Clemson Elopement | Jenna & Chris
Jenna and Chris decided to elope in South Carolina Botanical Gardens on Star Wars Day, May the 4th.
They knew they liked the idea of eloping in a garden because they like spring scenery and colors. After looking through some pictures on my blog, they determined that they could see themselves getting married in the South Carolina Botanical Gardens. When we had our Zoom call, I walked them through what the scenery might look like at that time of year and some possible places to have their ceremony.
It started pouring rain right before we arrived, but we all had clear umbrellas. Jenna and Chris chose the pavilion at the duck pond for their ceremony, which is covered. The rain also drove away all the people who came to the gardens to take prom photos, so we almost had the garden to ourselves, and didn't hear much besides the rain and waterfalls.
There were so many wonderful smells in the garden, from the herbs to the flowers. We couldn't pinpoint what smelled like bubblegum and what smelled like fruity candy. Jenna and Chris heard that smell is an important trigger for wedding day memories, so Jenna picked out a cologne for Chris, and Chris picked out a perfume for Jenna. They also picked out each other's rings. Chris's was galaxy-inspired and can glow in the dark if it's had enough sun exposure!
Since Jenna and Chris like ice cream more than they like cake, they decided to get a bowl of "wedding ice cream" to share. We stopped at Andee's Ice Cream in downtown Clemson, where everyone was so excited to see newlyweds buying ice cream together. They shared a bowl of ice cream outside the shop before we headed to Lake Hartwell for sunset.
"Clemson sunset" was a big buzzword while I was a student because orange is a special color to the community and we like to see it in the sky. Lake Hartwell is one of the best places to see a Clemson sunset, and even though it was so rainy when we met up, we had the most beautiful orange sky over the lake!
They haven't lived in South Carolina for very long, but they knew they wanted to elope in a garden. This was their first time visiting Clemson and the South Carolina Botanical Gardens, and they're already planning a trip back to see more of it! I hope you enjoy my photos of Jenna and Chris's elopement at Clemson!
If you want a Clemson elopement too, check out where to elope at Clemson and ideas for what to do in Clemson on your elopement day!
Shoutout to everyone who helped make Jenna and Chris’s elopement day so wonderful!
Locations: South Carolina Botanical Gardens and Lake Hartwell
Officiant: Debbie Eliopulous
Hair and makeup: Meg and Jake with Cotton Rouge and Company
Dress: Evelyn's Bridal
Ice cream: Andee's Ice Cream
Photography: Christine Scott Photography
Ready for your best day ever?
Photo by Shehzad Ziaee
My name is Christine (Scott) Gow and I’m an elopement photographer based out of Greenville, South Carolina. I’m a wife and a beagle mom. The three of us have visited beautiful places in every corner of South Carolina, to include all 48 of our state parks. We love finding new outdoor places to visit, but we also love hanging out on the couch and watching Pixar movies.
One thing I love about South Carolina is that it’s not just the beaches and colorful houses that you imagine when you picture it. Whether you’re looking for mountains, beaches, or anything in between; I can help you find the perfect place for the two of you and make it as smooth of a day as possible. No matter how you two choose to spend your day, I’m happy you’re doing it the way that you want.
I can’t wait to meet you!
Planning Resources
More From Clemson
South Carolina Botanical Gardens | Clemson, SC
I have to write a whole blog post about this place because it’s one of my favorite places, both to take pictures and just to walk around. There’s so much here that I can’t just show one or two photos to show you what it has to offer. I’ll also show you some photos taken throughout the year so you can get a better idea of what the scenery will look like at the time of your session or your elopement.
The South Carolina Botanical Gardens is at the Clemson University campus. Clemson, my alma mater, was founded as Clemson Agricultural College, and so much of the university’s culture is still rooted in agriculture. I mean, their signature ice cream and blue cheese comes from cows raised by the students—check out the ‘55 Exchange when you visit! All around Clemson’s campus, you’ll see a variety of plants that change colors at different times. It’s not unusual to see a class stopping at a tree and taking notes. It’s no wonder that a school like this would have such a wonderfully diverse botanical garden. Every time I go, a different spot stands out to me because of how the plants change through the year. I have my pre-designated spots to stop at, but I usually find different spots along the way that look pretty.
