An Oyster Shell-Inspired Wedding at Cannon Green in Charleston

A Billy Reid shirt, Taylor Swift songs, and Charleston “charm” all laid the basis for the wedding celebration of Ciarra Bertlemann and Emily Neideffer.

The couple, who first met in Greenville, South Carolina, now call Charleston home, and it’s the city they credit with bringing them together. It was no surprise, then, that the pair would say “I do” there. Finding a venue came easily—the couple had explored Cannon Green one New Year’s Eve before they were even engaged, vowing to each other that one day they would get married in the courtyard. “The space is so perfectly ‘Charleston,’” Emily says. “It’s simple and beautiful with that classic charm.”

They also knew from the start that they wanted their day to be "simple, elegant, and whimsical," a vibe that aligned so well with the airy quality of Cannon Green. Soft neutral colors, plenty of greenery, and pops of gold all filled the space, and the table runners and flowers pulled inspiration from an oyster shell-printed shirt that Ciarra had purchased from Billy Reid. 

But for as much class as the wedding exuded, there was a party too. The couple loved their fried chicken menu as well as their DJ and music, including a list of must-play songs they put together one night while drinking wine at home. Ciarra and Emily, clad in a bespoke suit and a tulle gown, respectively, danced to lots of Taylor Swift, even ending the night with her hit, “Dress.” “Have fun,” Emily says of wedding planning. “At the end of the day, you’re going to marry your person. Be your truest self and love who you love.”

Read on for all the details of Ciarra and Emily’s beautiful wedding in a Charleston courtyard, as photographed by Lauren Jonas, below.

Knowing she wanted a “soft, elegant suit,” Ciarra collaborated with the team at Billy Reid to create a bespoke ivory women’s suit. She paired the look with Billy Reid shoes, gold cufflinks, and a pocket square made from the oyster fabric of her Billy Reid shirt.

The couple spent the day getting ready together but momentarily separated to put on their ceremony outfits. The inside of Ciarra's was personalized with her "something blue," a message that read "You and me forevermore."

Emily’s gown, a tulle A-line dress from Willowby by Watters, was the first one she tried on at Lovely Bride in Charleston. “I was sold,” she says of the first moment she saw the dress. The bride paired the look with shoes by Bagley Mischka and earrings and hair piece by local jeweler Emma Katzka.

Even though the couple spent the afternoon exploring Charleston and getting ready together with family and friends, they still decided to do an official first look. To pull it off, they separated just before to put on their wedding day looks and surprise one another.

“There are no words to express the amount of pure love and joy shared throughout that entire weekend,” the couple says.

Emily and Ciarra collaborated on colors for their dresses for their wedding party. Using the oyster print shirt as inspiration, the ten bridesmaids wore a spectrum of hues from gray to pink.

The ceremony took place in the courtyard of Cannon Green, which was accented with plain white folding chairs and string lights. The couple admits they didn’t add anything to the venue as the “courtyard speaks for itself.” Instead, they had the focus remain on them and their vows to one another.

Ciarra and Emily decided not to write their own vows, saying that they knew if they did, they would be "tearful messes." Instead, they chose a set of vows that spoke to them: “Today I give myself to you. I promise to encourage and inspire you. To laugh with you and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggle. I promise to love you in good times and in bad, when life seems easy and when it seems hard, when our love is simple and when it is an effort. I promise to cherish you, and to always hold you in the highest regard. These things I give to you today and all the days of our lives”.

Both women donned flower crowns for the ceremony, with Emily’s featuring white roses and Ciarra’s a simple strand of eucalyptus. At the end of the ceremony, the couple shared their first kiss as newlyweds!

The couple exited the ceremony to “Hold My Hand by Jess Glynne before entering the reception—bubbly in hand! “It was very important that our guests felt they could come to feel all the love and party with us on the best day ever,” the couple says of their 140 friends and family. 

The newlyweds and their guests moved inside for the reception, but not before the couple took their first spin on the dance floor under hanging strands of bistro lights.

They swayed to “New Year’s Day” by Taylor Swift, a nod to the start of their relationship on New Year’s Eve in 2015, for their first dance. “New Year’s is now our favorite holiday, for sure,” Ciarra says.

Emily and her dad danced to Elton John’s “Your Song” while Ciarra and her father moved to Bruno Mars’ “Count on Me.”

The reception décor included the couple’s sweetheart table filled with garlands of greenery, gold mercury glass votives, and white pillar candles. Toward the end of the reception, Emily pulled Ciarra aside for an intimate minute together. “She said, ‘We made this happen.’ It was the perfect moment to take in our special day,” Ciarra says.

The couple poured True Colours cava, a sparkling wine from Spain, alongside the Southern-inspired menu. Everything was served family-style, including buttermilk fried chicken, smoked mac and cheese, blackened catfish, and chive biscuits with pimento cheese.

Ciarra and Emily cut into a two-tier naked cake with lavender-flavored icing and a lemon curd filling. 

“There was a 100-percent chance of rain on our day and, somehow, the rain held off until after everyone was inside for the reception,” the couple says. “At the end of the evening, we had a 'last dance' just the two of us in the courtyard. We embraced the rain and had the most magical few minutes of dancing in the pouring rain.”

“There was a 100-percent chance of rain on our day and, somehow, the rain held off until after everyone was inside for the reception,” the couple says. “At the end of the evening, we had a 'last dance' just the two of us in the courtyard. We embraced the rain and had the most magical few minutes of dancing in the pouring rain.”