A Shore Thing



A Shore Thing | A pair of jet-setters invites guests to a Southern isle for a weekend filled to the brim with wedding celebrations.

Diana Kassen & Ezra Mehlman 

September 1, 2013

The Sanctuary Hotel at Kiawah Island

Diana Kassen and Ezra Mehlman met at a Washington, D.C. consulting firm, where fate sat them at adjacent desks. “I started a few months before Ezra, so when he joined the team, I showed him the ropes,” laughs Diana. The two began dating, and over a six-year courtship they trotted the globe together, getting passport stamps for everywhere from Buenos Aires to Istanbul.  Then, to celebrate their respective graduations from business school in May 2012, the pair jetted to Park City, Utah, to celebrate. There, Ezra asked Diana to go on a hike with him, and along the way she stopped to take a snapshot of the picturesque mountains. When she turned around, Ezra was down on one knee. “Of course, I said, ‘Yes!’” Diana says.

 

They found themselves in South Carolina for their wedding thanks to a favorite haunt. “We’ve been visiting Kiawah every summer and winter since we started dating,” says Diana. “It’s a special place to us. We wanted our friends and families to experience its magic, too.”

 

To max out that magic, the two, who now live in New York, entrusted Tara Guérard Soirée to organize a Labor Day weekend brimming with festivities. Saturday night, guests gathered for a rehearsal fête with live bluegrass and s’mores. The next evening, on The Sanctuary Hotel’s Grand Lawn, Diana and Ezra said sunset “I dos.” After a cocktail hour, everyone flocked to the dance floor for the hora and partied until the wee hours. The following morning, the newlyweds hosted a farewell brunch. 

 

As lavish as the good times were, the company was even better, says Diana. “The very best part of the weekend was having so many people we love in one place.” 

 

Vendor List

Baker: Wedding Cakes by Jim Smeal, www.weddingcakesbyjimsmeal.com

Bridal Attire: Monique Lhuillier, www.moniquelhuillier.com

Caterer: The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island, www.kiawahresort.com/accommodations/the-sanctuary-hotel

Day-of coordinator: Cacky’s Bride + Aid, www.cackysbrideaid.com

Groom’s Attire: Suitsupply, www.suitsupply.com

Musicians: U.S. Beat, www.usbeat.com

Photographer: Corbin Gurkin Photography, www.corbingurkin.com

Wedding design, florist, & linens: Tara Guérard Soirée, www.taraguerardsoiree.com

Stationery: The Lettered Olive, www.theletteredolive.com

Videographer: Virgil Bunao, www.virgilbunao.com

Venue: The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island, www.kiawahresort.com/accommodations/the-sanctuary-hotel

The Wedding Row

January 17 2019
We couldn’t come up with a better love story than Taylor and Jonathan’s if we tried. They met while she was in dental school and he was completing his medical residency. (She’s a dentist, he’s a...

January 16 2019
Who doesn’t have a soft spot for college sweethearts? Liz and John met their sophomore year at Providence College in Rhode Island, not knowing that nine years later John would propose on the very...

January 14 2019
Oh my gosh is he a good guy! After meeting at work (at the Daniel Island Club), Ginny says she didn’t even know she was on her first date with Daniel when he offered to spend an afternoon helping her...

January 11 2019
OK. So these two New Yorkers are kind of a big deal (she’s a VP at a hedge fund group and former account head at the Olgivy agency with an MBA and he’s a marketing director at a Big Apple firm and...

January 10 2019
We want to be invited to *that* New Year’s Eve party! We’re talking about the one where Mount Pleasant native Bree met Mobile, Alabama-born Josh, and the two hit it off enough for us to be talking...

January 9 2019
Lanier and Luke met in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, during a Friendsgiving supper one November along with some 30 pals. That run-in led to a friendship that turned into a romance and by 2017, the two were...

January 8 2019
O.M.G. You are so going to love these two! For starters, they tricked—yes, tricked—their families into a shared Thanksgiving vacation in Charleston that turned into a surprise wedding for them and...

January 7 2019
We hate to do this to you, but we have to tell you some things about bride Sarah Grace that might very well intimidate you (like it did us). Yes, yes, yes, she and her sweetheart Martin (aka “Bug”)...