Category Archives: Bridal Style

Jan 07, 2020

photo by Corbin Gurkin

We have some of the most gorgeous brides, don’t we? We love doing this recap post every year and thanking our brides for an amazing year… Ready to hit the ground running in 2020 with two weddings already in January! Keyton got married in her summer vacation destination of Watercolor, Florida… She wore a strapless ballgown by Monique Lhuillier.

photo by Ryan Ray

Lauren was our fun loving, have a great time, and dance all night long bride. Married here in Charleston, she is a SC girl and we loved creating a spring time formal fete for her at Runnymede. Lauren’s mermaid sheath is by Oscar de la Renta.

photo by Sylvie Gil

Hannah and Tyler were married over the summer at “the end of the world”- Montauk, New York. Our bride elevated the typical beach wedding look with a lace covered off the shoulder gown by Anna Maier.

photo by Jose Villa

Caroline and her fiancé chose an urbane getaway upstate NY getaway- Troutbeck  for their wedding weekend. For the most part, the guests all stayed on site and were able to spend the entire weekend enjoying the amenities and events. Her simple but chic sheath is by Carolina Herrera.

 photo by Corbin Gurkin

Kimbrell married at her family home in upstate, SC… we were lucky enough to initially get to know her while planning her older sister’s wedding several years ago. Although, we had an unexpected tropical storm blow through that day, the rain didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits and everyone partied like it was a lovely day. Kimbrell chose a gorgeous lace Mira Zwellinger gown that couldn’t have been more perfect on her.

photo by Anne Rhett Photography

To marry her love overlooking the sea where she spent so much time with her family growing up (and having lost her beloved father) was of the utmost importance to our bride, which is why she chose Round Hill in Jamaica.  She chose a Cucculelli Shaheen gown with a cape that was beyond fabulous…

1.07.20   |   TARA GUÉRARD
Bridal, Bridal Style, Dresses, Event Planning, Fashion, Flowers, Photographers, Uncategorized, Weddings | Comments >>
Nov 19, 2019

photo by Corbin Gurkin 

It’s not just for the ring boxes anymore. We can’t sing our love of velvet enough…As far as we’re concerned we use it on linens, tent/wall draping, even wrapping bouquets!  Velvet is hot hot hot in wedding design right now, so we wanted to show you have we have used it in the past! 

photos by Corbin Gurkin and Liz Banfield

One simple but sweet way to use velvet is on the bouquet wrap. I’ve had great luck finding beautiful velvet options at my favorite vintage ribbon shop in New York.  For the wedding on the right, we even had the wedding’s custom monogram embroidered on her ribbon.

photo by Liz Banfield

One of our first forays into velvet was this collaboration with Velvet Raptor. For an early spring wedding with rich earth hued tones complimented with a pop of pastel, ombre menu booklets were finished with etched bronze name plates. Guests all kept their menus from this one!

photos by Corbin Gurkin (1,2) and Liz Banfield (3)

Our sister printing company, Lettered Olive, has had the opportunity to design paper goods using velvet elements.  Our menu books are so luxurious! For a December wedding, embossed velvet ribbon was an unexpected belly band on the invitation suite. And for another holiday season wedding, and slight hint of velvet on the reply envelopes offer a soft surprise.

photo by Liz Banfield

For a couple’s wedding welcome bags, we custom made velvet travel shoe bags so guests would actually want to take them home. And of course, stuffed with all sorts of goodies and treats for comfortable hotel staying.

Photos by Corbin Gurkin (1,2) and Liz Banfield (3)

And of course, one of our favorite areas for velvet and then more velvet is in the wedding design itself. A giant reception bar was covered in velvet fabric matching the custom built velvet seating. We found super perfect green velvet couches at our local rental company (Snyder Events) to create our reception lounge. And, for a glittering New Years eve wedding and special touch for our couple, we made velvet chair covers embroidered with their names…

11.19.19   |   TARA GUÉRARD
Bridal, Bridal Style, Event Design, Fashion, Flowers, Stationery, Invitations and Pretty Papers, The Lettered Olive, Uncategorized, Weddings | Comments >>

I am thrilled to share this Fall Fenwick Plantation wedding with you, now that it is officially fall in the south.  This is the 3rd daughter from a family that we have done all three weddings for, which I love because they were all so different and fun to design. This one is full of soft and feminine touches but using lots for rustic and natural elements. Thank you to Corbin Gurkin for all of the photos. Lettered Olive created a landscape scene reminiscent of the grounds at Fenwick Plantation (currently on the market if anyone is interested!), which was printed as the envelope liner on the classic letterpress invitations. Canvas “baskets” were printed with a handdrawn map of Charleston, with all of the weekend festivity locations noted. A custom printed puzzle also gave guests more information about the weekend events. Local snacks and treats filled the basket, including the groom’s favorite fortune cookies, but more on that later…

The bride wore a lace mermaid style gown by Eddy K with a keyhole back and a veil from BHLDN.

Bridesmaids wore gowns from BHLD, and the groom’s suit is from H Stockton in Atlanta.

Letterpress programs were fashioned into fans for the outdoor ceremony, luckily we had a warm beautiful day! After walking down a petal lined aisle with oversized magnolia pieces, the couple married under a magnolia and floral arch.

Cocktail immediately followed in the garden, where guests were greeted with hors d’oeuvres and cocktails named by the couple.  Going with the garden theme, a “planted” escort card display was designed. Galvanized metal tags were calligraphied with guests names and planed in a moss covered box. Dinner under the clear top tent featured a lovely head table with the palest pink linen, and curated tabletop of flowers, differing candles, and elements like antlers and other curios.

Afterwards in the lounge tent, both the wedding cake and a grooms cake were cut. The bride chose a chocolate covered confection by Jim Smeal displayed with a custom monogramed linen… Due the groom’s love of Chinese food, Jim also created a to go box cake with gum paste fortune cookies on top.

The after dinner lounge featured several different seating arrangements for guests to gather… In addition to our traditional bar setup, we built a beer tap wall for the guys… Loved this new addition and it was a big hit with guests… Featuring 4 of the couple’s favorite selections. 

After a night of dancing and mingling with friends, the couple departed to a sparkler send off, in a vintage British convertible.  Congrats Mary and Reid!

11.12.19   |   TARA GUÉRARD
Bridal Style, Cakes, Charleston, Event Design, Event Planning, Fashion, Flowers, Food and Drink, Press, Reception, The Lettered Olive, Uncategorized, Weddings | Comments >>