This wedding takes the cake when it comes to intimate celebrations…and actual cake as well. This couple said their “I do’s” at Sunnyside Plantation and then ate, drank and danced the day away in their own perfect fashion, complete with tailgating, food trucks and bike rides, not to mention an assortment of drool-worthy cakes. Our Labor of Love captured it all and my sweet tooth found paradise right here.
From The Bride… When Steve and I set out to plan our wedding the word that most inspired us was ‘intimate’. We knew we wanted a small wedding with only our closest friends & family their with us… those people who had been so special to us that we couldn’t imagine getting married without them being present. In keeping with that idea, we wrote our own invitations and wedding ceremony (fortunately for me Steve is a writer.) We stuck with only those traditions that felt meaningful to us and tried throughout the ceremony to show our love and gratitude not only for each other but for those gathered with us.
Besides two flower girls and a ring bearer, we opted against having a wedding party. Instead we tried to find special ways for our family to participate in the day. My older sister did the play list for after the band finished, my younger sister gathered the things for the “something borrowed, something blue, etc” tradition (the something borrowed was my mother’s engagement diamond which she had given my older sister… that one really got me) and my baby sister and her husband sang during the ceremony. I asked her to not reveal the songs she had chosen so that was another very special moment for me to hear the words my sister chose for me to walk down the aisle to. One of Steve’s sister served as the coordinator for the ceremony and his other sister and her daughter surprised us with our going away. (They threw colored bird seed mixed with lavender so it was pretty and smelled lovely… even as my nephew pelted us with whole satchels of it!) Steve’s brother and his wife, Mike and Paula Farish, own Fancy Frocks in Murrells Inlet so their role in our wedding was also very special. Paula and her daughter helped me select my wedding dress and gave us suggestions throughout the process for selecting our vendors. While my Dad and I looked on waiting for our turn, Steve himself escorted both of our Moms down the aisle. Steve’s other brother danced my Mom up the aisle as they exited after the ceremony (this moment was spontaneously and another one of my favorites of the day). It was also this brother who took a bite out of one of the wedding cakes before we had cut them. Could there been any more of a classic little brother moment than this?
While we headed off for pictures, our friends & family started lining up at the food truck. Having the food truck there was Steve’s idea and it worked out perfectly. The food was delicious and our guests didn’t have to wait on us to begin enjoying it. They could mingle when they wanted to mingle and eat when they wanted to eat. And we wanted to provide plenty of opportunities for our guests to just hang out with each other. Our families live coast to coast and very few of them had met before the weekend of our wedding so everyone was invited to a luau that Mike and Paula graciously planned for us the night before at their home and we had our wedding early in the day (ceremony at 11am) so they could spend time together the rest of the afternoon. The location had a lovely open yard leading down to the water where we set out yard games and had frisbees for everyone to play together.
As for the vendors, we couldn’t not have been more happy with who we were working with. I had an idea of the general theme I wanted for the wedding… relaxed, eclectic and yet elegant. I tried to express this theme to the people we were working with, showed pictures of what I had in mind when appropriate (thank you Pinterest!) and then let the professionals do their job. Because I hadn’t gone over every little detail and hadn’t asked for previews (except for a tasting… I would never turn down an opportunity to eat), the wedding day was full of surprises. It felt like getting presents all day long.
At the end of the day as we rode off on our bikes (we met riding bikes so this was Steve’s very appropriate idea for our departure), I felt like we got what we wanted.. a day for us to show our friends and family our tremendous love for each other and for each of them, a day to play together and a day to be grateful for all the amazing blessings we had received.
The funniest part of the day…. because we were having an early day wedding, we opted not to serve alcohol. Apparently my family disagreed with this plan so before the ceremony started, my sisters were serving Bloody Marys out of the back of their rental car (yes, our wedding was tailgated). After the ceremony, my brother-in-law was offering to spike everyone’s tea with a variety of liquors (I think he had some wine in there too) that he was carrying around in what would eventually be my nephew’s diaper bag (my sister was pregnant at the time). My dad didn’t even try to be subtle. He just brought out his cooler full of beer. To me this was definitely a sign that the day had definitely gone well… families hanging out, doing what they wanted without it feeling stuffy or uptight. I loved it.
Photography: Our Labor of Love | Flowers: Carolina Charm | Wedding Gown: Fancy Frocks | Cakes: Incredible Edibles | Cakes: Buttercream Cakery | Food: Cast Iron Food Truck | Wedding Venue: Sunnyside Plantation | Music: Randy McQuay | TABLES, LINENS, ETC: Eventworks