If ever there were two cities to wed—it’d be Charleston and Boston in my book. Both cozy and welcoming seaside cities, they’re quaint as can be. So when this native Charlestonian Bride and Boston-bred Groom planned their Big Day with the help of WED, oysters seemed like a fitting detail to tie in. Come along for the journey with imagery by Marni Rothschild and a beautiful film from Hart to Hart Media.
From the Bride… As a native Charlestonian, I grew up around the Southern salt marshes and always knew I wanted to get married on the river. Fortunately, I fell in love with a Boston-bred man who shared my affinity for salt water (and who also happens to be a golfer), so the River Course at Kiawah Island was the dream venue for us.
After selecting the venue and hiring our wedding planner, Ellen Robinson at WED (who also planned my sister’s wedding a few year’s prior), we immediately began thinking about color palettes and themes. Though I don’t eat oysters, I’ve always associated them with the Lowcountry (and my favorite gemstone!) and my oh so brilliant fiance also pointed out the similarities between finding a pearl in an oyster and finding true love – both rare and precious. Once we landed on the oyster theme and our general color palette of navy and grey, I immediately reached out to Kearsley Lloyd, a watercolorist whose work I greatly admire, to paint custom oyster shells for us to use on our printed materials and decor. She was amazing to work with and created a repeat pattern with the shells that Albertine Press then used to make a stunning envelope liner for our invitation suite. Albertine also made a blind debossed version of one of the shells which was letterpressed into the invitation, which gave it the perfect amount of detail while still being classic and elegant. Out of all of the wedding details, that watercolor design was by far our favorite thing and I always say it’s the best money we spent. Erik actually had to pull me back a little bit, because I found myself wanting to put those shells on everything! Looking back, I’m thankful for his editing eye, because our wedding didn’t feel overly themed or kitchy and we both felt like we ended up with the perfect amount of oyster details, from oyster patterned groom/groomsmen bowties and a hand-painted oyster cake plate to the use of oyster shells in the floral arrangements. To complement the oyster theme and showcase our love for all things nautical, we also used nautical charts of the Charleston area in unique ways – from our save-the-dates and custom guest book to the confetti cones we used for our lavender toss send-off.
Since Erik is from Boston, we also wanted to incorporate some playful “North meets South” details, so we served classic New England lobster rolls, Cape Codders and “Southern Belle-inis” during cocktail hour and for favors we opted for a New England classic, Dunkin’ Donuts munchkins, AND Southern staple Krispy Kreme glazed donuts. People loved them and my family was thrilled to end up with the leftovers! At the end of the day, our wedding was the perfect reflection of us as individuals and as a couple, which was the most important thing for us.
Photography: Marni Rothschild Pictures | Event Planning: WED | Floral Design: Sara York Grimshaw Designs | Wedding Dress: Anne Barge | Cake: Wedding Cakes by Jim Smeal | Invitations: Albertine Press | Shoes: Manolo Blahnik | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Amsale | Makeup: Leslie Moore | Hair: Stuart Lawrence Salon | Ceremony Music: Peter Kiral | Bowties: Charleston Krewe | Ceremony and Reception venue: The River Course | Reception Music: East Coast Entertainment | Rentals: White Pear Interiors | Video: Hart to Heart Media | Watercolor Design: Kearsley Lloyd Designs