weddingvenuescharleston

Great Wedding Venues in Charleston, SC

From beautiful gardens to grand ballrooms to historic plantations, Charleston can claim bragging rights to some of the most romantic wedding venues in the South, if not the entire U.S. While there are many wonderful wedding venues in Charleston, several have really piqued my interested, and, I hope, yours. They include:

a wedding in a Charleston public park

Many of the public parks in Charleston are available to rent for your wedding. These parks include Waterfront Park, which overlooks the Cooper River, Angel Oak Park, which boasts the oldest living tree east of the Mississippi, and Hampton Park, with 65 acres and a lovely wedding gazebo. You must, of course, obtain a permit. Before doing that, you should contact the Recreation Department at 843-724-7327 to verify that your date is available.

a wedding in a wedding chapel

Why a wedding chapel? Because wedding chapels were designed for weddings! And, two wedding chapels in Charleston come to mind: the Charleston Chapel for Weddings and Tidewater Chapel.

The Charleston Chapel for Weddings was built to recreate a chapel from 1710 to 1815. It was the recipient of the 1995 Carolopolis Award from the Charleston, South Carolina Preservation Society for new construction, boasting a high gabled room and arched windows. They offer many different options for couples, from rental of the chapel only, to several different wedding packages, including a "Just The Two of Us" candlelight ceremony package for couples only, and an "Intimate Occasion" package for couples and up to 5 guests. Their "Carolina Grand" package can accommodate up to 75 guests.

The Tidewater Chapel was modeled after a 1709 Lowcountry wedding chapel, boasting that it is an "acoustically perfect chapel" with 200-year-old oak pews. Located five minutes from downtown Charleston, the Tidewater Chapel offers couples a garden courtyard for outdoor receptions, as well as an indoor reception hall with fireplace, bandstand and bars.

a wedding in a Charleston Inn

There are so many wonderful, fabulous inns in Charleston, where do you begin to choose one for your wedding? How about one of these?

Woodlands Inn

If you think the Woodlands Inn is top notch, you wouldn't be alone. The Woodlands Inn has garnered quite a number of accolades over the years, including:

AAA 5-Diamond Award for both the Inn and the Inn's dining room!
Mobil 5-Star Award for the Inn and dining room!
Voted #2 Hotel in North America by Travel + Leisure in 2007
Receiving the Wine Spectator "Best of Award of Excellence" each year since 1998

There are more, but, you get the idea. A lovingly restored 1906 revival plantation estate, Woodlands Inn is situated on 42 acres of palmettos, moss-draped oak, and magnolia trees. You can go to their website at woodlandsinn.com for more info.

Wentworth Mansion

Wentworth Mansion is another wonderful Charleston establishment which has garnered numerous accolades:

Fodor's Choice Gold Awards - 2010
Rated # 40 of the top 100 Hotels in North America and Top rated inn or hotel in Charleston - 2008 Travel+Leisure
Travel+Leisure "Ten Great Places to Spend Christmas" - 2008
Conde Nast Traveler 34th on list of Top 100 US Hotels - 2007

Located in historic downtown Charleston, the Wentworth Mansion boasts 65 acres of formal landscaped gardens and offers couples many different sites for their weddings, such as the Grand Mansion Suite, which accommodates up to 20 people, the outdoor Cupola, which is perfect for intimate weddings of 6 to 8 people, and the Courtyard for up to 35 people. They also offer eloping couples a Charleston Weddingmoon Package which includes 3 or 5 nights in a Mansion room, as well as the ceremony, small wedding cake, harbor cruise and a horse-drawn carriage ride after the ceremony.

a wedding on the beach

Want a beach wedding in Charleston? Then you might want to consider Folly Beach Holiday Inn, an ocean-front hotel which caters all types of weddings, from casual beach weddings to elegant receptions. Folly Beach is located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Folly River; 15 minutes from downtown Charleston.

a wedding on a boat

While Charleston has many wonderful wedding venues, it might be great to have all of Charleston as your backdrop by having your wedding while on a cruise of Charleston Harbor. SpiritLine Cruises offers wedding ceremonies and receptions, as well as engagement parties, bridal showers, rehearsal dinners and post-wedding parties.

Synonyms: charlston, charlson, and charleton are typos for "Charleston." Weddind, weeding, weding, weddin, wdding, edding, weddding, and weddign are typos for "wedding." SC and South Carolina are used interchangeably.