Venues at South Carolina Botanical Gardens
For larger gatherings, there are a number of venues within the Botanical Gardens to rent, including the gazebo on the duck pond, the carriage house, and the gazebo at the Xeriscape Garden. For elopements, these rental fees would still apply to ensure that two events don’t interfere with each other.
Gazebo on the Duck Pond
The entrance to the garden features Palmetto trees, South Carolina’s state tree. You can also find some throughout the Maritime Garden, which I’ll highlight later, but you don’t see them much in the upstate.
Take a left at the entrance and you’ll find the main parking lot, which brings you to the caboose garden. There’s an amphitheater here, a bell, and some cool overhangs. PS: this caboose is a much safer alternative to taking pictures on railroad tracks!
The Duck Pond has a beautiful Japanese-style pier. And ducks, but they tend to not cooperate for taking photos.
The Xeriscape Garden, near the Duck Pond, has a white gazebo, which would be a beautiful setting for an intimate wedding.
If you turn right after the main entrance instead of left, you’ll find an easily overlooked part of the garden, which includes exhibits like the Desert Garden, Jurassic Garden, and ones that represent the state of South Carolina, like the Maritime Garden, Prairie Garden, and the Carnivorous Garden. The Desert Garden is one of my favorite parts because you probably won’t find plants like this in many places east of the Mississippi River.
One thing I love about the South Carolina Botanical Gardens is that I don’t have to get there at the peak times in the spring or fall to find seasonal color. Different plants show their colors at different times, so a March session and an April session will both look like the ultimate spring session, but will probably have different places featured. This session was at the end of February, but we found one pink tree and one white tree to use.
This session was in mid-March, when most of the trees here turn white and a few are pink. What I consider “peak” is usually the end of March through the second week of April, but look how much color we got when we weren’t even in that window!
This bridal portrait session was late May in the same year—we still had a spring feel with the flowers, but also the full green trees of summer.
This session was in the summer, when all the plants are in full swing—especially the desert garden. That glowy light on the willow tree is everything I want to illustrate a summer evening!
For this fall session, we missed peak foliage by less than a week, and most of the trees were bare by the time we got there. We looked around and some orange and yellow caught our eye, so we used those spots as much as we could. I believe this was the last day of November and these 4 spots were all the color that was left. We usually don’t have much fall color before the beginning of November, but I’ve had some photos with yellow trees in the first week of December before.
This elopement was on New Year’s Eve. There were some coniferous trees that still gave us some green that time of year, but there’s enough scenery for us to still have a beautiful setting for our photos, even without flowers.
No matter the time of year, the South Carolina Botanical Gardens is a picturesque place for your wedding, your engagement photos, or just a nice walk! Check out some more of my work from the gardens!
Ready for the best day ever?
Photo by Shehzad Ziaee
My name is Christine (Scott) Gow and I’m an elopement photographer based out of Greenville, South Carolina. I’m a wife and a beagle mom. The three of us have visited beautiful places in every corner of South Carolina, to include all 48 of our state parks. Sometimes we wear hiking boots, sometimes we wear dress shoes, and sometimes we’re barefoot in the surf.
One thing I love about South Carolina is that it’s not just the beaches and colorful houses that you imagine when you picture it. Whether you’re looking for mountains, beaches, or anything in between; I can help you find the perfect place for the two of you and make it as smooth of a day as possible. No matter how you two choose to spend your day, I’m happy you’re doing it the way that you want.
I can’t wait to meet you!
Planning Resources
Clemson Bridal Portraits in South Carolina Botanical Gardens | Brittany
Brittany and I met at a wedding expo in February of 2020. It was only a few weeks after she got engaged, and a few weeks before the world turned upside-down, which made it hard to set dates for anything in stone. We eventually scheduled her bridal portraits a week after her Clemson graduation portraits. She totally lucked out on the weather—about 70 degrees and partly cloudy both days!
