Our venue series continues with one of Charleston’s most breathtaking oak allées, found at the Legare Waring House on the property of Charles Towne Landing. For those of us who grew up in Charleston, visiting Charles Towne Landing for field trips is a tradition and treasured memory. It is the site of the first European permanent settlement in South Carolina, dating back to 1670.
Now, while Charles Towne Landing remains a wonderful destination for children and tourists alike (there’s even a lovely zoo called the “animal forest!”), it also boasts a world class wedding venue with the Legare Waring House. The home itself is difficult to date and has gone through many purposes and forms, but it’s certain that much of the current beauty is owed to Ferdinanda Backer who inherited the home in the first half of the twentieth century. In the 1930s, she embarked on an ambitious project to restore and beautify the site.
She installed the oak allée that wows so many prospective brides and grooms almost 100 years later, and which we often feature so prominently in our custom wedding invitations.
Additionally, she planted thousands of azaleas and camellias, ultimately creating 80 acres of magical landscaped gardens. You should see it in the springtime!
Most couples choose to host their “I Do’s” under this incredible canopy of oak trees and you can certainly see why. The dappled sunlight, moss covered branches, and carpet of lush green grass is a breathtaking site.
When designing invitations for the Legare Waring House, we like to consider all that the venue has to offer and incorporate it into the design. Here, for example, you can see that we prominently featured the oak trees in a lovely green ink paired with a blush pink to make the perfect springtime invitation suite.
Given that we’ve been designing and creating custom invitations for 15 years, we’ve just about seen it all. It’s always fun to look back on design trends from years’ past, like this custom invitation suite for a Legare Waring House wedding all the way back in 2013. The whimsical style is still such a delight and you can see that those famous oak trees were well represented, just in a totally different way than some of our other examples.
Of course, some couples choose to hold a very elegant, black tie formal event at the Legare Waring House and may want to represent that style with their invitation. You can see in another example from our archives where we created a simple, classic design with touches of pink.
When considering the Legare Waring House for your Charleston destination wedding, it is helpful to note that it is located outside of the downtown peninsula, in an area of town called West Ashley (literally, west of the Ashley River!). Many couples choose to provide transportation to the venue to and from downtown for this reason, but there is parking onsite so it’s not a must-do. That said, it’s always important to note that Ubers & Lyfts are not that easy to get outside of the peninsula and the airport in Charleston, so keep that in mind when you’re making your plans!
To help guests visualize the location better, we often do a map in the wedding suite to indicate where the Legare Waring House sits relative to the historic downtown peninsula and beaches as those areas are where guests most often choose to stay.
Importantly, you are required to have a licensed planner to get married at the Legare Waring House, so he or she will guide you through all the logistics that need to be considered, of course. The venue is run by South Carolina State Parks so you can find a wealth of information on their website.
If you are planning your Charleston wedding and are interested in working with an expert to create unique wedding stationery, we would love to speak with you! Please feel free to reach out to us to set up a time to discuss, and be sure to follow along on our Instagram for all the latest happenings in the studio.
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