Nestled amidst the serene beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Elizabeth and Clint’s outdoor vineyard wedding near Greenville, South Carolina was a picture-perfect celebration of love and togetherness. The couple’s vision of a garden party-themed wedding, infused with sentimental touches and heartfelt gratitude for their loved ones, came to life with the creative expertise of Toujours Events!
A Perfectly Pastel Vineyard Wedding Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains!
Inspired by the rolling Blue Ridge Mountains in the Upstate of South Carolina, Elizabeth and Clint wed in an outdoor vineyard wedding day just outside of Greenville! From the very start of wedding planning, the couple wanted to create a wedding that balanced a beautiful garden party theme with sentimental touches centered on the gratitude and joy they had at having all their favorite people congregated in one place. The bride, working with the team at Toujours Events, brought to life a wedding weekend filled to the brim with pastel touches, climbing greenery, patterned linens, and thoughtful personal touches.
From the Bride, “Like so many couples these days, we swiped right… Bumble to be exact! Thank goodness we both had our radius settings turned up because Clint lives in Asheville, and I live in Greenville. In June of 2019, he volunteered to be the first to cross state lines, and we met for the first time at Birds Fly South Brewery. Soon we were spending every weekend together as we traded off visiting each other’s cities – a weekend journey we’re still making to this day. Clint grew up in Asheville, left briefly to go to college at NC State, and then returned home to take a job in finance. I am originally from Clemson, SC, went to undergrad at Furman and grad school at Clemson, and now work in college admissions in Greenville! While we might disagree on our favorite ACC football teams, we share a love of cooking, hiking, ice cream, traveling, and spending time with our sweet families. Clint proposed at the top of Lookout Mountain in Montreat, NC. Montreat has been a special place to me my whole life, and the day was full of thoughtful details. Almost exactly three years from the day we first met, he pulled off the most incredible surprise. After I said yes (!!), he had arranged for both of our families to meet us for a surprise dinner. The sweetest end to a wonderful day.”
Guests were invited to the wedding festivities on bespoke stationery by local stationer Salt and Paper Press, with delicate letterpressing and a hand-drawn mountain motif throughout to pay homage to the rolling mountains that surrounded their venue, Chattooga Belle Farm. For her wedding dress, Elizabeth opted for a modern strapless silk ball gown silhouette from designer Justin Alexander, with a sweeping train, silk-covered buttons, and a dramatic bow on the back, paired with a chapel length raw edged veil. To customize her dress, and to add her ‘something blue’ and ‘something old’ to her bridal ensemble, Elizabeth had part of both her mother and grandmother’s dresses sewn into the interior in the shape of a heart, complete with a sweet note and each of their wedding dates! The Greenville-based team at Statice Event Design brought Elizabeth’s pastel and greenery floral vision to life. Concocting a delicate mixture of florals and greens, Statice utilized white and light pink dahlias, English garden roses, mauve Queen Anne’s lace, blue Delphinium, and sprigs of fragrant rosemary throughout their bouquets and floral installations. Their ceremony, overlooking the misty Blue Ridge Mountains and the vineyard’s fields, had an aisle that was lined with overflowing floral compotes with climbing greenery on the backs of the guest’s chairs, and a cross bedecked in botanicals, too. Upon their arrival to the vineyard, guests picked up their escort card from the blue ombré escort card display, handmade by the bride’s father, and covered in climbing greenery. Within each escort card envelope, guests were treated to a handwritten note from the bride & groom, thanking them for coming to their wedding and being such an important part of their lives! The two exchanged their personal vows and rings as their favorite people looked on, and shared their first kiss framed by the mountains!
While guests enjoyed cocktail hour on the lawn, local artist Meredith Piper painted the couple’s bespoke wedding painting in real time, capturing the very essence of their mountain and pastel-filled ceremony! As day turned to evening, guests were ushered from cocktail hour to the gorgeous open-air reception space. Overlooking the mountains and vineyards and with cafe lights above, guests dined amongst patterned blue linens, blue and white tapered candles, and overflowing compotes and loose greenery nestled throughout each table. While guests finished their meal, the couple snuck off to the rolling rows of vineyards to enjoy one last round of portraits before the sun set. As the last light of the day faded, the trolley cart from local ice creamer Clare’s Creamery rolled in, serving up the couple’s favorite flavors and scoops! Elizabeth and Clint opened the dance floor to their favorite songs and hits, played by the local band (and childhood friend of the bride!) Sam Burchfield. Cheers to the happy couple, we couldn’t have imagined a more perfect day for these two in Greenville! -Sarah Nann Photography
How did you two meet? What were your first impressions of one another?
