South Carolina Mountain Engagement | Stephanie & John
John and Stephanie live in Houston, but decided to make a fall trip to the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. They’d never been to the Carolinas or Tennessee before. Stephanie remembered seeing Pretty Place Chapel on TikTok and decided that she wanted to see the sunrise there while she was in the area. She and John saw that it would be open for sunrise on the Monday that they would be there, and decided to go then.
John knew that this was where he wanted to propose to Stephanie. He showed a coworker some photos that had been tagged there on Instagram and they came across my photos of a couple who got engaged there a few weeks earlier. He went to my blog post about them, where I’d also linked all my info for visiting and having photos taken at Pretty Place. He sent me an email, we set up a time to talk, and we made the plan to go!
The windy road to Pretty Place from Greenville is one lane in each direction and goes up a mountain through the woods. I always get nervous driving there for sunrise because so much of that drive is in the dark. But when I’m almost there, I’ll notice that the sky has turned from black to dark blue, and I’ll start to see reds and oranges coming through. It was cold when I got there, but I was relieved to see that there weren’t a lot of cars in the parking lot. I easily found a seat in the aisle that felt like the right distance from the cross. John had sent me a selfie they had taken that morning, so I knew who they were when I saw them.
Stephanie asked someone to take a photo of them in front of the cross on her phone. She went to take her phone back, but when she saw that John was on one knee, she gave her phone right back the person and went back to the cross. After Stephanie said yes and everyone cheered, John pointed me out to Stephanie, and both of them gave me a big hug.
After we took some photos around the chapel, we went down to Bald Rock and Wildcat Wayside, where there were almost no people. It was so quiet and peaceful! Bald Rock Heritage Preserve has a rock face that overlooks Table Rock Mountain. Even though there’s graffiti all over it, the view is still beautiful. We also took some photos at the stream by the parking lot, where a lot of red leaves were floating. After we finished taking photos, Stephanie and John went back up to Pretty Place to soak it all in, then went out to eat in Brevard.
Enjoy Stephanie and John’s fall engagement photos in the mountains of South Carolina!
For more information on visiting or having photos taken at Pretty Place, this post is for you!
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Planning Resources
South Carolina Mountain Engagement | Diana & Christian
Diana and Christian moved to Greenville from Houston a few months ago. So far, they’ve loved exploring the mountains together and they really wanted fall foliage in their photos. They liked the idea of having a summit view versus having mountains in the background, so based on my descriptions, they chose Pretty Place and Caesars Head, neither of which they’d been to before. I recommended going to Pretty Place first and finishing at Caesars Head, about 20 minutes down the road, because Caesars Head faces west and has a better view of the sunset.
We checked the schedule for Pretty Place and saw that it would be open on a Monday evening at the beginning of November. Everyone talks about how pretty the view from the chapel is, but nobody talks about how it has some of the best fall foliage in South Carolina. The leaves change earlier there since it’s so much higher in elevation than Greenville, so we missed peak foliage, but we still had some beautiful color. The mountains looked orange, there was a beautiful tree with red leaves, and the leaves covered the ground in the wooded area next to the chapel.
I usually have Pandora or Spotify playing in my car, but I can’t get signal on a lot of the road that leads to Pretty Place and Caesars Head. I rolled down my window—the temperature was perfect and I could hear and smell the fall leaves. When we got to Caesars Head, we came out to the overlook first so they could take in the view. I pointed out Table Rock Mountain in the distance, and Diana and Christian told me that they reached that summit together, so it was cool for them to have that in their photos. Since it was a Monday, there weren’t a lot of people there to watch the sunset, so we almost had the overlook to ourselves. The sunset colors came through with a fall breeze that made Diana’s hair move. It was pretty much everything we could ask for in a fall engagement session in the mountains!
Enjoy some of Diana and Christian’s fall engagement photos in the mountains of South Carolina!
If you’re thinking about visiting Pretty Place or having photos done there, this post is for you.
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Engagement at Caesars Head | Amber and Logan
Amber and Logan were engaged on a beautiful fall evening at one of my favorite places in South Carolina: Caesars Head State Park!
