Stephanie Frehse & Daniel Lempesis
February 7, 2015
Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity & Lowndes Grove Plantation
After years of attending services at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity, Stephanie Frehse knew the Lempesis family, but somehow had never met pappa Pete’s son Dan. The patriarch remedied that by setting the two youngsters up on a blind date and a year later, Dan was gearing up to propose.
But fate stepped in (again) and changed up the would-be bridegroom’s plans when Stephanie opened a credit card statement that showed a major—a one-in-a-lifetime kind of major—purchase from a jeweler. Dan was standing right there as it happened and broke into the hallmark of their relationship: laughter. “We both started cracking up,” says Stephanie, “because all his hard work to surprise me fell through.” Nonetheless, Dan told her to relax, that nothing would happen for a while. But later that very night, during a visit to his family’s Folly Beach home, they took a walk and Dan popped the question as dusk settled over them.
Soon after, Stephanie went about planning their wedding with the aid of A Charleston Bride and inspired by her hometown’s moodier side. “I love the way Charleston looks after a storm at sunset,” says Stephanie, “so that’s where we started—dark and stormy.” That translated into posh gray French furniture, violet florals, and black tapered candles. And for Dan? He got a “man cave” lounge area with a wall of beer taps and a cigar roller.
When the day rolled around, everyone headed back to the church where their story started, and both Stephanie’s grandfather and her father walked her down the aisle. After the bride and groom were pronounced husband and wife, the congregation headed to Lowndes Grove Plantation where Stephanie danced first with her husband, then with her dad and pappous. “The reception could have been over after those dances and I would have been a happy camper,” she says. And to that, we say opa!
Kyleigh met Nick when she was in Cardiff, Wales, getting her master’s degree. (Her friend had convinced her to give Tinder a shot, and her “first, last, and only Tinder date,” she says, was the born-...
We don’t know about you, but these past few days of shorts weather have had us daydreaming about summer. Brandy McGhie, owner of local luxury event planning company Classic Planning & Design Co...
Tricia and Brandon were in the same fourth grade class at Springfield Elementary here in Charleston, but their love story didn’t begin until a college football game 14 years later. The South Carolina...
Designer Lela Rose has a saying we can all toast to: “Nothing says chic like matching your drink to your dress.” Fashion stylist Lindsey Nowak took that as a challenge, linked arms with Reagan Barnes...
Taylor and Sam may be from Virginia and live in Waco, Texas, but the Palmetto State holds a special place in their hearts. They met at the University of South Carolina when Sam, a freshman fraternity...
Thank goodness for Joe Quick—the mutual friend who lived up to his name and set up Avery and Henry when all three were in high school in Atlanta. After his pleas for them to meet went unheeded, he...
Gillian and Phil met while studying abroad in Ireland. But because they attended different schools stateside (he was at the University of South Carolina, she was at The State University of New York...
Here’s how Emmy and Josh explain how they became an item: “Josh had been courting Emmy for quite some, and on one evening in June at Dillon’s pub in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, he decided...
