There’s nothing like a Jewish wedding with a little Southern charm… like our beloved Brides Club member Anna’s beautiful Charleston wedding to groom Chance!
Anna, who works for the South Carolina Department of Employment and Works, and Chance, a lawyer, wanted to show off the best of their home to their out-of-town friends and family, and we could not be more in love with the outcome, which was so wonderfully photographed by Natasha Coyle.
The indoor-outdoor vibes, the delightful pops of pink (Anna’s favorite color), the dreamy chuppah… it doesn’t get much better than this. We’re also obsessed with the couple’s Southern-inspired menu highlighting Charleston classics – they even started their meal with biscuits instead of bread and butter!
And how stunning did Anna look in her classic ball gown by Oleg Cassini from David’s Bridal?! Loving the old-school glam vibes. We’ll let her take it from here…
How we Met
Anna, the bride: We met at the University of Alabama while we were both in undergrad. Chance and I met when he asked me to be his date at his fraternity’s semi-formal event.
A Charleston Wedding
Our venue is Lowndes Grove in Charleston South Carolina. We chose this venue because of its proximity to downtown Charleston, while also being on the water. We also chose our venue because we heard how amazing the food was.
What ‘Smashing The Glass Brides Club’ Did For Us
I have loved being a part of the Brides Club because I always had a place to go for advice and to share all of my wedding experiences with other brides.
In the Pink
Pink is my favorite color so I wanted to include pink as much as possible. I also wanted our wedding to have a botanical garden feel, so picking rentals and florals to achieve that look was super important to me. We used pink accents in our napkins, florals, menus, some table cloths, and some draping to give our wedding the pop of pink that I include in my everyday life. Our wedding planner was Erica Peper of Peper Events and she executed our wedding day and wedding vision perfectly.
Invitations / stationery
Our invitation designer was Dodeline Design in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. One unique thing we did was create a custom watercolor crest to incorporate throughout our invitation suite and our wedding day. Our invitation designer, Sarah, was able to incorporate our crest on our invites, programs, menus, bar signs, cocktail napkins, and pillows.
Hair + Make-up
Our hair and makeup team was from Lashes and Lace in Charleston, South Carolina. The team at Lashes and Lace did an incredible job at making all of the bridesmaids, moms, and grandmas look and feel their very best on our wedding day. I decided to go for a classic bridal updo and a neutral smoky eye glam makeup look. We had an evening, black tie wedding so I really wanted a red carpet glam look.
An Oleg Cassini Dress
My dress is an Oleg Cassini dress from David’s Bridal, style number 8SLCWG780. I knew that I wanted a long sleeve ball gown with lots of lace and lots of bling and this dress was everything I was looking for. I changed into a second dress at the end of my reception and that dress was an Ashley Lauren dress style number 1897. A lot of brides like to do a more casual look for their sendoff, but I thought doing two dramatic ball gowns would be very unique and on brand with our wedding.
Accessories
For my accessories I kept it very simple. Since I was not wearing a necklace or bracelet I wanted to wear a pair of statement earrings. I rented my earrings from Verstolo. They were real diamond earrings that I was able to wear on my wedding day. I rented the style Mia, and they complemented my dress and bridal style perfectly. I also wore four different veils throughout my wedding day.
My first veil was the matching veil to my dress from David’s Bridal. For my ceremony I wore a custom veil with a blusher which was the same exact veil as my first one, we just bought two, and sewed them together. My third veil was a waist length tulle veil embellished with pearls. I changed into this veil when I changed into my second dress. My final veil of the day was a cathedral length pearl embellished tulle veil which I changed into right before my sparkler sendoff.
Shoes
I chose the Loeffler Randall Dahlia Pleated Bow Heel in the color pearl. I love bows and I was looking for a last minute way to incorporate bows into my bridal look. These shoes were the perfect way to do that.
The handsome groom
Chance wore a classic black and white tux with a vest and black bowtie. We decided not to do a pocket square. He got his tux from Mens Wearhouse. I loved how classic the black tux looked on him at our black tie wedding.
Bridesmaids
I had nine bridesmaids and eight of their dresses were from Azazie. One of their dresses was from David’s Bridal. I had all of my bridesmaids wearing different shades of pink and different styles of dresses. All of my bridesmaids have different heights, body types, and styles; so I wanted everyone to choose the dress that made them feel the most beautiful. All of the different shades of pink tied into our florals nicely because they were also all different shades of pink.
Ceremony
We had a traditional Jewish ceremony and did not add any unique touches to it. It was important to me to have a very traditional ceremony and it was very special to us. Our Rabbi, Rabbi Aaron Sherman, displayed our ketubah during our ceremony so that guests could see it as he read it and all of our guests really enjoyed it. I also had my maid of honor hold my train as I circled Chance seven times, which was special because we have been best friends since we were five years old.
Ketubah
We got our ketubah from Ketuba Home. We chose a gorgeous design of Jerusalem on our ketubah. I have been to Israel twice so I love having the reminder of my trips on our ketubah and in our home forever.
Chuppah
I wanted a very classic chuppah design with lots of florals and romantic draping. The white draping I choose helped our floral installation stand out against the trees we got married under.