They met and started their relationship when they were both living in Utah. They took the leap and moved across the country together when Logan accepted a job in Greenville. They love exploring the outdoors together, and Logan said that Caesars Head was on his mind for a while. From the photos he’d seen, he thought the overlook would be the perfect place to propose. He came across my photos of Melanie and Karl’s engagement there and knew that this would have to be the place.
Logan told Amber that he made a reservation at a nice restaurant that was really far out. He did make a reservation at Topsoil, which he and Amber dressed nicely for, but he told her it was farther away than it really was. Instead of bringing her to the restaurant in Travelers Rest, he continued up the windy road for a while until he reached Caesars Head. He brought her to the overlook, where he got down on one knee and asked her to marry him, using his grandma’s engagement ring.
This was a classic, slightly chilly fall evening. There were leaves all around them on the ground. We were lucky to not have many people around on this Friday evening, so we were able to use a lot more of the space on the overlook. We went down the narrow staircase and took photos in Devils Kitchen, which has a cave-like feel to it. We took some around the woods and on the walkway until the sun started to go down. I think the overlook at Caesars Head is one of the best places to see the sunset, and it made for a fantastic place to soak in the feeling of saying yes to forever.
Check out some of my favorite photos from Amber and Logan’s engagement at Caesars Head State Park!
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Recent Work
Anniversary Photos at Table Rock | Semeen and Shehzad
I spent a perfect spring evening with Semeen and Shehzad right before their one-year wedding anniversary. We took photos at one of my favorite South Carolina parks, and one of my favorite places in South Carolina: Table Rock State Park in Pickens. I love that Table Rock Mountain is so easily recognizable from a distance, and I love that we can take photos with both water and mountains here.
Semeen and Shehzad had met before Shehzad came to the US for grad school, but they stayed in touch from across the world. Over the years, they became very close, and they knew that they wanted to get married and live in South Carolina together. When Shehzad came back to India, he proposed to Semeen. With Covid regulations in place in India, they opted for a small wedding just a week after their engagement so that they could be married before Shehzad came back to the US. As the Covid situation became more complicated, Shehzad ended up not being able to fly back to the US for four months! They made the best of the situation and spent that time adventuring together around India and Europe until they could move to South Carolina.
We originally had a different state park in mind for these photos, but when it was time to go, it appeared this park was already closed for the day. Shehzad suggested Table Rock instead. This is one of my favorite parks and I even had my own family photos there, so I agreed. They decided to have one outfit that was more American-looking and one that was more Indian-looking. Shehzad wore a kurta, which is like a long shirt, and Semeen wore a dupatta, which is like a shawl. I loved the sparkle and color the dupatta added to the photos!
When I first met Shehzad through the photography club at Clemson, he had only lived in the US for a few months. He said he loved taking pictures of the trees in the fall because he had never seen trees change colors before and he wanted to show everyone in India how beautiful it was. When we got to Table Rock, there was a tree with beautiful pink blossoms that I knew I wanted to use in their photos, but of course Shehzad pointed out an orange tree along the water too.
Enjoy Semeen and Shehzad‘s anniversary photos at Table Rock State Park!
Want photos like these? Click here to get started, or check out some of my other work below!
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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Proposal at Caesars Head | Melanie and Karl
I was so excited when Karl told me he wanted to propose to Melanie at one of my favorite places in all of South Carolina: the overlook at Caesars Head State Park!
Melanie and Karl live on the coast and planned to come up to the upstate for a weekend to hike in the mountains. They had heard Caesars Head was beautiful, so they wanted to check it out. Karl and I talked on the phone a few weeks before and came up with a plan for the proposal. I helped him choose a pretty trail near the Caesars Head visitor center that wouldn’t wear them out too much or take too much time. Since it’s hard to get phone signal in that area, we had to make sure we were on the same page beforehand, so I sent him a photo with what I had in mind for where he should get down on one knee:
Note that this was from the first attempt at my very first engagement session. We got all the way up there and the clouds/fog covered EVERYTHING, so we decided to come back a different day. I just sent him this one because it was the widest shot I had of the overlook.
