Category Archives: Bridal Style

photo by Liz Banfield

Bouquets and flowers are the one thing that many brides spend months or even years thinking about, researching, and pinning. I absolutely love creating the perfect bouquet for my bride’s on their wedding day… after getting to know them personally, what their style is, and then crafting something they will love to carry on their wedding day. I still do all of my bride’s bouquets myself. And, I’m really into versions of romantic cascading versions right now, like the one above with wild peonies, roses, orchids, and greenery.

photo by Corbin Gurkin

This lush mixture is contained enough to not be considered bohemian wild, but has enough texture to make a glamorous statement. The combination of lilac, orchids, roses, tulips, and hellebores offered a grand statement. Lilac often means “love’s first emotion”, and orchids have meaning associated with love and beauty, words synonomous with a wedding.

photo by Liz Banfield

I do love that there is a trend pushing bouquets slightly away from tight rounded balls…. Even a more traditional rounded bouquet gets some airiness and movement here… we incorporated fern fronds, and lily of the valley leaves to fill out garden roses, phalenopsis orchids, and hellebores…

photos by Corbin Gurkin

Flowers in the same tone but in varying sizes create a luxurious feel and fuzzy lambs ear add a hint of “grey green” a color we are still getting requests for.. And, one of my other favorite custom notes I like to surprise my brides with is vintage ribbon I source for them based on their design and color palette.

photo by Corbin Gurkin

One of my most favorite bouquets and so simple – just a perfect bunch of lily of the valley. Lilly of the valley is said to mean happiness… What better sentiment is to be said on the day you are getting married?

photo by Corbin Gurkin

Calla lilies mean “magnificant beauty” and definitely have a history with brides looking for a more traditional feel, which of course, roses do too. Pink roses more specifically give a nod to grace and elegance, so paired together, they pretty much are the meaning of “bride”…. Plus we like bringing in a little color for our ladies.

2.13.18   |   TARA GUÉRARD
Bridal, Bridal Style, Event Design, Flowers, Uncategorized, Weddings | Comments >>

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This pretty bride and her pretty plantation party make for a perfect Wedding Wednesday post. She and her groom celebrated with a ceremony downtown at First Baptist Church, and dinner and dancing afterwards at Runnymede Plantation outside of Charleston. The navy and white set a formal yet fun tone and Corbin Gurkin was on hand to capture all of the beautiful images. Here, I do love that the bride and her girls had such a lovely backdrop for the day while getting ready. It does make for photos that help set the tone for the day…

Bride and groom Collage

A bride in all white Vera Wang and a groom in a classic tuxedo is pure perfection.

wedding party Collage

Flowing navy Monique Lhuillier dresses were accented with cream and peach garden rose bouquets. The bride worked in fashion at Ralph Lauren, so the groomsmen all sported custom loafers with their tuxes.

Bridesmaids on bus

The bride and her ladies ride a Classic Charleston trolley to the church, luckily Corbin is right behind to capture this sweet moment

Ceremony Collage

Simple ceremony decor like floral wreathes and a custom aisle runner give a sweet touch without overshadowing the meaning of why everyone is there.

ceremony programs

A custom monogram designed by Lettered Olive is used throughout the wedding papers and design.

guest box Collage

Guest welcome boxes contain a mixture of the couple’s favorite treats and local goodies. Custom printed cups are perfect for the morning bloody mary’s using Charleston’s Fat and Juicy mix.

Cocktail hour Collage

Once at Runnymede, guests enjoyed cocktail hour on the lawn… We customized the wedding everywhere we could, down to the blue and white striped bow ties, and printed papers lining the trays serving the food.

Escort cards

Caligraphied escort tags on papers printed in the different colors and patterns were pinned to a board for guests to find during cocktail hour.

Dinner tent Collage

I’ve been really into designing the outside of a tent as much as the inside lately. I mean, really you see that first and foremost, so why wouldn’t it be lovely as well, instead of some big white rigid structure. To enter the carpeted and greenery draped dinner tent, guests walked down a boxwood lined pathway and under a custom fabric awning.

tent garland

The head table’s centerpiece was a garland adorned with flowers running the length of the table and spilling over onto the floor.

Table Collage

Graced with perfect weather that day, the tent opened up onto the plantation grounds overlooking the river and the ruins of the old plantation house.  A crisp blue and white palette allowed the soft pastels in the flowers to pop.

Cake Collage

Jim Smeal’s pastel and metallic gold cake with simple florals was a centerpiece of the dinner tent. We like finding a way to have a captive audience for the cake cutting without having to interrupt the flow of the party. So, if you can cut it and have the servers pass out as the dessert course without delaying the dancing, that’s a good way we have found to do it.

lounge tent

Guests retreated after dinner into a lounge full of conversation nooks and dim lighting, draped with glowing golden fabric.

Late night Collage

A late night food bar of sweet treats even included Charleston’s cult favorite donut truck, Diggity Doughnuts.

Getaway Collage

The bride and groom said farewell to guests with a classic sparkler send off, and drove off into the night in a classic convertible car as fireworks made for a grand finale.

2.07.18   |   TARA GUÉRARD
Bridal, Bridal Style, Charleston, Entertaining, Event Planning, Flowers, Food and Drink, Photographers, Reception, The Lettered Olive, Uncategorized, Weddings | Comments >>
Feb 05, 2018

photo by Corbin Gurkin

With as much dreaming, pinning, and planning that lead up to the wedding, you can’t imagine how quickly that last moment comes- the send off!  Today for a little Monday fun, we wanted to share some of our favorite send offs for the past several years… We are still getting lots of requests for sparklers, because as you can see, they make for pretty pictures!

photos by Liz Banfield

And if we are doing sparklers, we of course like to come up with some kind of detail to dress them up or customize them a bit… Both the lighters and sparkler sleeves here are by Lettered Olive.

photo by Liz Banfield

Our bride, who threw an ultra sleek and modern affair, went with one traditional element at the send off- a rice tossing… See, her maiden name was Rice so it was sorta perfect. And, we actually didn’t use real rice, but orzo pasta, because of the birds..

photo by Liz Banfield

For this couple who married in Alabama, and were naturally huge football fans, guests shook pom poms at the couple as they were leaving to the Auburn chant song. Oh,  and before leaving this bride changed into her mother’s wedding dress.

photos by Liz Banfield 

For this sophisticated fete on Sea Island, GA, a classic dixieland Jazz band, led guests outside for a rose petal toss. As the couple departed in a classic convertible, coordinated fireworks exploded down the driveway- a gorgeous statement, we think.photos by Corbin Gurkin

For this wedding featuring custom flags throughout the wedding design, guests waved miniature versions of the same flags during the send off… This was perfect for a venue that didn’t allow any tossing of items or any type of fireworks…

photo by Liz Banfield

Many years ago at a wedding for a client that wanted to do something a little different, we had a balloon release with custom balloons in the wedding palette colors…

2.05.18   |   TARA GUÉRARD
Bridal Style, Charleston, Event Planning, Photographers, Reception, Uncategorized, Weddings | 1 Comment