When a friend from work got engaged last year, she immediately told Eric and I that we had to be at the destination wedding in Charleston. After procrastinating on booking a room in the wedding hotel block and realizing that the only person at the wedding we had met more than twice was the bride herself, we decided to find an old Charleston Airbnb and make it a fun getaway weekend for us in addition to the wedding Saturday.
I feel I should mention how unseasonably perfect the weather was because I was nervous for the bride and groom when she told me it was outdoors, on the coast, in February. I packed boots, she bought the guests pashmina shawls, and the family rented space heaters… And then it was in the 70s all weekend. It was perfect!
When we got to town around dusk Friday evening, we parked the car at the Airbnb and were able to park and not touch the car again for the rest of the weekend. After a quick change, we took the long way walking to King Street. Eric was able to make a late reservation at Halls Chophouse, a family-owned steakhouse that is constantly voted one of the best restaurants in the country. A fancy dinner wasn’t always a priority for us on trips, but we’ve tried to make exceptions when traveling so we can experience new things. We went early to have a drink at the bar where one of the owners greeted us and immediately made me take his seat. After that, it felt like we were on the red carpet as we saw Norman Reedus, Dave Chapelle, Sean Hannity, Congressman Joe Wilson, and a couple FOX executives walk by (not all together, but wouldn’t that be funny)! The meal itself was incredible and on the walk back to our house, we ran into Mr. Reedus again and stopped for a second to chat. We went to bed laughing at our luck.
On Saturday, we walked down to the Charleston City Market and up to the local stores for some site-seeing. We popped in to Craftsmen Kitchen & Tap House for lunch and walked out to Union Pier. I’m typically the more kid-ish one in the relationship, so it was funny to me when Eric lit up and pointed out the dolphins jumping off the coast yelling, “Look at the dolphins! Jess, look at the dolphins!!” We walked past the Pineapple Fountain, through the park, and down The Battery, stopping to read all the historical home registry plates. Charleston reminded us a lot of Savannah, but with a historic reverence that’s unmatched. We were almost back to our neighborhood before we realized we passed the new Lagunitas Taproom Eric had wanted to visit while we were in town, so we took a side street and looped back around.
The wedding is a story in itself; absolutely magical from start to finish and more fun than we thought possible. The house of strangers felt like old friends by the end of the night. The bride teared up when she realized it was time for the last dance, because she didn’t want it to be over. After a sparkler exit, those of us still young and crazy enough went to a club downtown (where one of the wedding guests was guest DJing that night) and we danced the night away with the bride and groom. When we made it back to our old house with the creaky wooden floors late that night, I remembering whispering to Eric, “I think this was one of the best weekends I’ve ever had.”
Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Carter!
