We are so excited for our first featured wedding on the blog! Emily and Colin’s wedding was special for so many reasons – hosted at one of our favorite venues, The Beaufort Hotel, with coastal hues paired with pops of color, a DJ booth center stage, and the sailcloth tent of our dreams. 

Here’s a look into how we made this dream become reality!

A Coastal Wedding With Blues And Pops Of Color

When we started planning with Emily and Colin, they wanted to embrace the coastal design of The Beaufort Hotel overlooking the water where they often take their boat out, but wanted to avoid any of the traditional (cheesy?) symbols of a “beach” wedding – aka no starfish or seashells, unless it’s from oysters! 

In order to achieve the elevated coastal look, Emily knew she wanted her bridesmaids dressed in blues and was originally leaning towards a simple blue and white color palette. We suggested adding interest and contrast with accents of yellows, pinks, and peaches and it was the perfect combination! 

We determined that we would allow the florals to add the majority of color to the design while letting the linens, tent, and pavilion, bring in the base colors of blues and whites. 

Let’s get into the specifics of each part of the design and how it all came together on the wedding day! 

Ceremony In The Pavilion

Starting with the first guest experience, the entrance to the pavilion where the ceremony would be held had tall floral arrangements as the ceremony wow factor. (We later repurposed these in the reception as stage pieces and arrangements for the cake table!)

For inside the pavilion, we kept it simple with a few meadows as aisle markers to allow more room for guests and keep the focus on the water as the backdrop. 

Cocktail Hour On The Lawn

After the ceremony, guests were invited out onto the lawn surrounding the pavilion. We used a lot of blue elements during the cocktail hour — blue scalloped umbrellas, blue cocktail glasses, linens, and even the bar itself!  

It was important for guests to be able to see the water, so we opted for a layout of high top tables mixed with normal seated tables with umbrellas to promote mingling and positioned the bar and oyster station perpendicular to the waterfront, so as guests visited the most trafficked areas they were seeing the best views. 

The custom designed cornhole boards were another personal element that provided a fun activity for guests during the cocktail hour!

The Tented Reception

One of the main pièces de résistance of the day was the sail cloth tent under which the reception was hosted. 

We brought in patterned, blue and white linens for the cocktail tables which matched with the patterned custom lanterns hanging from the center of the tent. This all paired with pops of pastel floral centerpieces to add color contrast and interest while keeping the whole space balanced and cohesive.

Market lighting gave the reception a bistro feel, the rattan chairs, coffee tables, lampshades, and floral baskets brought in the laid back and relaxed coastal vibe, while a custom monogram and crest designed by the bride herself used on details like the welcome sign and corn hole boards added in some southern charm.

For the entrance of the tent, to better utilize our budget, we decided on only draping the tent entrance and pairing it with smilax to really define and create an “entrance” into the tent, even though there weren’t walls. The entrance also had a giant welcome sign created by Emily with oyster shells and a table for memory photos, cards, and gifts. 

We had a cocktail style reception complete with four different food stations spaced out throughout the tent to encourage guests to move around and mingle at different areas rather than staying stagnant at their tables.

For a cocktail style reception, while you aren’t providing enough chairs for everyone to be seated at once, you want to provide a variety of seating options and areas for guests. For Emily and Colin’s reception, we had several lounge areas, high top cocktail tables, gathering tables with barstools, and regular round tables.

We placed the bar and food on opposite sides of the tent to allow the guests to flow through the space freely, and to give the bar room to be a statement piece with a huge shelf draped in smilax for the cocktail glasses. 

Reminder: When using a sailcloth tent, you have to work around the poles which only gives certain options for large statement pieces!

Colin was very easy to please throughout the planning process and his biggest request was the blue couch lounge for their party, so we made sure to put it front and center on the dance floor. 

Their sweetheart table was decorated around the ground with the meadow florals from the ceremony and used a different pattern of linen that was also used on the cake stand (that was also styled with repurposed ceremony florals) to separate those two tables from the rest of the layout visually. 

We put the white dancefloor center stage to keep the energy centralized and encourage everyone to eventually gather on the dancefloor, and we went even further with the upgraded DJ booth elevated on a stage to give Martin from Active DJ more of a presence in the party. This also let us put up a backdrop to hide the parking lot from view AND gave Emily and Colin a stage to stand on to shoot the CO2 canon to get the party hype!!! 

For the partiers that needed a break, we set up a lounge outside the tent to provide a space away from the dance floor and allow guests to take advantage of the space outside of the tent. 

Thank you Emily and Colin for trusting us to design and make your wedding dreams come true! 

If you are engaged and beginning your planning process but feeling unsure of how to make all of your inspiration come together, reach out and see how our team can help you!