Like so many couples these days, we swiped right… Bumble to be exact! Thank goodness we had our radius settings turned up because at the time, Clint lived in North Carolina, and I lived in South Carolina. In June of 2019, he volunteered to be the first to cross state lines, and we met for the first time at Birds Fly South Brewery. There were severe storms that day, and the weather almost kept us from meeting! Luckily, we both braved the elements and quickly found shared values, common interests, and a similar sense of humor. Soon we were spending every weekend together as we traded off visiting each other’s cities – a weekend journey we continued to make until our wedding day.
Describe a hurdle you had to overcome in your relationship or during your wedding planning.
Living near a college town in the fall can be a challenge anytime but even more so when it comes to wedding planning. When we learned that Chattooga Belle Farm had one opening left for the fall of 2023, September 16th, it felt like fate, as that meant we would share a wedding anniversary with my parents! However, almost immediately after solidifying our choice, the Clemson football schedule was released, announcing a home game that same weekend. While we are all big football fans, we were not cheering. Many details quickly became a logistical nightmare; hotel blocks, transportation, game day traffic, rehearsal venues… luckily our guests were good sports and it all worked out with a little extra driving!
Any special ways you incorporated your family or family history into your wedding day?
Finding ways to incorporate family history was one of the most rewarding parts of wedding planning!
For me, one of the most special touches of the day was sewn into my wedding dress. My mom and my grandmother shared the same wedding dress, worn for the first time by my grandmother in 1956 and then again by my mom in 1989, exactly 34 years before my own wedding day. While I chose to pick out a new wedding dress in 2023, we still found a way for me to be a part of the family tradition. A heart-shaped piece of the beloved family heirloom dress served as my “something old” and was embroidered with the words “Love is the thread that binds us together.” Sewn into my “something new” wedding dress, the embroidery celebrated the names of all three of us who had worn the material. The blue embroidery served as my “something blue” and was sewn by my cousin, Marian. In the pocket of my dress, I also carried the handkerchiefs of my grandmothers as my “something borrowed.” Clint carried his grandfather’s wedding ring, and we made sure to incorporate his grandmother’s bible into the day, as well!
Clint and I also took extra care when designing our memory table, collecting lots of pictures, as well as writing remembrances about each of our beloved grandparents. During the reception, we also showed a slideshow of photos, and after a lot of digging, we accomplished our goal of including photos and memories with almost every single guest in attendance. Covering three decades of memories, it brought joy to our guests… and also to us and to our parents as we searched through family archives for the perfect photos and moments!
What part of your wedding day was/is most important to you?
From the very beginning of our wedding planning process, Clint and I shared the dream that our wedding would do more than celebrate us… it would also celebrate the family and friends who have supported us throughout our lives. In our very first conversation about the wedding, we talked about how rare and wonderful it would be to see so many of our favorite people gathered together in one place, and we were determined to make the very most of the opportunity to host such a special crowd. We viewed every part of our wedding planning process through that lens, and being united in that mission gave us clarity and purpose throughout all of our decisions.
Our biggest dream was to write a personal letter to each of our wedding guests expressing our love and our gratitude for their presence in our lives. Wedding days can be hectic, so we knew that we might not have as much time with each guest as we would like. The letters would make sure they knew how much they were cherished and how grateful we were to share such a special life event with them. The letter wall (that also doubled as a seating chart) quickly became the centerpiece of the entire day, and it was designed and built by my parents and me. From the building of the piece itself to the writing of the letters, it was a labor of love. For weeks leading up to the wedding, Clint and I spent our evenings and weekends writing notes for every guest, and those times together were some of my very favorite moments of the wedding process. Writing the letters made us slow down, think about what each person meant to us, and share countless memories and stories with one another in advance of the big day. That foundation made every interaction and moment of the wedding day itself all that much sweeter and more meaningful.
What is the best thing you’ve learned from one another?
Planning a wedding is an exercise in teamwork. As we reflect all these months later, we find ourselves especially grateful for the ways that the planning process brought us opportunities to create something together, to communicate clearly, to compromise fairly, and to find humor in the most unexpected situations. Through all of the work, headaches, stresses, and fun of wedding planning, we made each other laugh and feel loved. In the end, it wasn’t just the wedding day itself that brought us closer together – it was every step along the way.
What was your favorite part about planning your wedding?
