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Island Plantation Wedding

click any of the photos below to start the slideshow

Jessica Hofford & Joey McQueeney; May 23, 2009, Prospect Hill Plantation, Edisto Island

Boutonnieres of cotton pods, curly willow, and eucalyptus berries were worn by the groomsmen.
DADDY’S GIRL: Hank Hofford escorts daughter Jessica down the stairs of their family home at Edisto’s Prospect Hill Plantation before giving her hand to Joey McQueeney.
The alluring hue of these Bella Bridesmaid frocks made Jessica change her palette from blue to pink. The bride donned a Romona Keveza gown from Belle Couture.
Inspired by the plantation home’s patina and antique appointments, Lisa and Jerri hung a mirror under the “altar oak” so guests could watch the couple’s faces as they said their vows.
The greens surrounding an ancient oak in front of the home served as the ceremony location. An antique oriental runner, which looked like it could have been pulled from the house, marked the aisle.
After their vows (and in between rain showers), the couple took a few moments to revisit the ceremony location, which overlooks the South Edisto River.
Just across the lawn where the ceremony took place, a series of tents erected pondside created a glowing refuge for the evening’s reception.
CABANA COOL: Ooh! Events’ Lisa Thomas created lounges overlooking the river so guests could relax outside the main tent during the reception.
Celestial-inspired tents formed riverfront lounges that were shielded from the showers. Antique milk glass bowls held garden roses, pale hydrangeas, peonies, and fuchsia phalaenopsis orchids, while birch bark votive holders and candles added ambiance as the night wore on.
A cluster of small bronze chandeliers formed one large light sculpture draped with greenery.
Event designer Lisa advises that nuptials held on homesteads bear a homespun style. Here, she created open-air dining spots with fresh linens and centerpieces. No two arrangements were the same, she says, as Lisa and her team filled milk glass bowls with mixes of antique hydrangeas, bleeding hearts, eucalyptus, ferns, fern curls, fuchsia phalaenopsis orchids, garden roses, lisianthus, peonies, and Snow on the Mountain.
LIGHT UP THE NIGHT: During the ceremony, lanterns hung from a majestic oak where the couple exchanged vows. Come nightfall, the glow accented the circa 1790 home and created a dramatic backdrop for the reception.
Ooh! Events paired birch discs with glass candle holders wrapped in textured bamboo wallpaper to create small woodland vignettes throughout the dining area.
Ooh! Events hung a curly willow chandelier accented with flowering quince in the reception tent and created a curtain of willow wreaths to form a backdrop for the band’s stage.
Jessica, who is a student at the Charleston School of Law, enlisted Wedding Cakes by Jim Smeal to design her Big Day confection. Jim created a coconut and chocolate cake layered with ganache and iced with Kahlua. He then hand-piped the Charleston School of Law’s logo on the third tier, and a sweetgrass basket pattern and a wrought iron-like design on the other tiers.
BOUNTIFUL FEAST: Good Food Catering served Southern and Lowcountry favorites on a multitude of buffet tables, like this one, dubbed “The Spring Garden Table” for its seasonal fare that perfectly suited the May wedding.
CHIC SETTING: Lisa Thomas added flair to each place by using a medley of vintage china, topping off plates with a cotton boll (because the plantation once grew Sea Island cotton), and enlisting black napkins as chargers.
Ooh! Events used a mix of antique china patterns at the reception to create the look of a family dinner. A single cotton boll and fern frond topped each place setting.
Good Food Catering chose California’s Paso Creek merlot to complement a wide selection of edibles like country ham biscuits, duck rillettes, and spring rolls filled with smoked sausage and collard greens.
Crab dip in bouchée from COAST—a sister company to Good Food Catering—was one of many hors d’oeuvres served during cocktail hour.
SWEET TREATS: Good Food Catering served miniature raspberry tarts atop a hand-hewn wood disc in keeping with the event’s organic theme.
FEILD DAY: A woodland theme dominated the reception, including side and food tables where rustic elements (like this pheasant) accented the displays.
FAIRY RING: Lisa Thomas took a cue from Good Food Catering’s wild mushroom fricassee when she accented the table with a crop of wooden mushrooms.
Pots of cotton honey—one for each of the wedding’s 500 guests—were piled atop a cart swathed in grapevine.
Guests took home votives wrapped in grass cloth and matchboxes bearing a cotton boll icon, the couple’s names, and their wedding date.
Island Plantation Wedding

Photographs by Virgil Bunao; Wedding Design by Lisa Thomas & Jerri Heater