Calm & Cool

Spring 2016

WRITER CREDIT:

PHOTOGRAPHER CREDIT:

Calm & Cool | Host a fête inspired by marble and infused with spring elements

Charleston Wedding fashion wedding wedding cake Wedding Cakes by Jim Smeal Boone Hall Plantation Boone Hall calligraphy Events by Reagan EventHaus gown inspiration poppies Stems

TIERS OF JOY: Try a stackable table runner (like Anne Dabney of Charleston Stems did here) to maximize space. She placed floral foam between marble slabs and then tucked blooms into the foam. The flat slab tops allow for candles, table numbers, bread baskets, and bouquets.

LINE THOSE ENVELOPES: Marbleized papers are très chic but average $8 per sheet. Save when you print an image of marble in black and white, trim the paper to suit your envelope, then affix with double-sided tap

BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY: Warm up a cool palette with an accent color that pops, like lemon yellow.

NAME THE PLACE: While these place cards were custom calligraphed, fashion your own when you print scripted names on stickers, then attach them to ribbons.

BE BOLD & BEAUTIFUL: Get epic style with a classic but colorful gown, like Carol Hannah’s “Downton” with its ethereal blue-gray tulle.

FORCE THEM: Blooms like hellebores and dogwoods are easier to come by (and easier on your wallet) in spring. But it takes skill to force flowers open on a specific date (like your Big Day). Either read up on coaxing tricks, or ensure your vendor can play Mother Nature.

STAY STRONG: Marble slab runners are heavy, so opt for sturdy, stable tables.

BALANCE THINGS OUT: Offset the refined look of sterling silver, crystal, and cane-back chairs with rustic touches, like this home-style iced cake.

BORROW A NATURAL CANOPY: Spare your guests, food, cakes, candles, and flowers a case of the meltdowns when you plot tables to take advantage of shady spots.

Photographs by:

Rachel May Photography

“I view inspiration shoots in the same light as fashion shows,” says planner Reagan Barnes of Events by Reagan, “they are daring but there’s always something you can take away from them.” So it goes with this tablescape she concocted at Boone Hall Plantation with Anne Dabney of Stems. Using marble as a touch point, the core palette—cool blues, whites, and grays—got a lift from yellow daffodil-like poppies, emerald-hued ferns, and demure green hellebores. With a little scavenging, Anne scored a heap of marble slabs she stacked and layered with blooms for a multi-dimensioned table runner on the head table and as a cake stand on the dessert sideboard. “That’s a great approach for family-style dining where space is a premium,” says Reagan. “You get the full, abundant floral look while leaving convenient surfaces for platters.”

Browse through the gallery above to find simple style tricks worth stealing from the the shoot.

Vendor List:

Event design: Events by Reagan, www.EventsByReagan.com

Venue: Boone Hall Plantation, www.BooneHallPlantation.com

Photography: Rachel May Photography, www.Rachel-May.com

Cake: Wedding Cakes by Jim Smeal, www.WeddingCakesByJimSmeal.com

Calligraphy: If So INKlined, www.IfSoINKLined.com

Stationery: dodeline design, www.DodelineDesign.com

Rentals: EventHaus, www.EventHausRentals.com

Gown: Carol Hannah, available in Charleston through Southern Protocol, www.Carol-Hannah.com

Flatware, chargers: Tablescapes, www.Tablescapes.com

Florals: Charleston Stems, www.CharlestonStems.com

The Wedding Row

January 17 2019

Taylor & Jonathan | Legare Waring House

We couldn’t come up with a better love story than Taylor and Jonathan’s if we tried. They met while she was in dental school and he was completing his medical residency. (She’s a dentist, he’s a...

January 16 2019

Liz & John | Lowndes Grove Plantation

Who doesn’t have a soft spot for college sweethearts? Liz and John met their sophomore year at Providence College in Rhode Island, not knowing that nine years later John would propose on the very...

January 14 2019

Ginny & Daniel | The William Aiken House

Oh my gosh is he a good guy! After meeting at work (at the Daniel Island Club), Ginny says she didn’t even know she was on her first date with Daniel when he offered to spend an afternoon helping her...

January 11 2019

Erin & Steve | The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island

OK. So these two New Yorkers are kind of a big deal (she’s a VP at a hedge fund group and former account head at the Olgivy agency with an MBA and he’s a marketing director at a Big Apple firm and...

January 10 2019

Josh & Bree | Engagement Session

We want to be invited to *that* New Year’s Eve party! We’re talking about the one where Mount Pleasant native Bree met Mobile, Alabama-born Josh, and the two hit it off enough for us to be talking...

January 9 2019

Lanier & Luke | Kiawah Island River Course

Lanier and Luke met in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, during a Friendsgiving supper one November along with some 30 pals. That run-in led to a friendship that turned into a romance and by 2017, the two were...

January 8 2019

Kristine & Ryan | Middleton Place

O.M.G. You are so going to love these two! For starters, they tricked—yes, tricked—their families into a shared Thanksgiving vacation in Charleston that turned into a surprise wedding for them and...

January 7 2019

Sarah Grace & Martin | Legare Waring House

We hate to do this to you, but we have to tell you some things about bride Sarah Grace that might very well intimidate you (like it did us). Yes, yes, yes, she and her sweetheart Martin (aka “Bug”)...