Kelly Cooper & Elias Derke

March 24, 2018
Kelly, a visual merchandiser and stylist, and Elias, a systems engineer, of Jacksonville, Florida, met at a small get-together organized by friends. Their courtship spanned five years and included moving, buying a house, and becoming cat parents together. After Elias proposed on Kelly’s birthday trip to Chicago, they invited their loved ones to Charleston­—the bride’s favorite city—for their wedding at Runnymede Plantation. The day included a ceremony with Stefania crowns (the groom’s family is Greek) and a pair of groomsmen who serenaded one and all with Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” More than 120 black taper candles added a glow to the reception, and festivities were capped off with a massive display of fireworks.
 
Image by The Image Is Found

The Wedding Row

April 17 2019
Kyleigh met Nick when she was in Cardiff, Wales, getting her master’s degree. (Her friend had convinced her to give Tinder a shot, and her “first, last, and only Tinder date,” she says, was the born-...

April 16 2019
We don’t know about you, but these past few days of shorts weather have had us daydreaming about summer. Brandy McGhie, owner of local luxury event planning company Classic Planning & Design Co...

April 15 2019
Tricia and Brandon were in the same fourth grade class at Springfield Elementary here in Charleston, but their love story didn’t begin until a college football game 14 years later. The South Carolina...

April 12 2019
Designer Lela Rose has a saying we can all toast to: “Nothing says chic like matching your drink to your dress.” Fashion stylist Lindsey Nowak took that as a challenge, linked arms with Reagan Barnes...

April 11 2019
Taylor and Sam may be from Virginia and live in Waco, Texas, but the Palmetto State holds a special place in their hearts. They met at the University of South Carolina when Sam, a freshman fraternity...

April 10 2019
Thank goodness for Joe Quick—the mutual friend who lived up to his name and set up Avery and Henry when all three were in high school in Atlanta. After his pleas for them to meet went unheeded, he...

April 9 2019
Gillian and Phil met while studying abroad in Ireland. But because they attended different schools stateside (he was at the University of South Carolina, she was at The State University of New York...

April 8 2019
Here’s how Emmy and Josh explain how they became an item: “Josh had been courting Emmy for quite some, and on one evening in June at Dillon’s pub in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, he decided...