CAROLYN & SIMMONS
River Course at The Kiawah Island Club
Kiawah Island, South Carolina
September 2, 2017
Tell us how you met: The bride was third wheeling it one night with her good high school friend. Little did she know, this friend was also Sims’ good friend at Vanderbilt (college) and texted Sims to meet up with them one night in New York City at a bar. They bonded at the bar about Charleston as they both coincidentally going for vacation two weeks later! She was going to visit her best friend, and he was going for his brother’s college graduation (he still lives there now). The next thing they know, they were inseparable, and hung out almost every day thereafter.
Proposal Details and date: Kiawah Island, South Carolina. 5-27-16. Sims and Carolyn fell in love with Kiawah during their frequent trips to Charleston to escape the city. They always made a trip to Kiawah to watch the beautiful sunsets, hang by the pool, and play tennis. Over Memorial Day weekend, they spent the day swimming and drove out to watch the sunset at the Ocean Course. On the way out, Sims recommended they walk along the beach, so they pulled over and started walking along the beach enjoying the beautiful weather. Out of no where, he gets down and asks her spend the rest of her life with him with a bright shiny diamond!
How did you select your venue? We always loved Kiawah Island, especially The Ocean Course and River Course. It became a special place from day one of dating. During their travels to Charleston, they always took the trip out to Kiawah to watch the beautiful sunsets and walk along the beach together. It was a no brainer as Kiawah has always had a special place in their hearts.
The bridal bouquet was a lush bouquet of all whites and ivories with a touch of blush and gold painted flecked greenery tied with silk ribbons. Flowers were soft and fluffy blooms to include garden roses, spray roses, ranunculus, sweet pea, lisianthus and complementary seasonal blooms. *peonies are not in season but we will try for them. The bride’s bouquet had a patch of florals from her mothers wedding dress pinned into the handle of her bouquet to make it extra special!
Describe your hair and makeup: For the wedding, she had a more natural look with gold/light brown eyeshadows and lighter eyeliner to bring out her hazel eyes. The hair was a volumous bun as you can see in photos
Tell us about your dress shopping experience. Describe your gown and designer and tell us who all was along for the ride. Carolyn hadn’t pinpointed exactly what type of wedding dress and style she wanted. In fact, she had no idea what she wanted it to look like until she started trying on dresses. She went to ~5 bridal salons before she ended up at Gabriellas in SoHo, Manhattan. She immediately loved this salon due to the open natural light and beauty of the salon, variety of choices, and incredibly sweet, patient bridal attendant, Callie. They provided fantastic service, patience, and expertise. As Carolyn tried on dresses, she started sharing what she liked about dresses, what she didn’t like. She knew she loved lace, but wanted it simple. Fitted, but not all the way down. They ended up working with the designer, Lihi Hod, to create a custom gown for Carolyn. They customized the Lihi Hod dress with the designer in Israel with Moran. The dress is called Misty Rose, and they filled in the middle hold with lace and created a silk skirt that flared out to give it a more enhanced, unique look.
-The Veil used lace from my late Mother’s wedding dress. The scallops from the botton of her dress, and groups of lace all over the veil from her Mother’s wedding dress she wore when she got married in 1975.
Bridesmaids Attire (color and designer): Dessy rose quartz soft look with long capped sleeved for a soft romantic look. The maid of honor had a special look with rose gold custom front look. Bridesmaids carried lovely bouquets of all white hydrangeas, blown open roses, ranunculus and spray roses with a touch of gold flecked greenery. Tied with golden silk ribbon.
Groom + Groomsmen Attire: These were oatmeal linen suits from Berlins downtown Charleston on King Street!
Ceremony – please describe the site, decor and any personal details you included: The ceremony was on the lower lawn of the River Course in front of the gorgeous Oak tree and behind the clubhouse overlooking the marsh. Cocktail hour was on the veranda and dinner and dancing in the ballroom. Backdrop being the most gorgeous, stunning bright red sunset and a palm tree in the background past the last hole of the golf course. Big yard. White and green flowers on the arched arbor. We had a vocalist, Mckenzie Eddy (when you say nothing at all), Charleston Virtuosi songs: Fields of Gold, All I want is you, Canon in D, Here comes the Sun. The ceremony had ivory rose petals all the way down the aisle and tie a ribbon across the back of the aisle until the processional starts. There was a two post structure (provided by TEC) with sheer ivory fabric. Greenery created a base across the front and to cascade down both front poles and abundant blooms of roses, spray roses, hydrangeas and complementary seasonal blooms to be worked into the greenery.
We also had the most ADORABLE flower girls, Bailey Belle, Penelpe, and Daisy, 2, 4 and 6. The brides cousins. One of her bridesmaids was the mother, Martha, 9 months pregnant with their 4th. The girls were adorable in their outfits and flower crowns.
How did you decide on your aesthetic + color palette? Wanted whites and gold and touch of rose, soft touch to end summer! The evening was classic and romantic in design with lots of beautiful blooms in whites, ivories and blush and touches of greenery flecked with gold.
Who catered the reception and what was on the menu for the evening? Did you serve specialty drinks?
