Charleston Bohemian Beach Wedding Inspiration at Citadel Beach Club for A Lowcountry Wedding Magazine | Charleston, Atlanta, Savannah Nontraditional Wedding and Event Planners

Sara Skinner December 29, 2015

OMG, y'all when I say I'm behind on blogging I'm not even close to kidding! This gorgeous bohemian beach wedding shoot we did for A Lowcountry Wedding Magazine & Blog has been patiently waiting for me to get it together for like a year! Ooops!

At Scarlet Plan & Design we're always drawn to the more challenging events and adore the nontraditional, so Charleston Boho Beach Wedding Styled Shoot was right up our alley! But that afternoon, Mother Nature decided to give us a run for our money... Freak thunderstorms, relentless unyielding winds on the beach, traffic drama, and timing snafus threatened to shut us down, but we pulled it off and it was both creative and stunning! What do you do when your beach shoot can't be shot on a beach? Move the entire thing inside a vintage bus! And luckily we were able to get back together a few days later at Boneyard Beach to grab a few shots actually on the beach! Enjoy!

Last September, we made our way to the Isle of Palms for a gorgeous, Bohemian Beach Inspired afternoon at the Citadel Beach House where we created a whimsical atmosphere with a color palette of rich cranberry, ocean blues, pale peach and soft creams. We designed a killer tablescape highlighted by a mesmerizing teal sofa from CRUSH Event Rentals. A luscious floral arrangement from Forage + Fleur by Rebekah Clark Moody anchored the table while one-of-a-kind pieces from Vintage English Teacup were meticulously scattered amongst the charming table settings from Polished! Sablée whipped up an array of sweets, a dazzling four-tier, hand-painted cake and, our personal favorite, vibrant purple macaroons. - from A Lowcountry Wedding Blog & Magazine

Planning & Design: Scarlet Plan & Design // Photography: Dana Cubbage Weddings // Florist:Forage + Fleur by Rebekah Clark Moody // Hair & Makeup: Pink Dot Beauty Bar // Stationery: Jankun Creative // Furniture Rentals & Lighting: CRUSH Event Rentals // Table Settings: Polished! // Videography:Before Your Eyes Cinematography // Catering: Coastal Crust Food Truck // Bar: FLÛTE Charleston // Cake, Sweets & Cheese Wheels: Sablée // Transportation:Lowcountry Valet & Shuttle Co. // Favors & Goodies:Simply Southern Wedding Décor // Music: Charleston Virtuosi // Gowns: Fabulous Frocks and Ivory + Beau // Menswear: Kenneth Beatrice & The Modern Gent // Rentals: Vintage English Teacup // Styling: Sara Skinner & Alden deHart // Models: Anna Baginski & Chelsie Ravenell// Flower Crown, Arm Band: Anna Bella Florals

charleston marsala, blush and mauve bohemian beach wedding by scarlet plan & design and dana cubbage at citadel beach house (80).jpg

charleston marsala, blush and mauve bohemian beach wedding by scarlet plan & design and dana cubbage at citadel beach house (83).jpg

charleston marsala, blush and mauve bohemian beach wedding by scarlet plan & design and dana cubbage at citadel beach house (70).jpg

charleston marsala, blush and mauve bohemian beach wedding by scarlet plan & design and dana cubbage at citadel beach house (95).jpg

charleston marsala, blush and mauve bohemian beach wedding by scarlet plan & design and dana cubbage at citadel beach house (71).jpg

charleston marsala, blush and mauve bohemian beach wedding by scarlet plan & design and dana cubbage at citadel beach house (75).jpg

charleston marsala, blush and mauve bohemian beach wedding by scarlet plan & design and dana cubbage at citadel beach house (73).jpg

charleston marsala, blush and mauve bohemian beach wedding by scarlet plan & design and dana cubbage at citadel beach house (76).jpg

charleston marsala, blush and mauve bohemian beach wedding by scarlet plan & design and dana cubbage at citadel beach house (89).jpg

charleston marsala, blush and mauve bohemian beach wedding by scarlet plan & design and dana cubbage at citadel beach house (74).jpg

charleston marsala, blush and mauve bohemian beach wedding by scarlet plan & design and dana cubbage at citadel beach house (90).jpg

charleston marsala, blush and mauve bohemian beach wedding by scarlet plan & design and dana cubbage at citadel beach house (94).jpg

charleston marsala, blush and mauve bohemian beach wedding by scarlet plan & design and dana cubbage at citadel beach house (91).jpg

And here are a few from our sunset shoot at Boneyard Beach on Folly.