Our wedding day would not have been possible without the talents (and the love) of the people around us, and it feels right that this life event was made possible by the generosity and care of our community. There are countless examples… A close childhood friend and his band, Sam Burchfield and the Scoundrels, agreed to provide all of our music. Another childhood friend and artist drew all of the artwork for our wedding day programs. A family member sewed my mom’s wedding dress into the lining of my own. The sweetest family members agreed to be our ring bearer and our greeters. Our bridesmaids and groomsmen planned events, helped us make our vision a reality, and celebrated with us as plans fell into place. Truly the examples are endless.
For us, the joy was in the details and the ways that each part of our day was infused with meaning – sometimes by our own efforts, sometimes by the kindness of others. More than anything, I am grateful for all of the ways that Clint and I were able to celebrate our community during this season of our lives – and for all of the ways they celebrated us.
If you had one piece of advice for other couples, what would it be?
I asked Clint to provide the advice for this one! 🙂 I think it’s easy to say not to worry, but it is impossible to actually do. I think the worrying should shift to knowing that problems will arise but will likely make for some of the best moments. We both look back fondly on eating appetizers in a closet, which was our way of collecting our thoughts and enjoying a moment together amidst the chaos of the wedding going on outside of the room.
I’ll add one thought, too! When it comes to wedding planning, make sure you find ways to design a day that is unique to you. While we wanted a traditional wedding, we also wanted to design an event that reflected our personalities and our values. Our hope was to strike the perfect balance between the timeless classics you expect from every wedding and the unexpected surprises that made our day distinct. We wanted to be sure that our guests felt welcomed and cherished by the bride and groom specifically, so we chose to offer the first welcome toast at our reception. We also knew that we wanted a one of a kind memory of our day and that we wanted to offer our guests a special surprise source of entertainment, so we hired an amazing wedding painter, Meredith Piper. Whether it was taking a group photo with all of our guests, designing an incredibly detailed wedding program full of stories, creating personalized games for entertainment, or hiring an ice cream cart from our favorite local creamery, we looked for places to bring our unique vision to life!
Venue / Chattooga Belle Farm / https://www.chattoogabellefarm.com/ / @chattooga_belle_farm
Catering / Good Life Catering / https://goodlifecateringonline.com/ / @goodlifecatering
Photography Team / Sarah Nann Photography / https://sarahnannphotography.com/ / @sarahnannphotography
Assistant Photographer / Laura Bruce / https://jacquelineandlaura.com/ / @jauquelineandlauraphoto
Planning & Design / Toujours Events / https://toujourseventssc.com/ / @toujours.events
Dress Designer / Justin Alexander / https://www.justinalexander.com/ / @justinalexander
Bridal Salon / The Poinsett Bride / https://www.thepoinsettbride.com/ / @thepointsettbride
Hair & Makeup / Cotton Rouge and Company / https://www.cottonrougeandcompany.com/ / @cottonrougeandco
Floral Design / Statice Event Design / https://www.staticeflowers.com/ / @staticeeventdesign
Bridesmaids Dresses / Bella Bridesmaids Greenville / https://bellabridesmaids.com/pages/bella-bridesmaids-greenville / @bellabridesmaidsgreenville
Groom’s Suiting / Macy’s / https://www.macys.com/ / @macys
Wedding Shoes / Rifle Paper Co. for Keds / https://www.keds.com/en/us/category/trend/keds-x-rifle-paper-co / @keds
Custom Cake / Kathy and Company / https://kathyandcompany.com/ / @kathyandcompany
Rentals / Professional Party Rentals / https://professionalpartyrentals.com/ / @professionalparty
Live Music / Sam Burchfield / https://www.samburchfield.com/ / @samburchfield
Videography / Hannah Roberts Films / No URL / @hannahrobertsfilms
Officiant / Fort Hill Presbyterian Church / https://forthillchurch.org/ / @fort_hill_pres_church_clemson
Stationery / Salt and Paper Press / https://www.saltandpaperpress.com/ / @saltandpaperpress
Film Processing / PhotoVision Prints / https://www.photovisionprints.com/ / @photovisionprints
Custom Champagne Bottle / Lindsey Tyn Artworks / https://www.lindseytynartworks.com/ / @lindseytynartworks
Live Wedding Painter / Meredith Piper Art / https://www.meredithpiper.com/ / @meredithpiperart
Ice Cream Cart / Clare’s Creamery / https://www.clarescreamery.com/ / @clarescreamery
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