Category Archives: The Lettered Olive

Aug 31, 2016

For this Wedding Wednesday, we’re celebrating some of our clients who married 10 years ago, here in Charleston at the William Aiken House. The bride wanted a modern affair designed in black and white with sky blue notes. Liz Banfield was with us to capture all of the images.

The luxe bridal bouquet smelled as beautiful as it looked from the gardenias and garden roses. Mixed in were also phalenopsis orchids.

For the bride, who designs for the family jewelry business, accessories were an important part of her wedding day ensemble. A classic ring from her father’s store, a feathered Moo Roo bag, and a vintage embroidered handkerchief were the perfect pieces!

The ceremony took place at a downtown Charleston church within walking distance to the William Aiken House.

Bridesmaids carried an all white bouquet with hints of blue with their full length black silk gowns.

A simple “swirl” was designed for the couple’s printed materials. A simple but clever welcome box in the hotels included custom pencils, notepads, and a notecard set to take home. In remembrance of the bride’s mother, guests received a white carnation with information about donations made in the guests honor to a charity founded in her honor.

The front gates at the William Aiken House were draped in blue fabric curtains, a crystal chandelier, and floral “tie backs”.

One of our favorite design staples were the shadow box cocktail tables and bars we designed so many years ago. Whichever beautiful blooms fit into the design scape were placed in votives in the shadow boxes, dressing up ordinary spaces where guests gather.

A modern bar and lounge provided a space for guests to take a reprive from the dance floor.

The wedding cake by Jim Smeal was designed with both the custom flourish and patterns from the beading on the brides’ gown.

The couple and guests enjoyed both a classic big band and a big party band which kept the party going all night!

The bride and groom departed by a sparkler send off in a vintage London style taxi. Happy 10th Anniversary Kristen and Josh!

8.31.16 | TARA GUÉRARD
Bridal, Bridal Style, Charleston, Event Design, Flowers, Reception, Stationery, Invitations and Pretty Papers, The Lettered Olive, Uncategorized, Weddings | 3 Comments

Aug 10, 2016

Sea Island Soiree Part I

Today for Wedding Wednesday, we head to Sea Island, Georgia for this natural beauty. This was one of my favorite weddings to design, I love the location, and this bride had fantastic personal taste and style (see her custom made Austin Scarlett gown). Liz Banfield took all of the pretty photos. Since there are so many pretty images, we’re going to make this into a 2 part post. But, you can see more in the meantime over at Martha Stewart Weddings.

For the couple’s save the date, Lettered Olive designed a custom monogram incorporating some of Sea Island’s local flora and fauna. That theme plays throughout much of the rest of the paper and wedding designs. Ceremony programs were passed out to guests on trays lined with printed paper used in the programs and matched the invitation liners. Notice the Elvis Presley stamps on the reply cards- a nod to the bride’s hometown of Memphis, TN.

Guest bags were a canvas zipper pouch full of a mix of goodies and items from the groom’s native, Australia, and the U.S.- including a homemade chocolate chip cookies made by one of the bridesmaids’ mother.

Orchids are a favorite of the bride’s and her mother also had them at her wedding, so it was nice to continue that tradition. Special family members like grandmothers wore wrist flowers versus having to carry something.

The ceremony took place at a chapel at Frederica, and with the architectural elements of the church, Liz was able to get some spectacular images.

Guests made their way to the Ocean Forest Golf Club for cocktails, dinner, and dancing.

Sea Island is known for the Spanish influence in its architecture… The Club opens up onto a courtyard with a grand fountain, since our cocktail hour was to take place there, we incorporated the fountain by making cushions for guests to sit on and enjoy.

The elegant cocktail hour included little enclaves for guests to grab a drink and sit and enjoy conversation.

The couple takes advantage of the sunlight and scenery to get portraits and some moments alone to take in the day.

8.10.16 | TARA GUÉRARD
Bridal Style, Event Design, Event Planning, Fashion, Flowers, Food and Drink, Press, Reception, Stationery, Invitations and Pretty Papers, The Lettered Olive, Uncategorized, Weddings | 1 Comment

Aug 03, 2016

Pretty Plantation Party

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…

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

Flowing navy 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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

8.03.16 | TARA GUÉRARD
Cakes, Charleston, Event Design, Event Planning, Flowers, Food and Drink, Reception, Stationery, Invitations and Pretty Papers, The Lettered Olive, Weddings | Comments >>