Unplugged Weddings | The Importance of Being Present | Put Your Damn Phone Down & Let the Pros Handle It!

Sara Skinner November 10, 2015

OK, so this might come off as a tad ranty, but hear me out! I'm soooooo tired of looking at wedding photos and all I see are guests hidden behind their damn cellphones. Where is the bride walking down the aisle with her father? Hidden behind Auntie Carol's gigantic friggin' iPad, 17 cellphones, Uncle Bob squatting in the aisle because he has a DSLR and now fancies himself a photographer, and even a couple of disposable cameras. Seriously? Where did you even get that fossil?

Y'all, stop! For the love of all things sacred and sugar-glazed, please stop it! Tell me this has not become the norm.

Oh, but it has! Everyone thinks they are entitled to get that special shot. But let me clarify this for you, you're not entitled to any such thing. You were invited by the happy couple to take part in witnessing and celebrating their union and the only thing you're entitled to is that, so feel free to just enjoy the moment and make memories. I'm not telling you not to take any photos...oh, wait, that's exactly what I'm telling you. PUT THE PHONE/CAMERA/IPAD (really? you carry an iPad around with you in real life situations?) DOWN AND ENJOY THE MOMENT. At least wait until after the ceremony to break out the devices again.

If the happy couple hasn't already decided to make their wedding unplugged, let me break down why you, my dear guests, should just go ahead and turn off your devices for a hot second.

unplugged weddings and the importance of being present | charleston & atlanta wedding planners

Now let's have a chat about "Uncle Bob"

Uncle Bob is the cousin/uncle/father/friend with the "fancy" camera and the eye for ruining a pros shot. (That's what we folks in the wedding biz call "that guy".) Believe it or not, the happy couple actually hired a professional to take their wedding photos. Can you imagine the nerve?! They had the gall to spend thousands of dollars on a professional photographer and, in some cases a videographer, to capture images of the most important day of their lives. And you, my overly eager - ahem, obnoxious - friend, are in their way!

Let me repeat myself. You are in their way. When you hold up your camera while they are having their first dance, everyone who looks at the wedding photos will see that bright little light in your hand or (worse) you blocking the photographer. When you lean into the aisle when they are exchanging vows, having their first kiss, entering the church, you are blocking the photographer. And more often than not, churches have very specific rules when it comes to where the photographer can be. The photographer will painstakingly research the best place for them to set up their cameras and then most of the time they cannot leave that location for the duration of the ceremony. But if you decide to hop into the aisle, you will be the only thing people will focus on when they see the photos. And I hate to break it to you, but the only images the couple will really and truly care about come from the photographer they hired. Your photos, while appreciated, are not the ones they are most looking forward to. Sorry.

Now, about the flash.

And, no, I don't mean a super fun flash mob! The photos are trashed when you use the flash. That flash and the awful red dot that accompanies it can be seen like a beacon fire on a mountaintop! Yes, that's how it looks. That cannot be edited out. Once the flash goes off, the photo is ruined.

Bruh, we need to talk about social media etiquette.

I can't even count how many times we've seen overly excited bridesmaids or random guests/family members post a photo of the bride in her gown on Facebook, Snapchat or Instagram before the ceremony. I actually had a bride tell her wedding party that if they posted a pic of her online before the ceremony that she would smash their phone with a hammer! I kid you not, she pulled out an actual hammer. Don't even ask me where she found a hammer at the beach...

But seriously, y'all, it's not OK to post photos of the bride or groom on the internet before the ceremony or First Look. We get it, you're super excited about your bestie getting hitched, and OMG she really does look totes fabs, but just slow down, tiger, this isn't your moment to share. We've had many grooms see their brides beforehand and it's really heartbreaking for that special moment to be ruined. Please just don't do it.

And now what you've been waiting for...the photobombers in action! Enjoy the awfulness.

unplugged weddings and the importance of being present | charleston & atlanta wedding planners | wedding photobomb

unplugged weddings and the importance of being present | charleston & atlanta wedding planners | guests photobomb wedding

photo credits- the click chick charleston, cordele photography, style me pretty, liz yeakle, tulle & grace, patrick hall, jessie mary, krista photography, corey ann, michelle dyer

We don't do "gay" weddings | Charleston, Atlanta & destination nontraditional wedding planner & designer | LGBT wedding planner

Sara Skinner September 15, 2015

I have a feeling this blog is going to ruffle a few feathers, but I'm ok with that. This has been on my mind for quite some time and I feel like I need to just go ahead and get it out in the open. I'll likely lose a few friends and a few likes on our Facebook page, but, again, I'm ok with that.

we don’t do “gay” weddings.

