Preservation-focused architectural designer, personal stylist, and content creator Ellie Rhinehart might claim that her romance with Dawson Sweat began during her senior year at Clemson University, but Dawson knows it was a slow burn, having had a crush on her since the eighth grade.
After reconnecting during homecoming float week, they began dating. Three years later, he proposed on a small island after Ellie and their golden retriever, Bailey, stepped off the boat. Their friends and family were all waiting to celebrate the happy news with them at Dawson's parents' house.
As a longtime fan of Father of the Bride (1991) and admirer of her sister's wedding in 2022, Ellie knew she wanted a reception in her family's home. "From learning how to bottle-feed a baby calf to evenings jumping on the trampoline, practicing sports in the backyard with my dad, summer pool parties, and senior prom pictures, so many of my most important memories happened there," she explains.
The couple enlisted Meagan Warren Weddings & Travel to bring their vision to life, especially all of Ellie's design ideas. She wanted a simple motif to represent their marriage and carry throughout the wedding design. After researching, she stumbled on the acorn, "something small that, with strong roots, can grow into a mighty oak," she notes. Considering that her parents' driveway is lined with live oaks, it felt like a very serendipitous decision.
From the moment she first dreamed about her wedding dress as a little girl, the bride envisioned lace. While visiting Ladies of Lineage, she and her mom found the lace-covered Lihi Hod Melody dress, the second and last dress she even tried on. She adds, "It felt almost regal to me, which seemed fitting because my engagement ring was inspired by Princess Diana’s sapphire ring." They simply swapped the sapphire for her July birthstone, a ruby. She had planned to add custom ruby jackets to her mom’s diamond studs, until the family jeweler called about a pair of ruby and diamond earrings that had just come into the shop. They tied the entire look together. In fact, she wore head-to-toe ruby motifs, complete with Christian Louboutin's red-bottomed Sweetie Jane Sparkling Ballet Flat. Her niece Marion matched in a lace dress and bonnet handmade by her aunt from Ellie's late grandmother's wedding dress. Marion stepped out in her own pair of Louboutins, too.
Her wedding dress set the tone for the invitations by Viri Lovely Designs. If you look closely, the letterpressed lace on the invitation actually matches the lace of her dress.
She entrusted Ash & Co. with her bridal beauty look after admiring the work they did for her sister on her wedding day four years earlier. Festoon Charleston arranged all of the florals. Husband-and-wife duo Aaron and Jillian photographed every detail.
The groom sported a custom tuxedo from BP Skinner with a bow tie and matching lapel pin from Brackish. His groomsmen also donned bow ties from the artistic South Carolina brand.
The home wedding was truly a family affair. "In the months leading up to the wedding, my siblings and their spouses, along with my grandparents, showed up to help my parents, Dawson, and me get the yard, fence, and everything else ready," she recalls. "Beyond all the beautiful details of the day, the love and helping hands that went into making it happen are what I will cherish most!"
The ceremony was no exception. On October 17, 2026, the couple married at Boyce Chapel in Columbia, South Carolina. The minister was the bride's cousin, who also married both of her older siblings to their spouses. The violinist was another cousin, and her husband played the piano. The couple's many family members and in-laws walked down the aisle. Once married, the newlyweds recessed to “Oh Happy Day."
The cocktail hour followed on the bride's parents' front lawn. Her grandfather surprised the couple with a few beer-cart donkeys, "which couldn’t have put a bigger smile on my face," the bride recalls. There was also a roaming oyster shucker and passed coastal bites by Southern Way Catering.
The newlyweds ventured into the draped tent, accompanied by an instrumental trio for the couple's first dance to Cody Johnson's "The Painter." Ellie remembers, "Getting to walk in slowly and see everyone who had come to celebrate with us was really special." Draping was the bride's number-one priority for the wedding, and Veil Charleston executed it masterfully.
The reception dialed up with a live band, Infinite Soul, and dancing. Mini Chicago dogs and boozy milkshakes came out for a late-night snack.
Before getting engaged, Ellie dreamed of incorporating the old tradition of ringing wedding bells. For over a year, she, her mom, family, and friends searched antique stores for vintage metal bells in different sizes and styles for everyone to ring at the couple's exit—and at the end of the night, they all did. After a beautiful firework display, the new Mr. and Mrs. Sweat drove off in a vintage convertible.
