Tabitha & David {Citadel Beach House}

05 Jul Tabitha & David {Citadel Beach House}

By Andraya Northrup | July 05, 2010

Oh, how we love a beach wedding, and when you throw in the artistic perfection of Tracy Turpen’s photographs…and we are a bit over the moon. Melanie Murphy of By Invitation Only, has been a busy event planner. Although she calls Columbia, South Carolina home, she has been busy planning a number of Charleston weddings including this Citadel Beach House soiree for Tabitha and David.

From the very beginning David and I knew we wanted to get married with the beach as our backdrop. Our first and only location just had to be Citadel Beach House on the Isle of Palms. The grass lawn and the inside for the dinner were exactly what we were looking for in a venue.

My first thought was I wanted to do something different with the décor. With a location on the beach everyone will be expecting shells so we decided to go the nautical route. I wanted our guest to not only attend our celebration but I wanted them to feel apart of it. Our number one thought throughout the whole planning process was that we wanted our guests to walk away feeling loved and thinking “That was the most fun I’ve ever had”. Lucky for me I have a very talented mother that would do whatever I asked. “Anything for my little girl” was the quote for a good year and half.

When picking out the centerpieces and flowers I wanted to have something tall to take up some space because of the very tall ceilings. The flowers were just simple white hydrangeas. Tiger Lily built, on-site, a chuppah made to look like washed up beach wood. It was so amazing and made a fanatic centerpiece to our ceremony. Did I mention that I have a very talented mother? David and I realized quickly we had so many people coming in from out of town and that we wanted everyone to feel special and loved. We decided to hand write messages to each of our guest and put them in bottles with there names and table numbers. We later found out that these were one of the biggest hits of the night. It was so personal and each note was so different.

We also wanted our guest to get a little taste of the beauty and history that is Charleston South Carolina. When picking out the cake we went with a 3-tier Sweetgrass Basket weaving design by Ashley Bakery. It was perfect!

You can’t have enough cameras to capture every moment! As a wedding favor we decided to rent a photo booth. The guest got to keep a picture and so did we! Another huge hit! We wanted to make sure our guests could boogie the night away so we provided “dancing” shoes. For the table numbers we wanted to keep with our nautical theme. My dad is a pretty handy craftsman so I sketched out what I had in mind for the numbers. With my mom and dads help we made wooden lanterns. The numbers were printed on velum and wrapped around the lantern. We put battery operated candles in the lanterns to light up the numbers. They were so beautiful and completely unique. It was one of my favorite things at the wedding. Everyone needed their boogie shoes with Sam Bigby, master entertainer, our guests certainly danced the night away.

Our Story….I met Dave at his job when I went in to the bank to ask a question about my account. He was polite and professional. He gave me his card and said if I had anymore questions I could call or email him. A few months went by and I decided to clean out my wallet. I ran across David’s card and in a moment of true boldness decided to email him. Luckily he still remembered me and asked me on a date immediately. I was elated! We decided to meet up for a drink on September, 2007. I, like every other female in America, had “my girls” on standby so I could easily leave if it turned sour. I walked through the door and there he was…with two of his guy friends. It was definitely one of the most interesting first dates I’ve ever been on. His friends were really nice and, fortunately for me, my girls were at the bar next door so we all met up and had a great time. I knew right away David was the one. It was his eyes. I loved the way he looked at me. I loved the way he laughed and made me feel like I was only one in the room…even with his friends sitting next to him.

It was the cool and unseasonably warm afternoon in December of 2008. David and I had driven down from Columbia to the Isle of Palms for a beach weekend. Dave decided he wanted to walk on the beach at sunset. Our walk was so beautiful and Dave was being so sweet by naming everything he loves about me. Even with all of the beautiful surroundings and awesome boyfriend I couldn’t stop thinking about all the dead jellyfish that had washed ashore. They were everywhere! We walked to the Wild Dunes Pavilion area and suddenly Dave drops to one knee and asks, “Will you marry me?” My phone started ringing (It was my mom.) She had to wait. I said YES and, of course, started crying. First, from happiness and second because I couldn’t believe I had spent so much time talking about all the dead jellyfish. After we got back to the house Dave said I should change so we could go out to dinner. A limo picked us up filled with champagne and roses. At the restaurant Dave had flowers waiting for me at the table.

We got back to the house about 10pm. Dave unlocked the door and asked me to go turn on the lights. I went through the door and saw movement in the darkness. My first thought was “We’re being robbed!” All of sudden the lights come on and about 15 people jump out screaming SURPRISE! It was a bunch our friends joining in on the celebration. It was one of the greatest days of my life. Dave did an unbelievable job planning all of this and keeping it a secret.

The September before our engagement Dave’s mother asked me if I wanted her ring. I was so honored. It was the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen. We went to go get the ring fitted and that was that. The few months later as Dave was on his knee proposing he opened the box. It wasn’t his mom’s ring. It was another beautiful engagement ring. Although I was “over the moon” happy in the back of my mind I couldn’t stop thinking about why he hadn’t given me his mom’s ring. The day after our engagement Dave was shuffling through his bag when suddenly he froze. He pulled out his mom’s ring. Apparently on the way back from Cincinnati in November he put the ring in his bag and left it there upon his return until the day we were to leave to go to the Isle of Palms. He decided to check on the ring before work but the ring was no where to be found. After all the planning for the weekend he didn’t even have THE ring. Fortunately his boss let him off work to go buy a new ring (the one I wear today!) Luckily, after too much panic in a 24 hour period, his mom’s ring was found. The Good News- His mom and I have the same ring size so she gets to wear her ring again.