We’re sharing from the archives today! Back when Charleston Magazine Editor, Darcy Shankland married her beau, we hopped right in to help her design an intimate, fun, and romantic fall party full of candlelight and seasonal decor. The Cotton Dock at Boone Hall Plantation provided the perfect rustic setting (the same venue for Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ wedding) and the large hearth with a roaring fire couldn’t make for a better backdrop. We wrapped the beams in trees and branches full of leaves painted golds and reds, and hung out candle chandelier which helps drench the room in a glow. Benches for a small ceremony in the round were easy to relocate and open up the room for the reception.
We adopted the burgundy dahlia as a main focal point throughout the wedding design. The Bride’s single bloom bouquet was a standout against her ivory silk gown.
A spiced cranberry cocktail served in stemless glasses and adorned with the dahlia tags were offered to guests at the end of the ceremony.
Jim Smeal‘s knock down amazing ruffled dahlia cake was seriously almost too awesome to cut. Miniature cranberry and glazed raspberry pies were displayed as well for a beautiful bounty of sweets!
In lieu of ceremony programs, mirrors framing the fireplace were hand written with the pertinent people and information.
Long tables full of burlap wrapped glass candle cylinders and single stemmed vases with burgundy dahlias made for luxurious centerpieces on a budget! We tied with hemp twine little dahlia tags to the candle cylinders for extra color and detail.
In order to give the bride a grand entrance to the ceremony, swaths of sheer fabric in gold and burgundy were strategically hung so that we could position her and open as needed. Thank you to Squire Fox for all of the beautiful photos.
Our bride wore a gown by 
We wanted to make sure our pristine white rose petal aisle stayed picture perfect for our bride, so ushers seated guests from the outside of the aisles.
After the ceremony, guests enjoyed a garden party cocktail hour on the lawn in front the house ruins, complete with our new custom built oyster tables… perfect for serving chilled oysters on the half shell. One of our other favorite details at cocktail hour were the bar menu booklets… all of the drink offerings were described and printed for guests to peruse and order from.
The interior of the house provided a gorgeous backdrop for some of the cocktail stations… You know we love a decorated mantle, even if it’s in an abandoned house! 
We loved the look of the wedding cake cutting photos being in the house as well, so the couple went ahead and cut the cake before moving into the reception tent and the slices were passed out to guests on pretty trays. 
The centerpiece of the reception tent was a huge square bar with marble tops and fresh greenery “growing” all over it. I love our new macrame lanterns that were clustered over the bar, and we created plenty of fun different seating vignettes for guests to gather and sip. 
Also adding depth and texture to the large white reception tent was our greenery band backdrop…. You have heard about our stage partitions that we created years ago to hide all of the cords and ugly parts of band setup and stage fronts, but we also love what doing backdrop walls does for our couples’ dance photos. This living greenery wall added a more complete feel for our garden tent. 