Nope, we sure don’t. You know why? Because there is no such thing as a gay wedding. I can’t tell you where to buy gay presents off their gay registry, I don’t know what their song will be for their gay first dance. There ain’t no gay hymns being sung at the ceremony, there is no “straight” section to sit in and Neil Patrick Harris probably isn’t on the guest list. Why? Because those aren’t fucking things.

And before you troll me and decide to lose your shit on social media, guess what? We don't do "straight" weddings either. We don’t do "white" weddings, or "black" weddings, or "Oriental" weddings (srsly, you will get punched if you say that in my presence), or "Muslim" weddings or any other wedding you're tempted to label.

You know what we do?

We do weddings!! Period.

We do big weddings, and small weddings, and medium sized weddings. We do weddings with two grooms, a bride & a groom, two brides, and weddings for gender queer clients, too. We have hijabi brides (salaam, sis), we’ve learned ASL to communicate with deaf grooms, we’ve had the coolest trans bride covered in tattoos that wore a black velvet wedding gown (holy cannoli that was rad!), we’ve had clients in recovery that throw a dry wedding and still end up dancing til dawn. Absolutely everyone is welcome here and your traditions, culture, language and preferred pronouns will be respected and remembered.

We do pop up weddings and elopements. We do incredible, authentic, unique, breathtaking, heartfelt, swoon-worthy weddings. We do weddings so filled with love and heartfelt joy that our entire team straight up Ugly Cries as the couple exchanges their handwritten vows.

We do super unique, weird, quirky weddings. We also do super traditional church weddings. We do nikkahs at mosques. We do fusion weddings combining time honored cultural traditions with the most important, meaningful pieces of their love story to create something entirely unique to our couples.

We do weddings where the clients want to hang cakes from the ceiling with Cirque du Soleil performers swinging around it. We do backyard weddings with food trucks. We do ultra luxe ballroom weddings with seven course meals and French Service. We do weddings where instead of exchanging rings, they both get tattoos. We do weddings where the bride is escorted down the aisle by her children and they have a "family ceremony" where they all pledge to love one another and to go forth as more than just a husband and a wife, they begin a whole new life together as a family. We do weddings where it's just the couple, their officiant, me and a killer photographer on a cliff overlooking the sea.

We do weddings where the couple has their best friend in the entire world get ordained so he can legally marry them using a ceremony script the three of them wrote together. (That wedding hit us right in the feels.)

the couple's best friend, Alan, officiated the nuptials in this photo

So, I guess my point is, yes, of course we do same-sex weddings (and all the other ones too)! I’ll even do a wedding if you’ve voted for Trump… And for us it's really about everything except the orientation of our couples, cuz let's be honest, that's none of our damn business anyway. #amiright?!

We don't care how you love, the only thing we care about is that you love. (yeah, yeah, yeah, we already know like 40 other wedding planners have stolen that line from us, but we’re the originals, lol!)

We love love! We love it in all its many forms. We love helping our couples celebrate their love for one another more than anything and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank the good Lord for allowing me to do what I love.

And speaking of Him, I believe with all my heart that the greatest commandment we were ever given was to love one another (Matthew 22:36-40) and that's exactly what I intend to do. I'm confident that when I'm called to account for my life in front of my Creator, all He's really going to care about is that I did my best to love folks without judgement and helped them celebrate their love for one another.