After Melanie and Karl hiked to the Raven Cliff Falls observation deck, they came to the overlook at Caesars Head. Since it was right before Thanksgiving, there were a ton of people on the overlook, so I just stood right there taking pictures like everyone else was. Melanie waited for some people to clear away from the railing so she could take a picture on her phone. When she turned around, Karl was on one knee! The amount of happiness radiating from them in these photos is contagious, and I was smiling so much while I was editing these.
Karl remembered that Melanie had shown him her Pinterest at one point, and that there were rings on there. He looked her profile up and chose a ring that was similar to the ones she had pinned. I thought that was a pretty good idea! I also like the red box that it was in.
I had so much fun with these two and I hope you love their photos!
Ready to be part of a gorgeous proposal like this one? Click here to get in touch!
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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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View Point at Buckhorn Creek Wedding | Chandler and Will
Chandler and Will were married on a perfect spring day at The View Point at Buckhorn Creek in Greenville, South Carolina! I’m so excited to share the photos from their gorgeous wedding day.
There were so many sentimental parts of this wedding day! Will proposed to Chandler at his family’s lake house in Georgia around Christmas. He gave her ring from the jeweler everyone in his family has used, so I got to have a picture with three of those ring boxes together. Chandler is the sixth person in her family to wear this wedding dress. It was really special to have her mom and sisters help her put it on—three women who wore this dress on their wedding days were helping pass it on to her! Chandler also wore her grandma’s necklace and Will’s grandma’s earrings.
The View Point at Buckhorn Creek is a gorgeous venue near Paris Mountain. It overlooks the Blue Ridge Mountains and the surrounding garden is so full of color. Will and one of his friends built the cross that stood at the spot in front of the mountains where they said their vows. Since they had an early afternoon ceremony, the reception was more like a late lunch. Music played through the garden that overlooks the mountains, which made for such a peaceful atmosphere on a perfect spring afternoon! They were given a sendoff of lavender and flower petals.
Check out some of my favorite photos from this day full of peace, color, and laughter!
Vendors:
Venue: View Point at Buckhorn Creek
Catering and ice cream: Good Life Catering
Cake: Strossner’s Bakery
Music: Alie and Trevor Springgate
Officiant: Dr. Brian James
Dress: family heirloom for ceremony, Lulu’s for reception
Florals: Shari Power
Hair: Mika Davis
Groom’s accessories: Brooks Brothers
Bee cookies: Etsy
Looking for a wedding photographer? Click here to read a little more about me and what I do, or click here to get in touch!
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Eloping in South Carolina
Overall, the word “elopement” still carries a negative connotation for lots of people. It’s become associated with tackiness, secrecy, haste, and being cheap. Now, the meaning of the word is evolving, and so is our perception of what a wedding day should be.
However you choose to elope, you deserve the best photos from that day. Read more about what I do and to get in touch!
What is an elopement?
“Elopement” technically means “escaping,” so it became used as the word for running away together to get married. I recently came across an episode of Fresh Prince where Will and Lisa secretly go to Vegas to elope instead of having a big wedding like they planned. Even though they didn’t go through with the ceremony in Vegas, Lisa said that she felt she and Will had more of a choice in what their own wedding day looked like. This still rings true today, even if eloping means something different.
Nowadays, an elopement is just a wedding without guests, and that looks different for everyone. The thought became more popular in 2020 when large gatherings had to be postponed indefinitely, and people didn’t want to postpone actually being married.
Let’s address some of what you may have heard about elopements.
Elopements are cheap.
Yes and no. If you have no guests, then you don’t have to pay for a big venue, tables, chairs, place settings, invitations, thank-you notes, favors, centerpieces, or whatever else you might provide for each person in attendance. Lots of couples who elope still invest in quality wedding vendors, or they might budget for something else, like the dress they’ve always dreamed of, or airfare to get married somewhere scenic. It’s all about paying for what you value, and that’s different for everyone.
Elopements are secretive.
It’s up to you whether to tell people about your wedding before or afterward.
Elopements are hasty.
Some people start planning elopements years in advance, just like they may for a more traditional wedding. Others “make it official” after years of being together. Both are valid.
Elopements aren’t as special as bigger weddings.
