Ideas for Elopement Receptions
If your wedding ceremony is just the two of you, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a reception. It’s your wedding day, and you still deserve to celebrate it!
Elopement Reception Ideas:
1. Have a meal catered for two at your ceremony site.
Some caterers will deliver and set it up, just like they would for a traditional reception. A local restaurant might offer this as well. Eat some good food, cut your cake, pop some champagne, and enjoy the rest of your wedding day!
2. Make a dinner reservation.
You can celebrate at one of your favorite places to eat together, or you can treat yourselves to a new restaurant that’s a higher-end dining experience than what you’d normally choose.
3. Bring your own food to have a picnic with a view.
Make your own food, order takeout, or use a picnic service! Yes, picnic services are a thing—check out one service based out of Greenville!
4. Have a big reception with your family and friends on a different day.
It might seem counter-intuitive, but there are three reasons that come to mind for why someone might want to do it this way:
You like the idea of celebrating with other people, but still want the privacy and intimacy of an elopement ceremony.
It’s hard to get both of your families together. For example, my cousin married someone whose family lived overseas, so they had one reception with her family and one reception with his.
I’ve seen some couples who have a smaller ceremony before their planned wedding date to accommodate extenuating circumstances, like military deployment or to include a relative who is terminally ill.
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 47 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!
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How to Choose a Trail for Your Photos
I absolutely love going on hiking trails with couples! We can do this for an engagement session, or you could even have an intimate wedding ceremony out on a trail! I have some guidelines for trails so you can have a good time AND plenty of photos you love!
1. What is the scenery like along the trail?
Are there multiple spots along the trail that can look pretty in your photos, or is there only one tiny overlook? For example, this trail has plenty of variety before you get to the waterfall, like plant life, a pond, and a bridge over a stream.
2. How difficult is this trail?
I don’t want it to be too strenuous because I don’t want you to be red, sweaty, and exhausted in your photos. I also don’t want any of us to not feel well during/after the session. I know plenty of views here that overlook mountains and waterfalls, and won’t take a toll on your well-being or how you look in your photos.
3. How long is this trail?
It needs to be short enough for us to get good light on the trail and still get out before it gets dark or the parking lot closes. For example, getting to a scenic view for sunset on the Table Rock trail can take hours, and it could be completely dark and after the park’s operating hours by the time we get back to the trailhead.
4. Does it get crowded here?
The trail needs to not be too crowded so there aren’t a lot of people in the background. Also, your session is a lot more intimate if other people aren’t around. For example, any trail at Paris Mountain will probably have lots of hikers and mountain bikers on a Saturday. ⠀
5. Most importantly:
We need to be able to do this safely—I don’t want to risk anyone getting hurt to get good photos. A 3-mile scramble might not be worth the photos, and I need to be able to pose you safely. The Falls Creek Falls trail, for example, is mostly covered in rocks and tree roots, so it’s easy to trip or roll an ankle. There also aren’t a lot of places in front of the waterfall where I’m comfortable standing or telling someone else to stand.
Believe it or not, this photo was taken at a drive-up overlook along the Blue Ridge Parkway. No hiking with that baby!
If you and your partner still want to head out on a trail for your session or elopement, awesome! I know plenty of trails in the upstate that meet most, if not all, of these bullet points. Also feel free to check out my blog post to give you ideas of what places in the upstate might fit your vision—you can check it out here!
Ready to start planning? Click here to fill out my contact form and start the planning process!
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Elopement at Red Horse Inn | Heather and Scott
Heather and Scott were married in an intimate ceremony on a perfect fall day in front of the South Carolina mountains!
These days, there’s a lot of chaos and uncertainty that comes with planning a wedding with a large group of people, so Heather and Scott decided to embrace the idea of an intimate ceremony with just each other. Their ceremony took place on the veranda of the Red Horse Inn in Landrum—right off of Scenic Highway 11. I had seen photos of the inn on Instagram, but when I walked up to the ceremony site, I couldn’t believe how beautiful the view from the mountains was. Their voices were the only sound breaking the silence around us.
After they signed the marriage license, we got to meet Phinney, the venue’s mini pig. We were given Cheerios to feed him and his tail wagged just like a dog’s! After we took some photos around the venue, we went to their cabin, where they cut their beautiful cake. One of their cake flavors was almond, which is one of my favorites, and a flavor I never see anyone else have at their wedding. We had to take a few photos with their dogs, Brie and Beamer, who were waiting for them at the cabin.
To finish, we drove about 5 minutes down the road to take some more of their wedding photos at Campbell’s Covered Bridge. This beautiful red bridge is the only remaining covered bridge in the state, and there’s some beautiful tall grass nearby. After we said goodbye, Heather and Scott had dinner together and enjoyed the rest of the perfect fall weather with each other and their dogs.
Check out some of my favorite photos from this beautiful South Carolina mountain elopement!
Vendors:
Venue and florals: Red Horse Inn
Officiant: Raya Jackson
Hair and Makeup: Kapelli Salon
Cake: All Good Things
Photo: Christine Scott Photography
Does this seem like the perfect way to spend a wedding day? Click here to get in touch so we can start planning a personalized and intimate ceremony!
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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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