Category Archives: Event Design

Aug 16, 2017

Today’s feature is a blast from the past summertime wedding at Drayton Hall Plantation featuring gerber daisy designs. Our bride, a well known Charleston interior designer, was a great collaborator and serious about her guests having fun. The result was a playful but classic Southern wedding under the Oaks. Thank you to Liz Banfield for the photos.

A simple gerber motif gave the classic invitations and ceremony programs by Lettered Olive a hint of sweetness…

Liz was able to capture some amazing portraits of the bride inside the historic plantation house. We went with brights and colors for the wedding party, so traditional white fit the perfect bill for this bride’s bouquet.

The wedding ceremony was held under one of the oldest live oaks on the property with a gospel choir providing some hymns during. We lined the aisle with varying shades of gerber daisy heads for a subtle pop of color. And, for the “reserved” rows of family, wide satin ribbon tied around the chair backs also had a gerber daisy detail.

Afterwards, a tented reception was held along the riverbanks. Seating vignettes were placed throughout so as guests tried the varying food stations, they could grab a quick seat to eat.

A tired cake separated by rows of gerber daisies found a pretty home inside a canopied display… We like to take bridesmaids’ bouquets and place them around the cake table also to add some floral elements.

Gerber daisy details throughout the wedding included candles inside tall glass cylinders with small gerbers glued along the top, lampshades with real daisies attached, floral tie backs covering all of the tent legs, and pretty floral “tree” centerpieces.

Once the dancing began, the tent was turned into a sultry late night lounge with a packed dance floor!

For the Sparkler send off, we built a large display full of daisies growing out of rye grass. Guests were able to grab their sparklers on the way out to see off the bride and groom…

8.16.17 | TARA GUÉRARD
Charleston, Event Design, Event Planning, Flowers, Interior Design, Photographers, Reception, Uncategorized, Weddings | 1 Comment

Aug 15, 2017

Your Day’s Bouquet

photo by Corbin Gurkin

One of the easiest and most affordable places to put a personal touch on your wedding day is with your bridal bouquet. Today, we are sharing ways we customize our bride’s bouquets that you can take away. When I’m in New York, there are tons of great ribbon shops around our office and I love finding pretty pieces to use for my brides. You can source these in many other places though too, etsy, websites, and even antique stores.

photo by Liz Banfield

Another way to add sweet details to your bouquet, and also bring in tradition is by adding family pieces. We tied this bride’s grandmother’s engagement ring around the stem wrap, and a family embroidered handkerchief wrapped around the stems added a traditional look.

photo by Liz Banfield

For this pink and green wedding, we used lots of pattern. Luckily, we found a great fabric that we used throughout the design… we made linens with the fabric as the toppers, covered the bar with it, and also used it to wrap the bouquet for a super custom touch.

photo by Adrienne Page

If you want to go with a simple ribbon for your bouquet, see if you can have initials embroidered on it at a local embroiderer. This is a great way to incorporate a “something blue” and it’s something you could keep and pass down as well.

photo by Liz Banfield

Many of our brides have pieces from family members, either who are no longer with them, or can’t be there, or are just being passed down because of the occasion. I love the idea of pinning them onto the bouquets as an added personalization piece.

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

Aug 09, 2017

Preppy Pink and Green

Today we are sharing a preppy pink and green summertime wedding from 2007. The bride’s family had a summer home on Kiawah Island, but this wedding took place on a somewhat unexpected part of the island- Mingo Point. Usually reserved for guest oyster roasts or as a water sport hub, we love that the bride trusted us to transform the space into something special. One thing people don’t think about Mingo Point is the spectacular view of the sunset you get over the creek. Thank you to Liz Banfield for capturing the big day.

The save the dates by Lettered Olive set the tone from the beginning. Guests received a letterpress packet so pretty no one would want to miss the weekend. Invitations were sent in a pale pink box stuffed with a silk envelope containing the letterpress invitation. Labels were affixed to the outside of the box with a green and white patterned wrap that was used throughout the wedding printing. Welcome “boxes” were in the same patterned paper full of goodies like bathing suit sugar cookies, custom water bottles, and a Charleston coffee table book.

Shades of pink make a really pretty flower palette. So many gorgeous blooms can be gathered when using this palette. I loved the nerines we got in for this one. Luckily we found a perfect green and white vine fabric to use in places like a custom ring bearer pillow, and wrapping the bouquets.

Bottled waters and Lowcountry Lemonade with printed labels helped guests cool off before the ceremony began.

The groom, and most of the groomsmen are native Canadians, so they entered the ceremony to a classical version of their National Anthem.

Due the space typically used for oyster roasts, having a unique shape, we opted for a ceremony in the round… We built a fabric canopy to shield guests from sun, and to help create an alter in the center. A friend of the couple performed the ceremony making for a personal touch.

Wanting to repurpose some extra invitation boxes, we created an escort card station during cocktail hour. Guests found their names calligraphied on tags on the outside, and then a letterpressed menu card and table number on the inside.

Cocktail hour was set on a wooden boardwalk overlooking the creek. We dressed it up by draping the ceiling with fabric and hanging glass chandeliers. Pillows made from the printed fabric dressed up lounge seating.

In the pink and green dinner tent, custom linens were made with patterned fabric tops. Complimentary paper wraps dressed the place settings. Sweet chair covers were made for the bride and groom chairs.

Instead of one large cake, several smaller ones that Jim Smeal decorated with the patterns used on the wedding printing made a show stopping centerpiece for the after dinner tent.

After dinner, guests were able to roast marshmallows in an existing firepit… Marshmallows were packaged to prevent attracting bugs.

After a long evening dancing in the green glowing lounge- the couple departed to guests waving miniature flags from the groom’s native Canada and bride’s, U.S.

8.09.17 | TARA GUÉRARD
Cakes, Charleston, Event Design, Flowers, Photographers, Reception, Stationery, Invitations and Pretty Papers, The Lettered Olive, Uncategorized, Weddings | Comments >>