Loved being a part of this great feature from The Bridal Circle about upcoming wedding trends and styles for 2016.
Category Archives: Event Planning
Katie and Wes were married in June of 2015 at her parent’s home in Charleston, South Carolina. Today, Katie is sharing her perspective and musings looking back on her wedding day. Corbin Gurkin provides the lovely imagery. You can also see more pretty details from their big day over at Charleston Weddings Magazine.
Q- What was your favorite part of planning your wedding?
A- Collaborating with creative brains and seeing your own ideas come to life.
Q- What was the biggest challenge during the planning process?
A- Sometimes there are moments of “too many cooks in the kitchen”, but my advice is to take a deep breath and know as long as you are marrying your best friend, it’ll be the best day of your life.
Q-What do you miss the most now that it is over?
A- Meg and Tara!!!! They said day one they’re your “wedding BFFs” and it is true. Also, the planning in general. The wedding day is obviously such a large part of the process, but looking back, every meeting and thought put in before the big day is just as much as part of the experience as the big day.
Q- What is the moment that when you think back on your wedding you remember the most?
A- After the ceremony, there was a table set up on the second story porch of my parents’ house (where the reception was held). As we ate, we watched everyone walk into the reception. It was pretty neat.
Q- Is there anything you would do over and what? Would you wear the same dress?
A- Of course same dress- wouldn’t change a thing.
Q- Can you please give a brief description of your engagement?
A- It was the day after I graduated from grad school. The two of us drove out to Rockville, SC where my family has a house to relax after all the celebrations. It is both of our favorite place to spend time together. Wes put Oliver, our dog, in the house and we went for a boat ride. When we came back and were walking up the dock, Oliver somehow “got out”. When O ran closer, I saw he had a new collar. It read, “K8, Will you marry me?”. After I screamed “OF COURSE!!!”, my two best friends, family and his family came running out of the house. Wes had a big dinner catered and had collected every bottle of wine we had ever shared together. It is a weekend I will never forget.
Sharing some dreamy images from Liz Banfield on this Wedding Wednesday. We loved loved working on this wedding, and have since stayed good friends with the family and couple and worked on many other projects together. So, that always makes my job even better, getting to create something for people you really care about! This couple had 1200 people at their wedding so creating a space large enough to accommodate that, yet still have it feel intimate was one of our biggest challenges.
The girls all started with a day of lunch and getting ready at the bride’s family home. The same car that would take the married couple from their ceremony to the reception took the bride and her mother to the church, spending that last bit of time alone together, which is one of my sweetest moments from recent weddings.
The bride’s style was traditional but also super modern. We went with an ice blue and grey color palette. Lots of squared/block shapes, clear acrylic, a modern monogram, and minimalist furniture were all part of the design aesthetic.
The couple were married at her family church, which is a charming historic church in a quaint area of town. The sanctuary was softened with a white carpeted aisle runner and bountiful flowers. The couple was married in front of a lush flower wall that hid much of the acoutremants found on an alter but not necessarily needed at a wedding.
If you can try to carve out any “alone” time to either eat, or just take a breather together as husband and wife, it’s a nice idea that I think you will appreciate after the wedding. This couple rode together alone from the wedding to the reception so they had a chance to discuss the actual wedding.
The reception took place at Boone Hall Plantation. Guests arrived to white gloved treatment from servers lining the walkway with trays of champagne, water, wine, etc. A carpeted aisle was laid, so that women’s shoes wouldn’t sink into the sand as they walked into cocktail hour.
This was a special surprise to the bride and her family. She had bridal portraits taken before the wedding which, as Southern tradition has it, are typically displayed throughout the reception. So, we had these blown up and hung at the entrance to the reception tent surrounded by a massive flower wall.
Edwin McCain (a close friend of the family) sang the Father/Daughter dance song. And, Josh Kelley (one of the couple’s favorite performers) performed for the crowd that evening.
You would have NEVER guessed, but this was the restroom trailer for this reception. With that many guests on the middle of Plantation grounds, we needed a lot of restrooms! So, instead setting them off to the side as an unfortunate necessity, we glammed them up with draping, chandeliers, lounge furniture to rest your feet or wait in line, and the guest sign in station. We wanted to makes sure that nobody missed the chance to give their well wishes to the couple, and this was a place sure to get the most traction!
With a coincidentally perfectly matrimonial last name like Rice, we couldn’t help but bring that in where we could. So, bowls of rice were used to hold notes containing “Grains of Wisdom” from the guests to the couple.
A cake bar by Jim Smeal was a focal point in one are of the tent- 20 smaller cakes of different flavors were displayed around the centerpiece cutting cake to ensure that guests were all served and a variety of flavors were offered.
Of course, as the couple left, we had to bring in the traditional tossing of the “Rice”. However, wanting to protect the birds that inhabit the natural surroundings, we used Orzo pasta instead!
Bridal, Bridal Style, Cakes, Charleston, Event Design, Event Planning, Flowers, Reception, Uncategorized, Weddings 11 Comments