Southern Protocol

Alissa and Jim tied the knot  at the beautiful William Aiken House on King Street, and their over the top Chicago personalities made for an incredibly fun weekend!

We started off with a super sweet ceremony in the courtyard (the bride walked down the aisle to a version of a Ben Folds song), then headed to the house for homemade runners, vintage birdcages, rustic chic charm, and plenty of family love. Seriously – the love was overflowing. Doesn’t everyone look so happy?!

Thanks to our lovely vendors:
Venue: Patrick Properties
Photographer: Brandy J Photography
Caterer: Fish
Entertainment: Complete Music
Flowers: Stems

It’s time for another entertaining class with Southern Protocol, Stems and Canape! On the schedule for next Wednesday, June 16th? How to throw the best warm-weather fete in town.

Summer gatherings are the best gatherings, with fresh food, light drinks, and a general jovial air because it’s finally everyone’s favorite season! We’ll show you how to be the premiere summer hostess, whether you’re planning an adults-only dinner with a funky twist, or entertaining with children for July 4th.

As always, the hour and a half class will include wine, snacks and a take-home folder, as well as lessons on how to budget and prepare, tablescapes, tips and tricks in set-up, flower arranging, in-season flowers, recipe examples, and a short food demonstration. Whew! What a jam packed class perfect for you and a few friends.

The class again is next Wednesday, June 16th from 6:00 – 7:30, and will be $35 a seat. For more information or to RSVP (only a few seats left!) please send an email to contact@southernprotocol.com.

It was a very festive late afternoon of bites, bubbly and beautiful dresses at our Cynthia Rowley bridesmaid collection launch yesterday! Lots of brides and bridesmaids to be, plus many more who just wanted to mingle and admire.

Canape’s miniature bites were light, fluffy and wonderful – while I was a huge fan of the summer ratatouille (I’m down for anything with goat cheese), the obvious hit of the night were the mini orange-scented almond cakes. Supposedly Cynthia’s popping that recipe up on her blog sometime soon… be on the lookout!

As always, the flower arrangements from Stems were to die for… I couldn’t stop staring at one of the model’s fluffy peony bouquet! The modern studio was transformed into a sweet garden party, and the fun and fresh flowers definitely helped that!

And of course, there were the dresses. The owner of Bella Bridesmaid (where the dresses will be sold), Allison Longe, knew the collection front and back, and every single bride-to-be that scanned the collection found something she loved. What’s even better? The bridesmaids that tagged along had a blast trying the dresses on – and they loved them, too!

So many thanks to Charleston Weddings Magazine for their coverage, Jennifer Bearden and Leigh Webber for capturing all the details and atmosphere with their cameras, and to all of our lovely guests! The full collection is now available to see and try on at Bella Bridesmaid, conveniently located right above Cynthia Rowley’s King Street shop!

(Note: All photos here courtesy of Jennifer Bearden!)

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Ivester! Ruthie and Mike tied the knot at the gorgeous Lowndes Grove Plantation Friday evening with an intimate group of family and friends.

We had been crossing our fingers all day that the rain would cease and desist in time for the 7:00 ceremony, and seriously like magic, the second Ruthie started her big walk down the aisle the sun popped out and made everything glow! After the blissfully happy couple tied the knot, they ate and drank and danced under the tent, using the old house as a backdrop. Big fluffy flowers interlaced with moss filled the tables, and simple-sweet wicker looking lanterns hung from the ceiling. Add in the ocean-soft blue, and it was a perfect night on the water!

A huge thanks to all of our fabulous vendors:
Stems, flowers
Jimmy Snyder Band, entertainment
Patrick Properties, venue
Fish, caterer
Fish, cake
Charleston Angler, the adorable koozies!
Charleston Harpist, ceremony music
Patrick Cox, photography

Just a reminder about our sure-to-be-sensational event launching Cynthia Rowley’s bridesmaid collection next Tuesday! Bites from Canape, gorgeous flowers from Stems, heavenly dresses that are perfect for your bridesmaid or an upcoming wedding you have to attend this summer… there’s no reason NOT to come! Charleston Magazine will be documenting the event, and a team of girls from Bella Bridesmaid (where the dresses will be sold) will be on hand to take measurements and appointment dates. Come one, come all! And if you really want to be a dear, send your RSVP to charlestonevents@cynthiarowley.com.

