Today is a day that I have been looking forward to for SO long. My amazing brother-in-law and my adorable soon-to-be sister-in-law are tying the knot this weekend in Charleston, South Carolina and the entire Larson crew is here to celebrate. It's my first time in Charleston and oh my goodness, I am in heaven.

So in honor of this fun occasion, I've asked one of my all time favorite Charleston based vendors, Calder Clark Design, to send us one of their all time favorite weddings! Laura and Walt were married this past October at Trinity United Methodist Church, then held their reception at Lowndes Grove. And in a word, the wedding was...gorgeous.

charleston real wedding

photography by Laura Negri

From the gorgeous bride...

Walt and I met at the University of Georgia in 2004. I was an undergraduate, and Walt was getting his Masters in Journalism. Ironically, we met through a mutual friend and realized that we had both attended the same small private high school in Atlanta, but had just missed each other because of our slight age difference.

We had dated for about three years when Walt surprised me with a weekend trip to Asheville, NC to see the Biltmore house. On our second evening in Asheville Walt asked me to come onto the patio of our hotel room to play a hand of cards with him before our dinner reservation. Not expecting anything but a round of “seven up” (a game my family gets very competitive over), I turned over my hand of cards to find each one with a different word which together read “Will you marry me please?”. I completely lost myself at this point, and through tears I saw Walt on one knee with ring in hand. I, of course, replied with an emphatic “yes!”.

From the hugely talented Calder Clark, owner of Calder Clark Designs...

Laura and her mother, Jane, worked closely with us to design a personal, thoughtful, affair. We drew inspiration from one of their family trips to Doonbeg, Ireland, where they enjoyed lingering meals by candlelight and fell in love with the local flora and fauna…including fresh herbs, potted thistle, and wild climbing greens up castle walls.

For Laura’s bouquet, we worked with Tiger Lily to choose white peonies, maidenhair fern, Andromeda bells, fresh mint, rosemary, and string smilax. Laura’s girls carried similar bouquets, but with antique hydrangea woven into them. The men wore blue thistle with Andromeda bell and rosemary accents. All of this popped off the ladies’ gorgeous peacock blue gowns.