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...
October 24, 2025 • Runnymede
Some couples know precisely what they want from the start. When mutual friends introduced them in March 2024, Haley Hopper and Cody Dyer both realized on their first date that they’d met “the one,” she recalls. The pair got engaged just seven months later while on a trip to France, where Cody pulled off a surprise oceanside proposal at the Carlton Hotel with the help of a Cannes-based planner.
That same decisiveness shone through as Haley and Cody set out to plan their big day. Having taken their first ever trip together to the Holy City, the Texas couple quickly understood the Lowcountry would remain part of their story. “Since most of our guests were coming from Dallas, I really wanted them to feel fully immersed in the charm of Charleston from the moment they arrived,” says Haley. “I love hosting and paying attention to the little details, so I wanted every part of the day to feel thoughtful.”
For their October wedding at Runnymede, the two envisioned a celebration rooted in meaning. Beneath a sprawling oak tree draped in Spanish moss, the couple said “we do” in a ceremony officiated by the friend who had introduced them. The party then moved into a tented reception layered with patterned linens; warm rattan accents; and lush arrangements of hydrangeas, peonies, and ranunculi.
Personal details punctuated the day. Custom scarves became a dance-floor favorite and doubled as keepsakes, and Haley donned a second dress—revealed in front of a fabulous dirty martini tower—that she’d redesigned from her mother’s wedding gown. From the moment Haley and Cody surprised her father with a vintage 1966 Ford Bronco in which to make an entrance down the long pathway to the ceremony, this distinctive celebration felt entirely their own.
