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Rustic, Remote, & Romantic

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Liz Eggers & Adam Becker; May 17, 2008, Dewees Island

Photographs by:

Gayle Brooker

Bridesmaids wore flip-flops throughout the ceremony and carried bouquets of ranunculus, hypercium, dahlias, roses, lilies, and Phalaenopsis orchids.

Perched on one of the golf carts used to get around Dewees, Liz was a natural beauty in her Watters & Watters gown.

Voices of Deliverance—their African dress a nod to Liz’s time spent volunteering on the continent—led guests to the beach for the ceremony.

Gospel Choir Voices of Deliverance sang as the ring bearers approached the ceremony site. A few moments later, the ensemble launched into “A Closer Walk to Thee,” and Liz and her father emerged from a small tent Calder had pitched on the desolate beach out of the guests’ view. Terracotta urns filled with dahlias, sea grass, wild oats, succulents, and dusty miller bordered the aisle, and guests sat on benches behind a low wall of driftwood. At one point during the service, Liz and Adam tossed flowers into the ocean in remembrance of loved ones passed.

“I took a lot of inspiration for the wedding from Liz’s bohemian spirit,” says Calder of the barefoot bride, pictured with her father.

Calder dismantled the ceremony arbor after the wedding but says, “People called to see if they could rent it for months.”

A classic black and white dance floor laid over the floorboards made for smooth sashaying.

Calder gathered shells, coral, and driftwood and gave the collection to Elaine Mincey of Elaine’s Events along with a paint chip so the baker could replicate each element and the colors precisely. A piece of fan coral took the place of a traditional cake topper, and the confection was placed atop a cake stand carved from an ash tree. Delivering the delicate creation safely to the island by boat across choppy waters proved to be no small feat—but not impossible.

After their reception, which lasted long into the night, Liz and Adam rode their getaway “car”—decorated with dried palmetto fronds and dinner plate dahlias—to the Dewees dock, where an awaiting skiff took them to the nearby Isle of Palms. Liz says one of her most treasured memories is of sitting on the bow of the boat during the journey and staring up at the full moon with her new husband. While most of the couple’s family stayed on the island in the meeting house’s spare rooms, some friends took private boats (arranged by Calder) back to the mainland, where awaiting buses delivered them to t

Wedding Design by Calder Clark