville experience unlike anything else. Check out their upcoming events and wedding information at FleetwoodsChapel.com and discover why this venue has become a cherished cornerstone of West Asheville's vibrant cultural landscape.
To learn more about Fleetwood’s Rock and Roll Wedding Chapel go to:
Fleetwood’s Rock and Roll Wedding Chapel
(828) 505-5525
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monning.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So I am super excited today to have a very special guest in our studio, and I'm sure you will be as well, because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Ms Mary Kelly, who is a co-owner of Fleetwoods. Mary, welcome to the show. Hi, thank you so much. Well, we're thrilled to have you, Like I said, really excited about learning all about you and your business. So if you don't, mind.
Speaker 3:Why don't you kick us off by telling us what you do? Well, I am the co-owner of Fleetwoods Rock and Roll Wedding Chapel. We are a wedding chapel, slash music venue, slash vintage store and bar in West Asheville, north Carolina.
Speaker 2:Very cool Rock and roll. Say that again.
Speaker 3:Rock and roll wedding chapel.
Speaker 2:Wedding chapel. That is awesome, so tell us how you got into this business.
Speaker 3:Well, I have two business partners, a married couple, christy and Simon Whiteley, and we were friends for a long time. They were big architectural salvage dealers. They collect the coolest stuff you can imagine retro, vintage stuff, vintage stuff and I have a lot of music connections. Christy came up with the wedding chapel idea because, I mean, asheville has a huge wedding industry. I think it's like $30 million per year but there's not a sort of more budget-friendly, kitschy, las Vegas-style wedding chapel. So we started that in 2017. We have live bands, usually Thursday through Sunday and you know different events like karaoke and whatnot, but we do weddings pretty much weekly. We have live bands usually Thursday through Sunday and different events like karaoke and whatnot, but we do weddings pretty much weekly. We've done almost 400 weddings since 2017. And they're fun, quick for the quirky bride and groom that just want something different than the traditional wedding.
Speaker 2:Very cool. Now tell me, could you give us an idea of what a I wanted to say typical rock and roll wedding is, but there's probably not one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they're all different. We've had all manner of situations and people. We welcome everyone of every kind into the wedding chapel. And now one of our officiants her name's Cheryl and she was actually in the rock and roll band the Breeders for a long time, so she adds the rock and roll aspect to it. But they get married on the stage where the bands play. There's a big disco ball, gold velvet curtains, sort of a Las Vegas style theme.
Speaker 3:Quite often we do elopements which are just quick ceremonies, where people just get married and hang out in the bar. Sometimes they don't have wedding witnesses. People from the bar will come and witness the weddings, which is really cute and fun. But then we have, you know, large scale, more traditional style weddings too, with you know, 50 or so people, families, receptions and more traditional things. So we kind of accommodate the bride and groom for whatever they want personally and it's been a lot of fun and very successful. We've been voted best place to get married in Asheville three years in a row over more well-established places like the Biltmore Estate. So we're pretty proud of that.
Speaker 2:Wow, well, so do you have bands like a house band that plays?
Speaker 3:No, we book touring and local bands, mostly sort of rock and roll, punk, rockabilly, metal, things like that, so you never really know what's going to happen. We have different genres pretty much every week. Tonight we have like an indie band from Atlanta and two local bands, and that happens pretty much, yeah, every week. We've hosted bands since the beginning too, so hundreds of bands have been through Fleetwoods as well.
Speaker 2:Wow, I love it. I absolutely love it. I'm a big music fan and wish you guys had been around nine years ago when I got married. We do vow renewals.
Speaker 3:I also have a thing called Married for the Weekend, which is just like a fake funny ceremony. You get a certificate that says Fleetwoods fake as hell wedding and enjoy a champagne toast at the bar. That's a lot of fun too.
Speaker 2:Wow Fake weekend wedding.
Speaker 3:Married for the weekend. It's called Married for the weekend Married for the weekend.
Speaker 2:Love it, love it. Well, this is going to be a tough question. What are some myths or misconceptions I wouldn't say in the wedding chapel business? But that's what you're in, but you're very unique, so what? Are some myths or misconceptions in what you do.
