Category — the carolinas

Erika and Rick were married in Asheville, NC at Homewood.  I very much have a soft spot in my heart for this venue as two of our best friends were married there in 2003.  It’s such a beautiful venue, very antique and English-feeling.  So when I saw Sara and Melanie from Whitebox blog about the event, I knew I wanted to feature it and was thrilled when they agreed.

Erika and Rick have such great personalities, as evidenced by their choice of footwear:

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We were thrilled when Natalie Storment sent us photos of Carmen and Josh’s beautiful Charlotte, NC wedding.

Carmen and her girlfriends had a fun time getting ready for the ceremony held at the Belk Chapel of Charlotte.

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Choosing our venue was really a difficult decision for me. Choosing the city where we would get married was even harder. I am from Louisiana and lived most of my life there, but my parents live in Dallas now. My honey and I were both living in Columbia, South Carolina and he was originally from Columbia and his parents still live here. I didn’t want to have the wedding in Columbia because I wanted to keep the wedding to 150 guests and his family would not have been able to keep their numbers down if we’d had it in Columbia. I was really clear about not wanting to meet anyone for the first time at our wedding and wanted to find a location where our closest friends would travel. In fact, all but about 10 of my guests had to travel quite a ways to get to our wedding anyway. I knew that those that really wanted to be there would get there.

We decided right away to keep the wedding in South Carolina because it would be easier on me to plan it. I originally wanted to have a very rustic wedding and found a beautiful farm about 30 minutes away with a wonderful pavillion and tons of rolling hills and huge trees. I visited the location and fell in love. But because the farm was in the middle of nowhere, I began to get concerned about having tons of tables and chairs brought in, bringing in tents and generators, and those portable executive restrooms. I just wasn’t sure that our budget could handle it. I had wonderful dreams of having my favorite caterer do a lowcountry Southern supper and have gorgeous centerpieces in blue and white porcelain vases and pots. It wasn’t a great option for our budget and it wasn’t a great option for our guests. The farm was in the middle of nowhere, so there weren’t any hotels nearby and our guests would have had to drive a long way back to Columbia to the hotels or we would have had to rent some very large buses– another budget buster. I will look forward to planning someone else’s gorgeous rustic farm wedding!

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The ever-talented Brooke Mayo recently photographed the wedding of Carolina and Keegan in Hatteras, NC.  I love the simple and relaxed fun of this event.  Just take a look at the groom, who is clearly thrilled to be marrying his gorgeous bride!

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I find it absolutely adorable that photographer Brooke Mayo calls her engagement sessions “SugarButt” sessions.  So cute!

When Brooke sent over these images from Elizabeth and Todd’s SugarButt session, I couldn’t believe how precious they were - what a fun couple!

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Whitney was kind enough to enter our EAD inspiration contest awhile back, and even though she didn’t win, we thought we’d pull together an inspiration board for her rustic fall North Carolina mountain wedding in hues of orange, brown, and aqua.

 
Clockwise from top left: The Wiebners, Artfool, Darling Dexter blog, the Knot, Darling Dexter blog, B&B finder, Tiffany Aicklen Photography, Brides via Faye and Greer, Darling Dexter blog, the Bride’s Cafe, Toast via Peonies and Polaroids

Three of the pictures are actually from Whitney’s blog!  The gorgeous dresses are handmade (wow), that is actually her Save the Date (gocco’ed by the way, it’s fabulous - you should check out her Etsy shop for more gocco’ed goodness), and those are her shoes!

Whitney, I love what you’ve put together so far and I hope this inspires you!

E.

{Image Credit: Millie Holloman}

A few weeks ago, Rachel from Millie Holloman Photography posted images from a session with Salt Harbor Designs. I loved them so much that I contacted Jennifer, the owner, and she graciously answered a few questions for us.

Salt Harbor is based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Jennifer founded the company in March of 2007 and the first wedding was booked two months later! Jennifer worked at a flower shop while still in high school, and continued to design there through college and graduate school. She eventually chose event design because it combined all of her loves: flowers, graphic design, interior design, art and theater.

{Image Credit: Millie Holloman}

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Flavia is getting married in gorgeous Charleston, SC in September.  I am absolutely IN LOVE with her venue, the gold ballroom at the Francis Marion Hotel.  {Not sure I have ever mentioned this, but the hubby and I eloped in Charleston and are from South Carolina so I know this hotel well.} 

Flavia’s colors are blush, soft blue, and gold and complement her ballroom so well!  She sent over her beautiful inspiration board for us to share with you.

Sources: Fabric.com, Kenzie Kate, Dessy, MS, Francis Marion Hotel, La Sposa, the Knot

The color scheme she’s chosen really warms up the room.  I think the hardest part of this palette is weaving the blue in without it being overpowering.  I’m seeing powder blue ties on the men, some soft blue hydrangea in the centerpieces with her fluffy pink floral, and I love the idea of using blue on the stationery.  Tie that into the tables by using navy print on the menus/escort cards/place cards instead of black.

Flavia, thanks for sending us your board - we are looking so forward to seeing pictures from your wedding in September!

E.

I couldn’t believe my luck when I stumbled upon Paperwhites Press.  Sarah, based in Raleigh, creates absolutely gorgeous custom letterpress invitations and stationery.  Just have a look at the beautiful details in the images below.

My favorite details are the architecturally inspired corners and frames.  Simply beautiful!  She maintains a blog as well so add her to your reader for more fantastic details. 

E.

While searching for wedding venues in South Carolina for a new bride-to-be, I found The Inn at Palmetto Bluff. The resort is 20 minutes outside of Savannah, and looks like one of the most beautiful places to marry. The perfect place to fulfill the inner southern princess.

The pictures were very hard to extract, so a full photo montage can be found here.

While searching the location on Google Images, I found this post. If you look closely, you might see Ms. Reese Witherspoon as a bridesmaid.