It seems as though everyone in retail is getting into the bridal industry these days – everyone from Net-a-Porter to J. Crew and now Cynthia Rowley is dabbling in the world of wedding fashion. Cynthia Rowley’s whimsical and oh-so-pretty collections make for a perfect aesthetic for bridesmaids dresses that you really CAN wear again!

It only makes sense for one of the launches for the line to take place in Charleston, seeing as how our lovely city is one of the top destination wedding cities in the country.

So whether you’re a bride, bridesmaid, or just really love pretty dresses, please join us for the super sweet collection’s debut Tuesday, June 8th from 4 – 6:30 pm. The garden-party theme event will be held at 208 Coming Street, and will include tasty bites and bubbly (from delicious Canape) while you admire the garments. While the line’s distributor is Dessy, the local Charleston retailer that will house the anticipated line is none other than Bella Bridesmaid – conveniently located just upstairs of Cynthia Rowley’s King Street shop! Girls from Bella Bridesmaid will be at the event taking measurements and appointments for fittings.

While the party is open to all, we’d just love you to pieces if you’d RSVP to charlestonevents@cynthiarowley.com!

A belated congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Aaron and Emily Harris!

The so-in-love Syracuse, NY couple tied the knot at the beautifully Southern River House at Lowndes Grove Plantation Saturday, May 8th. Even though stormy weather was in the forecast, the night couldn’t have turned out more perfect – guests danced like crazy under the bulb lights for hours!

Big puffs of peonies, hydrangeas, garden roses and orchids, plus apple green sashes on cocktail tables made the evening super romantic, and we were absolutely in love with the main centerpiece. Plus, the cake was to die for cute; another fabulous job by Lauren and Will at The Cake Stand. And thanks to DJ-turned-random-photographer Josh Silverman for the postcard-esque photo he snapped above! We’re currently waiting on a disk with more pictures, so we’ll definitely share when we get them!

Our Fabulous Vendors:
Patrick Properties
Josh Silverman, DJ
AV Connections, lighting
Connie Duglin, linens
Picture Infinity, photography
The Cake Stand, cake
Stems, flowers

Most late spring calendars are positively chaotic with business – it makes for a fun and festive introduction to the warm months of summer. There’s Mother’s Day, graduations, Memorial Day, Kentucky Derby parties, and just the plain old “it’s gorgeous outside let’s get together tonight” gatherings galore.

Join Southern Protocol, Stems, and Canape on Wednesday, April 21st for a laidback evening of how-to entertaining in preparation of all your late spring soirees. Southern Protocol will outline two different tablescapes, sneaky tips and tricks, plus activities that will engage your children; Stems will show you how EASY it is to grab local, in-season flowers and transform them into elegant centerpieces and accent decor; and of course Canape will treat you to an easy, quick appetizer and a few variation recipes. What a night!

Grab a girlfriend or two and come on over to 208 Coming Street! Wednesday, April 21st from 6:00 – 7:30 pm. Seats are $30. Please RSVP with name and email to contact@southernprotocol.com.

A good (and educational!) time was had by all at 208 Coming Street last night, as Southern Protocol, Stems and Canape hosted our Early Spring Entertaining seminar. It couldn’t have been a more perfect night weather wise for the class – the warm weather really got all of us in the mood to talk about spring entertaining!

The specific focus of the class was on hosting a flawless Easter brunch or dinner. We at Southern Protocol put together a rustic-chic tablescape for both a sit-down meal and a buffet, with a fresh color scheme of whites, kelly greens, and shades of yellow. We loved our homemade runner (you don’t always need a full tablecloth, especially with a table as cool as this one in Anne’s studio) and filling up vases with dyed eggs.

