A Serene Spring Wedding at Sea Island

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When planning our wedding, the details were everything to me. I wanted every piece to have significance. For our invitation suite, I worked with Julie King studio to bring Sea Island to life and introduce our special place to our guests. A special motif in our suite was the koi fish. If you visit Sea Island, you’ll find koi ponds around the resort, but we used it to personify Brett’s late grandmother, Katie, who would’ve loved more than anything to be with us.

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Kicking off the weekend with our rehearsal dinner and welcome party! I sourced my dress from Happy Isles. It was a vintage Valentino dress and when I saw the coral detailing I knew it was made for our big weekend since it brought in the beachy elements and our pinky coral color palette.

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A moment for the back of the dress!

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I had been pining over this Prada nightgown for a very long time and knew it was the perfect dress for getting ready. I spent a lot of time searching but found one single piece left on Bergdorf. I’ve never pressed buy so fast. I will cherish this iconic piece forever!

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After a morning of getting ready with friends and family, my mom helped me into my gown and put on the finishing touches! My mom could not have looked more beautiful. Since she was walking me down the aisle I wanted us to be tonally coordinated. Her best friend Jill sourced this gown from Lafayette 148 and we knew immediately it was the one.

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I fell in love with these Amina Muaddi because of the similarity to the applique on my dress. I totally forgot they would barely be visible all day, so we had to give the shoes their own special moment!

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The other shoes I chose for late night! Originally I wanted a blue shoe as a nod to something blue, but as soon as I saw these green Gucci heels I knew they would be perfect for all of the green in our wedding color palette.

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My beautiful best friends! As an only child these women are the closest thing I have to sisters and it was such an honor to have them next to me as I stepped into this next chapter of life. My bridesmaids all picked their own dress and they couldn’t have looked more beautiful. The original inspiration for the color palette was taken from the flower on my dress which is the poppy flower. I always thought they were just red but was pleased to find the flower comes in many different colors. It was a fun and not so obvious way to thread all the dresses together!

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My favorite person in the world, my husband Brett. We chose to do a first look so we wouldn’t miss a minute with our people. Our first look was one of my very favorite moments of our wedding day and one of the most special moments Brett and I have ever shared. Lots of happy tears were shed from here on.

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This photo was taken just after our first look as our family entered the solarium. The look on Brett’s face says it all, we love them more than anything and were elated to have them with us on this special day!

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Our closest friends. It was hard to get us still for a real portrait, we were having too much fun!

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Shortly before we were tucked away in the chapel for the ceremony to begin, we stopped for one last portrait under the live oaks. This is one of my favorite photos from the day!

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I tried on my fair share of wedding dresses, but the very first dress I tried on at Oscar de la Renta was undeniably the one. The structure of the dress was traditional, while the floral detailing made it unique, soft, and natural. It felt made for our venue which was very classic and traditional, but outdoors and rooted in the natural elements of the garden. My bouquet was made of lilly of the valley which is what every woman in my family has carried on their wedding day!

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One last kiss before “you may now kiss the bride!”

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Brett grew up in Sea Island, so it's a very special place to his family, and has become a second home to my mom and I as well. During our many visits home, I always felt drawn to the Cloister Garden and its natural beauty and serenity, making it the perfect place for our ceremony.

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My mom has always been my rock. Just before we walked down the aisle together, we had one final moment as the Rayder girls. I remember looking at her and thinking, this is exactly how it’s supposed to be.

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A moment I will never, ever forget! It was such an honor to share this with her.

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Like I said, many happy tears!

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Looking out and seeing all of the people that mean the most to us in one place was a feeling I will never forget. We are lucky to be so loved!

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The Steilens! I’ve never felt so much joy!

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A close up of our escort card table. I knew from the beginning I wanted to draw in natural elements, plants, and flowers. Julie King made these gorgeous die cut shell escort cards to pull in the beachy elements as we entered our cocktail hour and reception at the Sea Island Beach Club.

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Our planner, Beth Williams, and our florist, The Vine create a magical entrance to dinner, using the natural landscape as inspiration.

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We sourced our custom linens from Maison Venu, a textile brand that was founded by my god-sister, Olivia Massie. The designs were inspired by the floral motif on my dress, the poppy flower! Having her distinct, handmade designs incorporated throughout our whole day was incredibly special.

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Olivia’s linens paired perfectly with our playful menus illustrated by Julie King.

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The whole room was erupting in laughter during our parents’ speech!

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After dinner, Brett and I snuck away for a quiet walk on the beach. I had been looking forward to this moment ever since we started envisioning our wedding here!

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Our cake was a classic almond cake and it was so delicious! I’ve always loved the traditional Italian wedding cakes which is where we drew design inspiration from.

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Brett and I spent most of our courtship living in West Village, where he also proposed in front of our favorite ivy-adorned building. We wanted to incorporate that into our wedding day, so it felt natural to make that the backdrop of our stage! It made everything feel even more surreal as we danced to “Fairlane” by our favorite band, The Dirty Guv’nahs.

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Our mother daughter dance to “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield. My mom and I asked our best girlfriends to join us at the chorus, it was a moment I will never forget!

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Into the evening, I changed into another gorgeous vintage gown sourced from Happy Isles and my green Gucci heels. Time to let loose!

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Blink-182 got us onto the stage …

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..And then into the crowd!

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Brett loves dueling pianos so it was the perfect way to keep the party going late night!

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The Cloister at Sea Island feels like home to Brett’s family and we really wanted our guests to feel at home there as well. As a nod to that, we playfully turned one of the service kitchens into a late night snack bar. It felt a little rebellious — everyone got a kick out of it!

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Our late night snack bar was the most fun and unexpected way to end the night!