The biggest pushback for elopements is probably the idea of not having your family and friends there to see you get married. For a lot of couples, it’s not about excluding people, it’s just about having an intimate experience. One couple said, “We loved the idea of just the two of us coming together before God in nature.”
How beautiful is that?
Some people prefer to exchange their vows without other people watching and listening. It’s your decision whether or not to be surrounded by the people who are closest to you as you say your vows, and only you know who those people are.
Logistics of Eloping
There’s a lot that’s possible when you’re not accounting for a large group of people. You may not need to reserve a space, depending on where you choose to have your ceremony and pictures. Some couples have their ceremony on a mountain or in front of a waterfall, something that’s not easily accessible for other people. Some choose to do it in a more public space, which is harder to organize with a group of people. This elopement involved cutting their wedding cake right in front of Clemson’s Death Valley. It was on a whim and that would never work if there were more people than just the three of us.
No matter how you choose to get married, you will still need to sign a marriage license. This process varies by state. In South Carolina, you can either sign the papers at the courthouse or have a certified officiant come with you to where you want to have your ceremony. South Carolina also does not require any witnesses to sign the forms. North Carolina, however, requires two witnesses. I can always serve as one. The other could be your videographer if you have one, or even just someone who happens to be passing by.
For ideas on where to elope in South Carolina, check out this blog post!
What if I like the idea of both?
Maybe you love the idea of hiking to an overlook to say your vows, but you also love the idea of celebrating with your family and friends. You have a few options:
Split it into two days. One day can be an intimate ceremony with just the two of you, and the other can be a celebration with your family and friends.
Take elopement-style pictures on a different day. Maybe you could get dressed up for an engagement session in a scenic place, or you could have an adventure session on your honeymoon in your wedding attire.
Invite a small group of people. Covid popularized the term “microwedding,” which is pretty much the same thing as an intimate wedding, or a wedding with a small number of guests. For some people, it’s just their parents, and for others, it’s around 25 people.
For more ideas for having a reception for your elopement, click here.
Just like any wedding, there aren’t really any rules for what you do and don’t need to have. You can still have professional hair and makeup, a white dress, a catered meal, or a small cake, just like how you don’t necessarily have to include the typical wedding traditions in a bigger wedding. In the end, your wedding day is up to you and your future spouse. Maybe it’s a big party with a DJ and all your family and friends. Maybe it’s a handful of people who are close to you in a pretty place. Maybe it’s just the two of you at your house. What does the perfect day look like to the two of you? Start there.
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 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!
Elopement Planning Resources
Table Rock Engagement Photos | Jillian and Vincenzo
Vincenzo left Italy to come work at his uncle’s restaurant in Greenville. That’s where he first met Jillian! After they’d been dating a while, they visited Pretty Place Chapel, where Vincenzo proposed. Even though he was so nervous that he opened the ring box upside down, Jillian said yes!
Jillian saw my photos in a South Carolina hiking group on Facebook and reached out to me about her engagement photos. I saw she was also a Clemson alumna, so that’s always exciting! She told me she wanted her engagement photos to be in the mountains. I was so excited that someone around here was as excited about pictures in the mountains as I am! We discussed possible places, but we had to hold off on choosing a location and setting a date since a lot of places were closed with the stay-at-home order. We talked about going to the Blue Ridge Parkway, but it would be hard to know what was open until we got there. When the state parks opened back up, we decided to go to Table Rock on a Thursday to avoid the park reaching capacity.
I think there were more geese than people on the day we had our session! We also found some ducks, a large snake, and the biggest snail I’ve ever seen. Even though we couldn’t do the session in the spring, we still got cool weather for June! The three of us took a trail where we found a few pretty waterfalls. We had so much fun talking about Italy, South Carolina, the mountains, and their wedding plans! As the sun started to go down, we went towards the lodge, where there was a beautiful view of Table Rock right next to Pinnacle Lake. The water even glowed orange from the colors in the sky!
Check out my photos of this awesome couple in one of my favorite places in the whole state!
Looking for a wedding photographer who supports your non-traditional ideas? Click here to read more about me and what I do, and click here to get in touch!
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