Wedding in downtown Charleston with a reception at the Daniel Island Club

Since it’s my slow time of the year, I’ve been updating my website, especially for some of my past weddings in Charleston. This beautiful wedding from back in 2013 needed an updated blog post. I added some ceremony pictures that were missing and made some extra adjustments as well. I looked at the photo metadata to see what equipment I used back then. These were all taken with a Nikon D3 and Nikon D800, and I’m still using the same Nikon 85mm f1.4 lens I used back then. So the main difference between my photography now and back then, my pictures are now higher megapixels, a bit sharper, and I use a lot more off-camera lighting. I hope you enjoy the look back!

Ceremony at the French Huguenot Church in Downtown Charleston

When I arrived, the bride and groom were getting ready at an apartment on Queen Street in downtown Charleston. They were on separate floors so that they wouldn’t see each other before the ceremony. They had a beautiful mirror upstairs that I used for some great shots of the bride’s dress. I especially loved the picture of the bride’s mom helping her daughter with the veil while looking into the mirror.

Next, I took pictures of the groomsmen getting ready and opening their gifts from the groom. The area around the French Huguenot Church is a pretty part of downtown Charleston. While the groomsmen went to the church, I got some great shots of them walking down the street together. I also took the bride and bridesmaids out for some pictures near a side entrance of the Dock Street Theater. I love taking city street pictures like this. It’s so different from my usual venues in Myrtle Beach.

The church had precise rules about photography during the ceremony, and I had to stay in the back for all my pictures and not be in view of any guests. Getting photos of the bride’s entrance with her father was challenging since I couldn’t be down the aisle at all. However, once the ceremony started, I got some beautiful shots from the balcony and great photos of the ring exchange and first kiss.

Reception at the Daniel Island Club

The wedding party rode a trolly back to the Daniel Island Club, a beautiful private island golf course in Charleston. They have a marsh area, with a long boardwalk behind the clubhouse, that makes an excellent location for pictures. When we arrived, I took photos of the bridal party on the golf course and shots of just the bride and groom.

After going back inside for the first dance and parent dances, I pulled the couple back out for sunset pictures. I got some very romantic portraits with the sunset filtering through the trees and on the golf course and marsh boardwalk. I even found a spot in some tall grass near the golf course that was pretty with the couple surrounded by the grass.

After the pictures, they went inside and danced and partied at the reception. They only had me stay until about 8:30 pm that evening, but it was still enough time to get some fun dancing pictures. I hope you enjoy this look at one of my “classic” weddings. I like thinking about how my work has improved in the last few years and some ways I could improve further as well. Please let me know if you are planning a wedding in downtown Charleston!