We started Brittany’s bridal portraits at the South Carolina Botanical Gardens, which is technically part of Clemson’s campus. I love doing sessions here because it’s such a rabbit hole—there are obvious places that are pretty, but there are little pockets of hidden gems everywhere. Since Clemson has so many different majors involving plants and wildlife, it’s no surprise that there’s so much diversity in the garden and it changes so much throughout the year. On this beautiful day in May, the gardens didn’t have the pink and white blooms that it had when I did a session here in March, but there were some colorful flowers that weren’t there before, and a lot more green overall. The garden was so quiet and peaceful, with the occasional splash in the pond or rustle through the bushes. We caught the scents of different blossoms as we walked down the trail, including something that smelled like bubblegum!
I loved that Brittany’s veil complemented her ruffly dress so well, and bridal headbands are some of my favorite accessories! She found her dress at The Castle in Spartanburg. She said she loved having another opportunity to wear everything—she loved feeling like a bride and she could know a few weeks before the wedding day how her whole ensemble felt. She was so smiley the whole session!
Brittany also wanted to have some of her bridal portraits at Clemson’s main campus, since it’s become such a special place to her and held a significant role in her relationship with her now-husband. She wanted some pictures with Tillman Hall/Old Main, since she’s an education major and that’s where most of her classes are. We spent a good amount of time at Sikes Hall, which both of us love. I thought she looked like Cinderella in some of the photos we took on the steps at Sikes!
I’m so happy to have met Brittany and I’ve loved getting to know her at both her graduation session and her bridal portraits. Check out a few of my favorites that I’ve been dying to share!
Are you thinking about having photos done at Clemson? Click here to check out some of my favorite galleries from Clemson, including wedding, engagement, graduation, and pageant photos! To schedule a session, fill out my contact form to tell me all about it!
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Clemson Elopement | Katie and Matt
Katie and Matt knew they wanted their wedding day to be unique and intimate. A year and a half after I did Katie’s Clemson graduation portraits, she told me they were planning to elope and asked if I could do their wedding photos. Since so much of Matt and Katie’s story takes place around Clemson, it felt like a perfect fit for them. They said they shared a lot of memories at the amphitheater, so we made a plan for them to get married there on New Year’s Eve.
Katie, Matt, and I met up at the amphitheater with my friend Rebecca of A Different Officiant. Since it was New Year’s Eve, there weren’t hardly any people around, and only the bells of the clock tower broke the silence around them. Even though there was a high chance of rain for the whole day, none came down while we were together! We went through so much of campus that day, even through some of the botanical gardens. Since there were no guests, Katie and Matt could spend their wedding day wherever. They popped a bottle of champagne together on Bowman Field, which made for plenty of laughs as it sprayed everywhere. They even cut their wedding cake right in front of Death Valley!
Katie and Matt spent years walking this campus with no idea that they were passing by the place where they would someday get married. This was such a fun day that was totally centered around them and their story. Check out some of my favorite photos from Katie and Matt’s wedding!
Special thanks to Rebecca Inman of A Different Officiant for making it possible for Katie and Matt to get married in a place that was so special to them. Their cake came from Sugar Mama’s Cakes and Desserts in Seneca.
Ready for your best day ever?
My name is Christine (Scott) Gow and I’m an elopement photographer based out of Greenville, South Carolina. I’m a wife and a beagle mom. The three of us have visited beautiful places in every corner of South Carolina, to include all 48 of our state parks. Sometimes we wear hiking boots, sometimes we wear dress shoes, and sometimes we’re barefoot in the surf.
One thing I love about Greenville is that it’s everything you DON’T think about when you picture South Carolina, but it’s still picturesque. Whether you’re into mountains, waterfalls, lakes, or anything in between; I can help you find the perfect place for the two of you and make it as smooth of a day as possible. No matter how you two choose to spend your day, I’m happy you’re doing it the way that you want.
I can’t wait to meet you!