1. Real Weddings

Ashley & Allen: A Destination Wedding in Charleston, SC

Ashley and Allen first met in their hometown of Atlanta exactly seven years to the day before they started dating. When they reconnected in New York,

Ashley and Allen first met in their hometown of Atlanta exactly seven years to the day before they started dating. When they reconnected in New York, they decided to start a band together. Within a few months, they were more than band mates and just over a year after that, Allen proposed. The Bride Ashley Proffitt, 35, art director The Groom Allen Orr, 33, art director The Date May 3 Allen asked Ashley to go for a walk around Brooklyn Bridge Park with him and his new puppy. When they got to the park, Allen told her that he and Parker (the pup) had a question for her. She said yes, and the couple spent the next five months planning their destination wedding in Charleston, South Carolina.

Couples Shots
As guests arrived for the 12:30 p.m. ceremony, they were greeted with mimosas or orange juice spritzers.
Ashley’s mom set up an all-yellow candy bar, which included handmade yellow candy flowers! Guests filled cellophane bags with their favorites so they could enjoy the treats back home.
Instead of a groom’s cake, the couple served chocolate-frosted cupcakes in yellow liners.
Guests cooled off with bamboo fans tied with yellow ribbon (a fitting favor for an outdoor ceremony.)
Both Ashley and her sister carried bouquets of yellow ranunculus and white freesia, Ashley’s two favorite flowers. Ashley’s bouquet was wrapped in light-blue ribbon for her “something blue.”
Ashley and Allen’s elegant, white and yellow buttercream-frosted wedding cake was one of the bride’s favorite parts of the day. Two of the four tiers were decorated with tiny flowers, and the others featured a fun swirl pattern.
The night before the wedding, Allen’s aunts and uncle threw the bride and groom a beach party-themed rehearsal dinner. One of the hosts bought yellow drink koozies printed with gray birds to match the bird motif on the invitations and other wedding stationery.
Instead of traditional round dinner tables, the couple decided on smaller cocktail tables, covered in sky-blue and ivory linens, and undressed mahogany tables to fit the informal vibe. Ashley’s mother designed the small flower arrangements for the guest tables. Each included two stems of white freesia and three yellow ranunculus blooms.
Ashley always knew she wanted a J.Crew wedding dress. The strapless dress she chose was accented with a giant silk flower at the waist, and it fit right in with the laid-back wedding vibe. Ashley’s sister and maid of honor, her only attendant, also wore J.Crew.
Ashley and Allen were married on the lawn of the Wickliffe House. The only added decoration was a tall, yellow flower arrangement placed on the patio, to define the space.
In lieu of a traditional guest book, Ashley and Allen bought a copy of Cabinet of Natural Curiosities and left it out for everyone to write notes in the margins. “We love this book and use it as a coffee-table book now,” Ashley says.