We felt energized and excited! We (Mark, myself and my bridesmaid Reiley – who had never been to Charleston before) went on a 3.5 mile run thru Charleston and hit all of the tourist landmarks – The Market, the waterside, Rainbow Row, The Battery and ran up thru the shops of King Street. We were able to give her a small tour of the city since we filled up most of her time with wedding events! We saw a full rainbow that morning over the harbor so we knew even if it was going to rain, it would be a great day!

I enjoyed hearing everyone’s laughter (before seeing them) walking down the aisle. We had non-traditional ceremony music and I enjoyed hearing everyone’s reaction before seeing them. And of course, walking down the aisle towards Mark, even though we had done a first look, will always be in my memory as the best part because I knew we were making it official in front of all of our favorite people.

My favorite detail of the day was our choice of music for the ceremony and our non-traditional guestbook. Mark and I wanted to have an event where nothing was stuffy or pretentious or expected. We wanted to make it our own and I think we did that thru all the little things – hand passed champagne at the ceremony, strolling dinner instead of plated sit-down, moving thru the parts of weddings that guests do but not necessarily enjoy (long toasts, lots of obligatory dancing of parents, etc) and on to the fun party! We made it our own and that’s my favorite detail.

We splurged on the venue and food/drink. We knew the Dewberry would take excellent care of us (since everything was in house) and they went above and beyond. We still hear praises on the food and how beautiful the wedding venue was. We also splurged on the photographer because being the daughter of one, I knew these photos would last us a lifetime and images (when caught just right) could take us instantly back to that day. From the sneak peak you have done just that!! And I’m so happy that you decided to do our August wedding!

We saved on the the little details – small trinket take homes, table numbers, seating chart elaboration – all the things that the rabbit hole aka Etsy could take you down. We didn’t have elaborate decorations or flowers, we let the Dewberry shine, because it’s such a stunning venue, we didn’t feel it needed a ton of extras.

What made our wedding day so special is that it was us to a T. We did what we wanted and we had the most fun doing it. We took everything that we loved about weddings and incorporated that, and everything we just sort of tolerated we left out. We surrounded ourselves with our most favorite people in the world and had a huge party. We personalized it by not following traditions – spending the night before the wedding together, doing a first look, not doing a bunch of stuffy family photos, non-traditional ceremony music, semi-short speeches (with a Wild card), and getting to dancing as soon as possible! And not to mention ending the night with being serenaded to Toni Braxton’s Unbreak my Heart by my bridesmaids – even though it is probably one of the least appropriate wedding songs EVER since he dies in the end! :)

It’s so cliche but really don’t sweat the small stuff. We focused on the main important things: Venue/Food/Beverage, Photographer, DJ. Once we had those things in place, we focused on flowers, and a wedding coordinator. Everything else fell into place. If you have those things everything else is small and extra! As in life, if you surround yourself with the right people from the start, you will be fine! :)

We overall were very VERY happy with our day. If we were to change something, we would probably not have put a tent on rain reserve. We loved the Rivers Room for our ceremony and it allowed for people to stay out of the August heat – which we were worried about. So the rain, after all, was a blessing in disguise. We loved the cafe lights in the walled garden, it added ambiance to the ballroom thru the glass and one of our favorite sneak peak pictures is in the walled garden with the greenery behind us and the cafe lighting overhead.