We had fried chieken in mini waffle cones, lobster rolls with truffle oil (the brides family is from Boston and she grew up summer-ing in Maine, an dloves truffle) and her favorite: a cheese station! We had steak and fish options for dinner. We had mason jars with lemonade being served before the wedding and then champagne being passed after the ceremony.
The Invitation + Paper Details: They had a custom map of Kiawah outlining where the events would be held: Welcome drinks Thursday: Sanctuary Bar, Rehearsal dinner: Ocean Course, Wedding: River Course, After Party: Red’s Ice House, and Brunch: Sanctuary Ocean Room! They worked with Studio R design and had watercolor with custom icons they chose. Save the date double lined paper and open invitation. They invited all to rehearsal dinner so didn’t have a separate rehearsal dinner invite.
Describe your cake and or sweets: We had special custom cake with the talented Jim Smeal. We went to his gorgeous home outside of Charleston in the country with birds singing outside, and sat in his kitchen with his partner and him and had a glass of champagne and described our dream cake. We wanted simple, yet romantic and unique. We described gold edges/ruffles, but only two tiers, and surprising unique flavors, combining Sims love for lemon (and adding Thyme) and her love for Chocolate (with Mocha for a kick). We tasted a few flavors at his house and loved the light not too sugary taste of their cake and buttercream frosting and fell in love. We had to add the sundae bar because the bride has a major sweet tooth and loves ice cream and tons of options of different toppings!
Personal Touches: The table setting was a gold map and each table name was a different country or city Sims and Carolyn traveled to (they travel a lot together!). For example: Zanzibar, Tanzania, Mendoza, Lisbon, Tokyo. We had a photo booth with props from Boston (Red sox props - where the bride is from), cowboy gear (where the groom is from), etc. We also had a cornhole set outside with UK branded bags – Go wildcats! had a special table highlighting her mother/the deceased, a custom mini Bourbon Barrel (Sims is from Kentucky) and a Charleston photo guest book for everyone to sign. We also had fun colorful hats and funny animal masks, glow sticks to add for dance floor fun!
Describe your flowers and the blooms that were included:
Ivories, whites, and blushes. The florals will were predominantly hydrangeas and blown open roses and spray roses with complementary seasonal blooms and greenery to create more volume. There were tons of small florals and candlelight around the base of the tall pieces. Flowers to be ivory, white and blush. Gold accents in candlelight. They also incorporated lovely tall trees to fill up the room with greenery.
Guest Count: 150
The Favors: We had white sunglasses on the way out to the ceremony with their hashtag #WildeForFrazier. In the welcome bags, we had emergen C (the bride loves), mints (#MintToBe!), chocolate chip cookies from the sweets bakery in downtown Charleston, advil, and Charleston cheese wafers.
What was your first dance song? Luke Bryan – Mind Would Be You
Best Piece of Advice for Brides-to-be: Don’t worry about the weather or check it – even the day before! It said change of rain 90% even the night before the wedding and rehearsal dinner, and the passing rain resulted in the most stunning gorgeous surprising sunsets we could have ever imagined, even a rainbow! And a little bit of good luck!
Is there anything else our readers would love to know about your wedding day? The sunsets were surprising and intense and gorgeous both nights. The bride has an obsession with sunsets, and the weather forecasts were iffy both days, and the angels up above truly looked out for the couple and worked their magic to create the most beautiful backdrops two nights in a row. It was a fairytale wedding!
What are you plans and goals as a newly married couple? We are continuing to live in NYC and work our jobs, both successful in our careers: Carolyn as a digital advertising executive at Oath (owned by Verizon) and Sims in private equity/finance. We just returned from a trip to Japan, so our goals are continuing to travel the world together, support each other, and love each other. We are loving married life together and already planning our next trip back to Charleston in the next few weeks!
Late night snacks/special treats: We had our special custom cake designed by Jim Smeal (I have the photo of his drawing) with custom gold accents and two flavors: Lemon Thyme and Chocolate Mocha. They also had a sundae bar with tons of special toppings because the bride has a sweet tooth!
The Send-off/Getaway Vehicle: Everyone had mini bottles of bubbles! And then a Golf cart!
Ceremony & Reception Venue: The River Course at The Kiawah Island Club ll Photographer: Virgil Bunao Photography ll Event Planning & Design: Ashley Wenz of Boutique Planning ll Floral Design: Sara York Grimshaw Designs ll Gown: Lihi Hod ll Dress Boutique: Gabriella ll Bridesmaids Dresses: Dessy ll Hair Stylist: Charlotte Belk ll Makeup Artist: Elina Millie of Bellalina ll Men’s Attire: Berlin’s ll Shoes: Jimmy Choo ll Cake: Wedding Cakes by Jim Smeal ll Rentals: Synder Event Rentals ll Invitations: Studio R Design ll Lighting: TEC ll Ceremony Music: Charleston Virtuosi ll DJ or Band: Charleston Groove Factory ll Videographer: Film Anywhere. Film: ll Officiant: Terry Wilson – Minister at MUSC
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