Through romantic, loose arrangements and beautiful buttercream cakes, this celebration in the hands of Weddings Elegantly Designed proves to be the perfect spring affair. With their celebration geared towards love, family, and community, Marni Rothschild snapped it all as the showers of rose petals graced newlyweds as they hopped on a tandem bicycle and rode off into the night!
From the beautiful Bride… Will and I decided soon after our engagement that we wanted to be married at Kiawah Island where my parents have a home. We both wanted our friends and family to come and enjoy the opportunities for fun outdoor activities in a more relaxed, casual setting. Because we were hoping for picture perfect weather and because we had several friends with weddings already “on the books,” we set our wedding date for May 3, 2014. That made for a long engagement!
The wedding planning started right away, however. My parents interviewed and hired Ellen Robinson from WED in Charleston to help with the wedding planning process. She shared her amazing selection of vendors for flowers, cake, printed materials etc. All of whom began to work translating our verbal wishes into reality. In spite of graduating from law school, studying for and passing the bar exam and beginning my first job with a large law firm, I was able to put my “stamp of approval” on almost every decision made during the year. Throughout the whole process, I wanted to make sure everything was geared towards creating a celebration of our love, family, and community.
The color palate we chose was whites, ivory, blush, champagne, pinks to peach with touches of coral. The feel was romantic, loose arrangements with lots of movement in design. The types of flowers used were coral charm peonies, peach garden roses, silver dollar eucalyptus, peach dahlias, spray roses, tulips, elaeagnus and viburnum. And that was just the reception! For the outdoor ceremony Sara’s team assembled a wooden structure and covered it with a greenery and floral garland swag filled with eucalyptus, blown open roses, spray roses, tulips, pink jasmine vine among other seasonal blooms. Our guests would look through the structure to the Kiawah River beyond.
After much deliberation and maybe a second go around on the tasting we chose to have three different cakes. They would be displayed on beautiful carved wooden stands surrounded by greenery. The center cake would be larger and the pale peach butter cream icing would be decorated to look like the lace of my wedding dress. The two side cakes would be smaller, each the same outer ombre design, but different on the inside.
On the wedding day we planned a “First Look” before the ceremony. We had decided to do this to erase any jitters that we might have had otherwise. It was a good decision.
The weather had been somewhat threatening all afternoon, but as if by magic the skies cleared for the outdoor ceremony and the beautiful day that I had been envisioning materialized! Our ceremony officiant was a life long family friend who made our service so personal and meaningful. We only had one moment of panic when a breeze blew my veil sideways. I reached back to hold it down and pulled it out of my hair! My sister who was my maid of honor very calmly took the veil from me and kept it the entire service even exiting with it very discreetly! We laughed afterwards that this was the “passing of the veil” ceremony. My sister was married 3 months later and the veil was worn once again by her…..it was well pinned for the second wearing!
It is hard to imagine a lovelier venue for our reception. The ballroom at The River Course was beyond my imagination. The tables, the mantle, the candles and the cake were all so beautiful. The best part, however was having our friends and family there to share it all with us. After a delicious dinner Will and I danced to “You Send Me”. The dance floor was never empty after that. The Maxx kept everyone moving and shaking the light-up tambourines that were passed out during the night.
It seemed to last only a short while and it was time for us to make our exit. I changed into a short white lacy dress and under a shower of rose petals Will and I hopped on a tandem bicycle and rode off into the night!
Photography: Marni Rothschild Pictures | Event Planning: W.E.D | Flowers: Sara York Grimshaw Designs | Cake: Wedding Cakes by Jim Smeal | Invitations: Invitations Only | Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Bridesmaids' Dresses: Amsale | Catering: The River Course | Hair And Make Up: Stuart Lawrence Salon | Band: EastCoast Entertainment | Ceremony Music: Peter Kiral | Venue: The River Course | Bride's Gown: Anna Maier | Escort Cards: Studio R | Favors (Pint Glasses): Palmetto Brewing | Linens: Nuage Designs | Programs: Studio R