Stems showed guests how to put together amazing arrangements both big and small, with an emphasis on what flowers are cheap and plentiful this time of year. Everyone was shocked at how easy it can be to make a gorgeous topiary like this one! The key? Practice and experimentation – always try to look at what you have in a new light.

Canape rounded up the night with delicious and oh-so-cute strawberry tarts! We were all a bit wary of working with dough, especially in a city with such high spring and summer humidity, but Cynthia gave great tips on how to quickly handle it, and easy fixes for when you run into trouble. This particular recipe can keep up to a week in the freezer before baking, making it perfect for a do-ahead party. Plus, you can take it from sticky sweet (with the strawberry preserves) to breakfast or savory appetizer by changing the filling! All guests went home with a fun Chinese takeout box filled with the simple treats.

It was a fabulous night of gossip, entertaining tips and a little bit of bubbly. Be sure to join us for one of our upcoming classes – next up is Late Spring Entertaining on Wednesday, April 21st!

(Thanks as always to the wonderful Jennifer Bearden for snapping a few shots for us!)

You’ve had your entertaining break from the holidays, now it’s time to get ready for spring festivities! The first of our two Spring Entertaining classes will focus on early spring soirees, including Easter, Passover and general “it’s finally getting warm again, let’s have a party” parties.

The class, on March 24th, will take place from 6:00 – 7:30 pm. Seats are $30 a piece and include the following:
Fresh entertaining ideas
Budget outline
Tablescape examples
Cost effective and trendy recipes – that you get to taste! – courtesy of Canape
Wine
Tips on assembling floral centerpieces, courtesy of Stems

For more information or to RSVP, send an email with your name and preferred email address to contact@southernprotocol.com. We’re looking forward to having you!

We all know that women love flowers, and quite honestly have come to expect them no question on Valentine’s Day! But here’s a news flash: they don’t have to come from a man in your life. Yes, Valentine’s Day is technically all about passionate looove and romance, but for me it’s also always been another day when I step back and realize how many fabulous people I have in my life (which is perhaps why I spent a crazy amount of money buying Valentine’s Day cards for everyone I knew yesterday at Target…).

Buy some sweet flowers for you mom! Send some cute ones with a funny card to your best friend! Everyone deserves a little pick-me-up in the middle of February.

However, if you are indeed expecting flowers from a special someone, be sure to refer them to Anne Bowen of Stems. For those of you who are not lucky enough to be on her mailing list, take a peek at the arrangement option below, that came with the headline “Did it hurt?… When you fell from heaven?”:

Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be mushy and drowning in serious cheese… lighten up this year and send a fun bouquet to friends or a funny arrangement to your significant other!

We all love pretty flowers. We all love fun parties and classes that teach us about pretty flowers. And we all love pretty design studios that house creative geniuses.

So, through the theory of relativity, we all love Anne Bowen and her floral studio, Stems at 208 Coming Street. For those of you who have been around the city for the past few years, I’m sure you can remember the sad disaster of a space 208 Coming Street was; now, after almost two years of remodeling, the space is a gorgeous, modern floral studio and classroom. And Anne just happens to be throwing a party to celebrate her grand opening next Wednesday, January 27th just so you can marvel in its beauty. The drop-in party, complete with innovative florals for you to admire and drinks and bites for you consume, will last from 4:30-8:30 pm.

Ms. Bowen, whom has studied in London and worked for some of the most reputable florists in Charleston, is the only florist we use for our brides. Her sweet disposition, ability to work with a budget, and mind-boggling creativity make for the ideal florist. She is also quick to share her talents: since the space doubles as a classroom, she will be offering flower arranging classes on a regular basis, as well as teaming up with Southern Protocol and Canape Catering to bring you entertaining classes.

RSVP to contact@southernprotocol.com if you would like to get on the guest list. See you there for some artsy mingling!