Written By Melissa Reardon
Photographs By Lucy Cuneo
A transplant from Virginia, Weston “Wes” McAfee vividly remembers the first time he saw his future bride-to-be. Charleston native Dana Elaine...
Mary Jo Stone & Alexander Herlocker
May 27, 2013
The Cotton Dock at Boone Hall Plantation
Mary Jo Stone and Alexander (Alex) Herlocker became fast friends after meeting in the seventh grade. But it wasn’t until they reconnected their senior year of high school—he attended Academic Magnet, and she was at Bishop England—that they began dating. Three years later, Alex set a candlelit dinner on the back deck of their creekside Mount Pleasant home and proposed. Mary Jo’s answer was as obvious as their ideal venue. “I looked across the water to Boone Hall’s Cotton Dock, and thought, that is where I’m getting married,” says Mary Jo.
It was a decision rooted in family tradition. The bride grew up on the same waterway that wends by the plantation, and her mother wed her stepfather there 12 years ago to the day the younger couple would exchange vows. For planning and design—Mary Jo and Alex were both in the thick of finishing their nursing degrees—the bride turned to friend Julie Righetti, a talent with interior design and faux finishing. Together, the two played off of Mary Jo’s soft, vintage aesthetic and love of spring colors.
When the day came (the same month both the bride and groom graduated and earned their nursing licenses), the couple was overjoyed. After a ceremony under the oaks and a party at the Cotton Dock, Mary Jo and Alex joined family, including their three-year-old daughter, Georgi, and friends to release paper lanterns into the sky. “It was a representation of all of our guests, the family and friends that had lifted us up in our lives,” says Mary Jo.
Vendor List
Baked Goods: Whole Foods, www.wholefoodsmarket.com
Bouquets: Out of Hand; www.theartofcreating.com/shopoutofhand
Bridal Gown: Jenny Packham from White on Daniel Island, www.whiteondi.com
Bridal Hair Accessory: White on Daniel Island, www.whiteondi.com
Cake: Elaine Mincey—Cakes of Distinction, www.elainesevents.com
Ceremony Music: Gregory Guay, www.gregoryguaymusic.com
Event Design, Coordination, & Florals: Julie Righetti
Groom’s and Groomsmen’s Suits: Men’s Warehouse, www.menswearhouse.com
Groom’s Tie: Gwynn’s of Mount Pleasant, www.gwynns.com
Invitations: DIY & Nepalese Paper, www.nepalesepaper.com
Photographer: Virgil Bunao Photography, www.virgilbunao.com
Procession Music: Charles Carmody & Bennett MacNath
Programs: Hello & Co., www.helloandco.com
Rentals: Event DRS, www.eventdrscharleston.com
Reception Music: Plane Jane, www.otherbrotherent.com/plane_jane.htm
Venue: The Cotton Dock at Boone Hall Plantation, www.boonehallplantation.com
