Spring Formal



WRITER CREDIT: 
PHOTOGRAPHER CREDIT: 
Spring Formal | Lainey Faulkner & Trip McMahon, June 10, 2006, the Old Tabby Ruins & the Golf House, Spring Island

Lainey Faulkner certainly wouldn’t have turned her nose up at a trip to Chicago. That’s where boyfriend Trip McMahon told her he was taking her as a belated Valentine’s Day gift. But when they arrived at the airport and he pulled two tickets to Paris from his pocket, she could hardly contain her excitement. “I was amazed,” she recalls, “I’m not that easy to surprise!” Unbeknownst to Lainey, though, the surprises were just beginning. Walking through the rainy Paris night after a day spent idling in galleries and cafés, Trip paused next to the Seine and got down on one knee. “I threw my arms around him and said, ‘Yes!’ and the ring almost fell into the river!” Lainey laughs. Because Trip’s parents own a house on Spring Island (just outside of Beaufort), the two D.C. dwellers decided to tie the knot in an outdoor ceremony under the live oaks of the Old Tabby Ruins. Says Lainey, who grew up in Philadelphia, “I wanted it to be like a lawn party from an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel: demure and elegant, with nothing fussy or showy interfering with the natural splendor of the surroundings.” With the help of event planner Tara Guérard of Soirée, the couple hosted a graceful, vintage-inspired Southern wedding for their Northeastern friends and families. “People ask why we chose Spring Island, but really, how could we not?” says Lainey. “Honestly, there’s no ballroom in my hometown that could have competed!”

Location & catering: Old Tabby Ruins & Golf House, Spring Island; Planner: Soirée by Tara Guérard; Photographer: Liz Banfield Photography; Cake: Wedding Cakes by Jim Smeal; Rentals: Snyder Event Rentals

The Wedding Row

March 4 2019
Even though Anna, a Wilmington native, and Bobby, who is from Mount Pleasant, dated for over four years after swiping right on each other, they never really talked about getting married … they just...

March 1 2019
Kitty and Kyle met during their freshman year at Clemson, but they didn’t begin dating until they got to know each other as study partners a few years later. After two years, a move to Charleston,...

February 28 2019
Bissell and Jack may live in Atlanta, but Charleston has played a large part in their relationship, from their dating days through their engagement and now with their wedding. Bissell’s mother is...

February 27 2019
Today’s styled shoot takes place on the patio of 5Church, a downtown church-turned-restaurant that doubles as a wedding venue. Nicki Paige, owner of wedding planning company Nicki Paige Collection,...

February 26 2019
Christa met Andrew when she first moved into the same Charlotte, North Carolina, townhome complex as him in 2013. For a while, they were just passing acquaintances, until he asked her out for drinks...

February 25 2019
We’ve got the world of modern dating to thank for this gorgeous celebration at Boone Hall Plantation. Christiana and Bud met on Tinder, and after chatting on the app for a while, they met up for a...

February 22 2019
Nadja and Ryan both grew up in Sarasota, Florida, but they didn’t meet until they were in college (and on her 21st birthday, no less). A decade of dating later, he surprised her with a 10th...

February 21 2019
We so want to be friends with these two Charleston high-school sweethearts. Ask when they met and Jackie will tell you it was went they were 15 years old, she was in braces, and neither could drive...