Wedding Details: Date and Church

I consider myself a savvy lady, and this translates perfectly to planning a wedding!

I have done a lot, A LOT, of research on Charleston weddings and I want to share my findings with you all!* It's no secret that everything regarding Charleston Weddings is pricey. There is no way around it and so I'm not sharing budget tips or cost cutting advice. If you're a Charleston Bride, you need to face the costs head on and save yourself a lot of stress trying to save big money.

Fact: It's going to be expensive.

So with that said, there are certain areas that I am choosing to accept the inflated costs, and others I am going to try and get around.
One of the factors that did not really matter to me was having a wedding during the Peak Season months. These are April, May, September, October. As native Charlestonians, K and I both know the schizophrenic nature of our seasons, and I embrace my lack of control regarding weather. Also, re: timing: The vast majority of our families and friends are local, thus travel is no big factor for consideration.

Sooooo, We have chosen to get married on November 22nd, 2014.

We are finding this to be an excellent date in more ways than one. The weekend that we've chosen is the weekend before Thanksgiving. (Hello Holiday Season kickoff!) This is not an ideal weekend for any destination weddings, or for those who have many out of town guests. So we've found that we have better choice of venue/church/etc than the majority of 2014 Saturdays (Note: Popular spots book at least a year in advance) And I'd be remiss if I did not mention our Football considerations. The Clemson/Carolina game is always the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so we can bet that there won't be any big games happening on our weekend. Phew! ;)

I'd also like to make the point that it was never an option to have a Friday or Sunday wedding. I'm not a fan of this new trend, but I understand everything is about making more money honey! ;)

Next up, one of my "must-haves" is a Church Ceremony. I get chills during Church ceremonies, I was raised in the Church, there wouldn't be any other way! K's church (St. Matthews) is undergoing major restorations until 2015, and my church (Nativity) requires a Catholic ceremony (which is not my desire), so we are left with our choice of churches available with a "Non-Member" fee. And these are not small fees y'all. But forget all that because I found the most beautiful, gorgeous, charming Church in all the World!!! 

St. Stephens Episcopal at 67 Anson Street.
This photo captures one ounce of the glory.
You would LOOOVE it!

Our reception site is not 100% finalized, so I'm hesitant to mention it just yet.

But trust me when I say it's equally as charming and chill-inducing.

Stay Tuned!

*I am going to be tagging all of my wedding posts with "My Charleston Wedding" for easy reference on my planning!