Now how about we all enjoy some photos of a few weddings that just make us happy, happy, happy?! You can't tell me that seeing people this happy makes you do anything but smile!

mike allebach, the creative genius behind the lens for this photo, is available for travel to all 50 states and abroad

a ceremony filled with love and the promise to go forth as a family was just perfect for this couple

who says you can't wear a tuxedo with flip flops?

a traditional church wedding with 11 bridesmaids and 9 groomsmen at peachtree road united methodist church in atlanta

scarlet plan & design boone hall plantation wedding

photos courtesy of the click chick photography, allebach photography, dana cubbage weddings, VUE photography, creative wedding photography, achor & eden, style me pretty, you are raven photography

this blog was originally published September 2015 and updated November 2019

Scarlet Wedding Tour | Kate Spade Chic at Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina | Charleston Wedding Tours Bridal Show Alternative | Charleston, Atlanta, New York Nontraditional Wedding Planning & Design

Sara Skinner February 27, 2015

Our first and last stop on the Scarlet Wedding Tour was the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina, arguably one of my absolute favorite venues in all of Charleston. With several impressive venues right on site for weddings and events, CHRM and their amazing event team are my first stop when venue hunting for clients or working on one of our many editorial shoots. Shannon Hartman, the director of sales at CHRM, was one of the first people I spoke with when we first started planning the Tour and she went above and beyond for us in the months that followed.

We used the Yacht Club above the Fish House for the afterparty. With enormous windows and panoramic views of the Charleston Harbor, the Ravenel Bridge and most of downtown Charleston, the Yacht Club is absolutely breathtaking. The last time we were at CHRM we put together an amazing nautical wedding inspired photo shoot (recently seen in Charleston Weddings Magazine) but wanted to stray from Nautical and show that although the space is perfect for that design theme, you're not limited to only that!

Our design was inspired by Kate Spade, all things elegant, clean and fun. We started with black, white and gold as our base colors and added an array of blush pink, peach, fuchsia, lilac, dusty rose, and lots of greens to round out our stunning and fresh color palette. It was the perfect setting for the private after party! We used elegant black sequined linens on the high top tables, black and white chevron sequined runners on our white farm table estate tables, paired with square plates, perfect gold flatware and used Riedel red wine glasses with delicate Kate Spade polka dotted white wine glasses to finish off our tablescape.

happy planning!

love, Sara

Gorgeous Gayla of Tiger Lily Weddings putting the finishing touches on their stunning floral design!

Try moving the table runners from the center of the table to either side tucked under your plates for a fun, fresh take on tradition! Black and white keeps it elegant while the chevron and the pop of pink in the napkins keep it light and unexpected! Gold flatware on square plates were the perfect finishing touches for this tablescape.

How perfect are these invitations?! Brydon Holsey & I collaborated on the design and it came out incredible! All I had to do was give Brydon my inspiration and color palette and she just absolutely nailed it!

This cake by Monica at Sablee might be my most favorite part of the entire design! I mean, how can you go wrong with polka dots, stripes, gold confetti and our very own Scarlet ampersand?!

The cakes Monica makes are absolutely outstanding and we just love taking our clients to do tastings at her West Ashley bakery.

The catering provided by Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina was outstanding...as always!

Local favorite Firefly Vodka sponsored the tasty cocktails our guests enjoyed!

Ampd Entertainment played remixed tunes and kept the party bumping! They're easily one of our favorite DJ's in the South and one of the first vendors we recommend to clients that want to get the party started and keep it going!

Gorgeous cakes and outstanding tastings by Gardenia's Custom Cakes and Catering. Bit of trivia for ya, the owner of Gardenia's, Desmond Pringle, and I go waaaaay back to my pastry days in Atlanta when we were on the same pastry team. Working with him was probably my favorite part of being a pastry chef! Desmond even made my wedding cake when Tony & I got married back in 2011. Love me some Desmond!

Friendor Friday | Lowcountry Valet | Charleston Wedding Design | Destination Weddings

Sara Skinner October 3, 2014

From now until The Scarlet Wedding Tour happens in January, we're going to be featuring a different SWT sponsor every Friday. We're calling it Friendor Fridays! (Friend + Vendor = Friendor for all of those who don't know wedding industry lingo)

This week we're featuring a vendor I absolutely adore and a whole fleet of incredible vintage vehicles that I would happily take off their hands if they ever needed a new home! I can't really get over the unique and amazing vehicles Lowcountry Valet has in their fleet! From vintage buses from the 50's to VW buses turned into gorgeous luxury vehicles to adorable tandem bicycles, these guys have it all! And it's not limited to just funky modes of transportation. They've got all the normal limos and party buses, but vintage cars? That's their thing and we're legit excited about it.

And guess what? Guests of the Scarlet Wedding Tour get to experience their vehicles firsthand on January 31, 2015! That's right, Lowcountry Valet is our transportation sponsor for the Tour and we can't wait for couples to check out their fleet in person!

Take a peek at just a few of their amazing vehicles below and see the rest of the collection here.