It’s Wedding Wednesday at The Bon Bon!  Martha and Jon’s wedding was very intimate and classic.  Their wedding was very understated with a guest list of forty. Martha and Jon had an all-white ceremony, with an intimate dinner at a small local restaurant.  What made their wedding so charming was the impeccable attention to all the details!  Martha and Jon’s beautiful wedding day was captured by our wonderful friend and AMAZING photographer, Liz Banfield.

Treat your out-of-town guests with with “welcome boxes”, we put together these cheery welcome boxes containing lowcountry delights like benne seed wafers, Charleston Chews, pralines, and an informative miniature guest booklet, whose grommets matched those on the ceremony program.

The flowers in the French Huguenot Church were definately some of my favorites.  I filled huge urns with blooming pear branches for the altar, and in front of them, I filled glass cylinders with bunches of white tulips. In front of the glass cylinders, I lined two rows of tiny clear votive cups and placed white candles in them.

Marth told me that she was a big fan of edible favors, so we ordered chocolate truffles from Burdick Chocolates in the shape of tiny penguins – Jon’s father loves penguins – and we wrapped the boxes in red ribbon.  They were so cute and stylish and the guests loved them!

Tiny French bistro La Fourchette, in Charleston’s trendy Upper King neighborhood, closed its doors on the evening of Martha and Jon’s wedding to host their reception.  Our signature color for the reception was red.  Martha loves tulips, so we made abundant use of them!

Martha didn’t want a traditional wedding cake, she wanted something a little more understated.  Besides, with the reception taking place in a small restaurant, there really wasn’t much room for a huge cake.  So, I got together with baker, Jim Smeal, and we came up with the idea of individual mini cakes.  They were chocolate and kahula with vanilla buttercream and we even managed to re-create the red dandelion from the invitations on top of each cake.

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Soirée Secrets:

Casual Correspondence:  For smaller weddings, forego the traditional wording on your invitations and send out something that more resembles a letter.  Also, hand-write each of the invitations, addressing your guests by their first names.  This will be the first indication to your guests of what an intimate, individualized affair it is going to be.

Place Cards:  A great way to add a little custom flair while also saving money is to double up on your menu cards and place cards.  Martha had the calligrapher add the name of each guest to the top of the menu cards in a larger script so guests knew where to sit.  That way, the menus pulled double duty and guests had personalized keepsakes to take home with them.

Alternative Attire: Don’t be afraid to think outside the strapless Vera Wang when it comes to your wedding dress.  Martha didn’t have time to have a gown fitted and made, so I helped her pick out a white silk bridesmaid’s dress by designer Siri. Martha wanted a short dress anyway and bridesmaids dresses are a lot less costly!