Our Music Choice
We used ‘Yedid Nefesh’ and ‘Erev Shel Shoshanim’ as our processional songs for Chance, the Rabbi, our wedding party, and our families to walk down the aisle. I walked down the aisle to ‘Dodi Li’. After our ceremony we walked back up the aisle to ‘Simon Tov Mazel Tov’. For our first dance we chose ‘At Last’ by Etta James. For our private last dance we chose ‘18’ by One Direction.
Flowers
For our florals we used a mixture of roses, peonies, ranunculus, spray roses, lisianthus, with accents of mixed greenery. We used all of these florals throughout our bouquets, centerpieces, floral chandelier, and other floral details. Our florist was Fresh Weddings and Events from Charleston, South Carolina. Fresh Weddings and Events truly made our botanical garden vision come to life.
Photographer and videographer
Our photographer was Natasha Coyle. Natasha’s photography style and personality made her the clear winner in our search for a photographer. I knew that Natasha would be able to capture our day beautifully and tell our wedding story through gorgeous pictures. Natasha could not have done a better job at capturing our wedding day.
Our videographer was Surrender Films. Although we have only seen our one minute trailer, we are so impressed with Rob’s editing style and everything he was able to capture in just our trailer. I have been going back and watching the moment Chance stepped on the glass and our Hora so many times over the past couple of weeks since our wedding and our video will allow me to treasure those memories forever.
Food and Cake
Our catering was done in house by PPHG events. We wanted classic wedding food with a Southern twist. My family is from Massachusetts and Chance’s family is from Florida, so we wanted to give them all an opportunity to try some Charleston classics while at our wedding. Instead of typical bread and butter service, we started our meal with assorted biscuits made in house by PPHG’s pastry chef.
This was such a fun way to introduce biscuits to so many of our guests who had never had them before. For cocktail hour our passed hors d’oeuvres were crab cakes, lamb lollipops, chicken and waffles, pimento cheese crostinis, and knishes. We wanted to get some southern classics like chicken and waffles on our menu while also including a Jewish crowd favorite like knishes.
For our first course, we had a Caesar salad wedge. For our second course we had seared sea scallops served over corn puree. For the third course our guests had a choice of frenched chicken breast or peppercorn encrusted filet, and both were served with zucchini cake and spiced tri-color baby carrots. For our late night bites we served smash burger sliders, chicken biscuits, and loaded tater tots.
Our cake was very important to me and I spent a lot of time perfecting our cake design. We chose a five tier cake with six layers on each tier. The bottom tier of our cake was pink champagne cake with pink champagne icing. The next two tiers of our cake were vanilla cake with cream cheese icing. The top two tiers of our cake were chocolate cake with chocolate icing. The entire outside of the cake was covered in smooth buttercream. We decorated our cake with frosting pearls at the seam of each tier and fresh florals from our florist. One detail on the cake that I loved was the figurine of my chocolate lab Fenway on the bottom tier taking a bite out of the cake.
Entertainment
For our ceremony we had a violin and cello player from Charleston Entertainment. They stayed through cocktail hour and played a mix of classics and contemporary music for our guests, which was a hit. For our reception we switched over to a live band, Emerald Empire Band. They kept our crowd on the dance floor all night and did a legendary hora.
Favors
For our favors we boxed up the extra cake for our guests to take with them on their way out. We also had koozies made with our wedding crest on them for our guests to take home with them. I loved incorporating our crest throughout our day so the koozies were a nice final way to do that.
Extra details
We decided to have a swing at our reception, which was a swing bed for our guests to sit on. All of our guests had never seen a swing at a wedding before and they thought it was so unique and fun. We also decided to hire a live painter, Natasha Urbanowicz. Natasha captured our first dance so beautifully and was around all night to answer our guests questions about the painting. Another special detail from our day was that we decided to do private vows following our first look, along with a private badeken before the ceremony.
Honeymoon
Honeymoon plans are on hold because of covid, but we are looking forward to travelling to Italy whenever it is safe to do so.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
The wedding day flies by so quickly, so my biggest advice to future brides is to take a few minutes throughout your day to stop and think and soak the moment in. There are so many little things that happen on your wedding day that you won’t notice if you let it pass you by.
ANNA & CHANCE’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Natasha Coyle Photography
Videography – Surrender Films
Wedding planner – Peper Events
Venue – Lowndes Grove
Bride’s dresses – Oleg Cassini found at David’s Bridal, Ashley Lauren found at The Ultimate Bridal
Bride’s shoes – Loeffler Randall
Bride’s accessories – Verstolo, David’s Bridal
Groom’s attire – Mens Wearhouse
Bridesmaids – Azazie
Hair + Makeup – Lashes and Lace
Flowers – Fresh Weddings and Events
Band – Emerald Empire Band
Strings – Charleston Entertainment
Catering – PPHG events
Cake – PPHG events
Ketubah – Ketuba Home
Stationery/Invitation – Dodeline Design
Rabbi – Rabbi Aaron Sherman
If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, you’ll want to join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club. Guided by the world’s number 1 Jewish wedding expert, Karen Cinnamon, Brides Club is the private community for Jewish and Jew-ish brides that removes wedstress and indecision and gives you what you need to plan with confidence during these uncertain times. Join our Brides Club here.
