Elevate Your Taste



PHOTOGRAPHER CREDIT: 
Elevate Your Taste | Wood turner Ashley Harwood crafts custom cake stands that you’ll love long after the last crumb is gone

Whether you pore over recipes with Grandma Jane to sort out how that family favorite can stretch to feed 150 or you dish out a baker’s dozen of Benjamins for a store-bought confection, cake is a major focal point of this major milestone. But given how much thought goes into the treat itself, how can it be that the pedestals, plates, and platters used to showcase the sweet thing itself tend to fall on the ho-hum side?



Enter Charleston wood turning artist Ashley Harwood (yes, that’s her real name). While she’s known about town for Turning Native (www.AshleyHarwood.net), her booth at the Charleston Farmer’s Market that’s stocked with turned wood bowls, jewelry, and ornaments, this past spring she made her first foray into the wedding world when she partnered with Charleston Crepe Company (843/573-3458; www.CharlestonCrepeCompany.com) and crafted a series of slender walnut cake stands of staggered sizes to display their stacked goodies.

Now offering the stands (all custom-made and priced accordingly) directly to couples, Ashley says that her pieces live on long after the Big Day has passed. Their sleek silhouettes suit contemporary and traditional cakes and settings alike, and when dismantled­—they screw into each other and stand alone, too—can be integrated into your newlywed home décor to showcase artwork, curiosities, and, of course, treats, too.

The Wedding Row

June 17 2019
Here’s a sweet-as-pie love story for your Monday. These newlyweds first met in college at Furman University after Ashley asked for Emily’s help in their shared computer class. Little did Emily know,...

June 14 2019
Happy Friday, lovelies. To start the weekend off on a high (and crazy pretty) note, we present to you the wedding of Alexandria and Chandler. University of South Carolina alum Alex met her future...

June 13 2019
When Hurricane Florence hit, Jacqueline and Matthew, only a week out from their wedding, feared the worst. With their hometown of Southport, North Carolina, completely flooded, it seemed like...

June 12 2019
Funnily enough, romantic gestures aren’t the only way to find love. New York natives Lauren and Austin met when he boldly cut in front of her in line outside of a bar in the Hamptons. She took notice...

June 11 2019
Believe it or not, produce (yup, apples and oranges!) is what brought Emily and Anthony together. The pair met online and had their first date at the SoWa Market, the Boston equivalent of our 2nd...

June 10 2019
Dockside just happens to be our best side and it seems to be Franzi and Martin’s, too. The duo, who both hail from Germany, flew all the way to our beloved Charleston just to document their...

June 7 2019
After meeting at Wake Forest University in 2009 and being drawn together by what she describes as fate (more about that later … ), Stephanie and Greg officially tied the knot here in the Holy City....

June 6 2019
Although high school sweethearts Maddie and Jackson may not be evenly matched on the athletic field (the pair’s first encounter involved Maddie whipping Jackson’s tail in a game of volleyball) they...