Classic Old Wide Awake Plantation Wedding: Salem and Noah

Salem and Noah’s Old Wide Awake Plantation wedding was a winter Charleston wedding filled with southern charm, beautiful floral design, and a spectacular celebration of these two! Old Wide Awake Plantation makes the perfect backdrop for weddings in Charleston, South Carolina, and is home to beautiful backdrops and dreamy lighting that I love working at as a Charleston wedding photographer.

A Charleston Wedding Venue

 When searching for a Charleston wedding venue, I always recommend to my clients venues that give you the ability to host your fete with both indoor and outdoor options, as well as the flexibility to use the venue for multiple purposes throughout your wedding day. Venues that provide facilities for getting ready, the ceremony, and the reception can be incredibly important to the flow of your wedding day timeline, and can also save you from stressing over switching to too many locations throughout your Charleston wedding day! One of the other biggest considerations when searching for your Charleston wedding venue is lighting. Lighting plays an incredibly key role in the quality of your wedding day, especially when it comes to your photo and video team! As a photographer for destination weddings, I am always working with my clients and their planning teams to craft wedding day timelines that are supportive not only of the couple and what they want out of their wedding day experience, but also when the best lighting is throughout their date! Salem and Noah’s wedding day at Old Wide Awake Plantation is a great example of how creating a tactical, intentional timeline can work to your advantage, make your wedding day smooth, and ensure that you get all the wedding photos with dreamy lighting, too! Because they had a winter wedding day, we ensured that all of their portraits were done before the sun set during ‘golden hour’, and that we built in plenty of time to photograph the venue and their wedding reception tent prior to the sun going down. Because I work with both film and digital mediums as a wedding photographer, I ensure that I photograph all your beautiful details and portraits in natural light only! I always recommend to my couples to hire a wedding planner for their Charleston weddings, and especially for a destination wedding! At SNP, we work with both our couples and their wedding planners behind the scenes in the months leading up to their wedding day to ensure seamless, stress-free execution day-of so that they can be present in the moment and enjoy every single minute of their Charleston wedding day without any hiccups.

Old Wide Awake Plantation boasts beautiful scenery, lush Lowcountry greenery and landscaping, an avenue of the oaks along their main drive, and a stunning ivy-covered main historic house on the property. Located just outside of Charleston in Hollywood, South Carolina, this venue is just a quick drive from downtown Charleston, where your guests can stay during their time in the Lowcountry for your wedding day. The exterior of the historic house is a beautiful, romantic setting for a Charleston wedding. It features a wraparound porch with tall white columns and original wooden features, an interior Bridal Suite and groom’s getting ready area, and a travertine patio to the left of the house for outdoor wedding receptions to be held either al fresco or under a tent. An Old Wide Awake Plantation wedding promises you not only a memorable day in beautiful setting, but also a venue that curates a picturesque, southern environment for your wedding guests.

An Old Wide Awake Plantation Wedding

Salem and Noah’s old Wide Awake Plantation wedding day began with the most delightful weather for a winter South Carolina wedding day: 75 degrees and perfectly sunny, with a light breeze off the coast! As a photographer for destination weddings, I typically like to start my wedding days with photographing the couple’s details and invitation suites, as well as photographing the adorable bride while she is finishing getting ready. Salm and her gals got ready in the historic bridal suite on site at Old Wide awake, and was also joined by some of her closest family. Once ready for the wedding day, we photographed their sweet wedding party on the front steps of Old Wide Awake; each step is covered in beautiful climbing ivy that compliments the white exterior of the property. Salem’s bridal look, featuring a beautiful 3D floral design dress from Bluebird Bridal in Charlotte,  NC and a matching chapel length veil, perfectly complimented her whimsical, coastal modern style and wedding design. Salem chose light champagne colored bridesmaids dresses in an assortment of styles to compliment her wedding dress. Noah, donning a classic black tuxedo, gave his look a twist by featuring a Brackish bow tie instead of a traditional black silk tie to compliment his tuxedo. 

They chose to use the beautiful scenery of Old Wide Awake Plantation as the backdrop to their ceremony, by selecting the ceremony site to be under the oak trees that line the main drive onto the property. Melissa with Proper Flower wowed guests with her custom installation of a structured floral arch to frame their ceremony with, filled with roses, hygrandgeas, climbing greenery, and an assortment of plants native to the Carolinas. I love photographing outdoor ceremonies during golden hour – the lighting was unbelievably beautiful under the oaks that day! After their poignant ceremony concluded, we took their wedding portraits on the lawn in front of Old Wide Awake just as the sun was starting to set behind the tree line. 

Their reception tent was filled with hanging greenery and a breathtaking centerpiece chandallier filled with more greenery and white blooms. Tables were covered in light dusty blue linens, and each place setting featured a chinoiserie charger plate, gold silverware, and an embroidered napkin with the couple’s last name initial on it. Bud vases and overflowing compotes were littered throughout the tables, as we plenty of white candles in various sizes to create an evening ambiance. Their reception culminated in the brilliant usage of the front drive of the property as the dance floor and band staging area, complete with cafe lights strung over the dance floor while their guests enjoyed a live band all night long. Salem & Noah shared one final kiss underneath the stars as their guests popped white confetti cannons overhead. Cheers to the newlyweds, and a huge thank you to an incredible Charleston wedding vendor team that helped pull off this beautiful Old Wide Awake Plantation wedding!

If You Are Planning A Wedding In The Southeast, Colorado, Or At A Destination Worldwide, And Looking For A Fine Art Wedding Photographer, Let’s Get In Touch Today!

Photography Team: Sarah Nann Photography, Film Processing: PhotoVision
Planning & Design: Keri Clavin
Dress Designer: Made With Love Bridal, Salon: Bluebird Bridal
Stationery: Minted Weddings
HMA: Charleston Bridal Collab
Floral Design: Proper Flower
Venue: Old Wide Awake Plantation
Cinematography: Andrew Busbee
Accessories: Kate & Mari, Loeffler Randall, Brackish
Bridesmaids: Bella Bridesmaids Charleston
Cake: Whole Foods 
Live Band: Diverse Groove Band
Rentals, Linens, & Lighting: Synder Events
Caterer: Salthouse Catering