Speaker 3:Let me say that Well, a lot of people don't understand. You know, we say you know rock and roll wedding chapel. People don't. Some people have thought that we were actually a church, which was interesting. We've had that happen. We have had people thinking that you know, it's a little bit, you know an odd thing. So some people might be a little bit hesitant to come and check us out. But we're super friendly, super fun place. You can shop for vintage clothes and have a drink, listen to a band and if you meet somebody, get married there you go.
Speaker 2:That is so cool. Well, outside of work, what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:Well, work is pretty much everything you know. Having a business is like having a child. So, honestly, when I'm not at work having to actually work I usually go up there and hang out because it's like my favorite place in town very cool, very cool.
Speaker 2:So so your fun is work my fun is work honestly.
Speaker 3:It's a. It's a really interesting environment and lots of great folks come through all the time very, very cool.
Speaker 2:Well, let's switch gears for just a second. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've overcome and how it's made you stronger in the end?
Speaker 3:well, I think most recently, of course, dealing with a hurricane here in as Asheville. That's something that none of us expected to ever have to deal with, such a you know climate emergency and the devastation that caused here in the area and I think the whole town and the whole area really rallied around supporting each other and rebuilding the best we could, as quickly as we could. You know we tried to get I think we were officially down for a few weeks, didn't have water for almost two months, but we worked it out. You know we bought bottled water as we could had bands come in and play just to get keep morale up in the community and sort of make things seem more normal for people.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, and I'll tell you what it's been so cool to watch the community in and around Asheville, western North Carolina, come together and support each other.
Speaker 3:It's been awesome it's been awesome.
Speaker 2:So, wow, there's so much to talk about. Um, if, if you could think of one thing, mary, that you would like our listeners to remember about Fleetwoods Rock and Roll Wedding Chapel. I love that name. Um, what would that be?
Speaker 3:Well that we are probably the coolest place in Asheville to come have a drink and soak up some local culture. Um, we have, you know, a drink and soak up some local culture. We have, you know, tons of wonderful bands, wonderful people, super friendly environment, and we have a great vintage market on Sundays. Every Sunday, in the parking lot, different vintage dealers, sort of like a. We call it the junk-o-rama, but it's just like a, you know, vintage and antique flea market. There's just always something really fun to do and if you follow our website, all the events are listed there. It's FleetwoodsChapelcom.
Speaker 2:Very cool, coolest place in Asheville, it sounds like it. So and I meant to ask this earlier do you have bands? Even if nobody's getting married, you still have bands playing.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, oh yeah, the bands play. The weddings usually happen before the bands play.
Speaker 2:Usually they bands play. The weddings usually happen before the bands play. Usually they're over by, you know, around six or so, and bands come in around seven and usually play around nine o'clock. Awesome, I love it.
Speaker 3:I love it. Definitely going to be checking this out. Not getting married, but again surprise your wife at the Val renewal at Fleetwood yeah there we go, there we go.
Speaker 2:So, um, you mentioned the website. If anybody like myself or any of our listeners are really psyched about learning more, how can they do that?
Speaker 3:Well, they're on the website. There are links to contact us about wedding information or any other information you may need or want to have, and all the events are up and the tickets are available to buy online for shows.
Speaker 2:And does that vary depending on who the band is?
Speaker 3:it does you know, bigger, bigger bands, um, but very reasonable prices. I think the most we've ever charged for a ticket was 18, and that was a band from japan that everyone was really excited about wow, very nice, that's that.
Speaker 2:I love that, especially because I was telling somebody the other day that was telling me that they, their daughter, was buying and I I can't even say who the artist was. No, I'm sorry, their girlfriend was buying tickets to like to get VIP passes for some country music person. It was like 350 bucks a ticket. And I remember being outraged when I saw the who play in 1980, probably 84 or 85. And I had to pay 25 bucks and I thought it was just train.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2:It's insane. Well, that's wonderful 18 bucks.
Speaker 3:Average ticket price is 10 to $12. So awesome.
Speaker 2:Awesome, very good. Well, mary, I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed talking with you and learning all about your business. I'm definitely going to check your website out and definitely going to come check you guys out for sure. It sounds awesome.
Speaker 3:Great Well, thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to talk to me and to our listeners about Fleetwoods Rock and Roll Wedding Chapel and moving forward. We wish you and your family and all your co-owners all the best.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:All right, thank you, and maybe we can have you back sometime when you got a big, big act coming up.
Speaker 3:That sounds great. Thanks so much.
Speaker 2:All right, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873. ¶¶.