A Glamorous Southern Wedding at Gadsden House in Charleston, South Carolina

Exactly a year after they legally tied the knot, Jennifer Skinner (27 and a lawyer) and Benjamin Bingham (27 and a military officer) celebrated their first year of marriage surrounded by friends and family at Gadsden House in Charleston, South Carolina. “Ben and I had already been together for over a decade, so we thought making the event a bit more formal would capture the major milestone this was,” Jennifer says of their black-tie affair. Jennifer looked simply elegant in a Willowby by Watters gown, and Ben looked dapper in a black velvet ASOS tuxedo. “For our wedding, I was inspired by Southern elegance and a simple palette,” says Jennifer, who decked out Gadsen House in beautiful arrangements of white blooms and greenery and shades of gold, black and white. During the couple’s romantic courtyard ceremony, the bride’s twin brother did a reading that Jennifer read at his wedding and was previously read at their mother’s wedding. “Enjoying a nontraditional element, Ben and I decided to incorporate rock-and-roll love songs,” Jennifer says of the ceremony music. Before the ceremony, a lineup of tunes included Electric Light Orchestra’s "Strange Magic," Aerosmith's "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" and Journey's “Faithfully.” Jennifer walked down the aisle to “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles. “I think the music choices definitely set our wedding apart,” says Jennifer, who tossed her bouquet to DMX. After the ceremony, friends and family enjoyed a traditional Southern meal of deviled eggs, ham and cheddar biscuits, and shrimp and grits; for late-night bites, chicken and waffle bites were served. The newlyweds included a Polaroid photo booth into their reception setup so everyone could capture memories of their special day. “Our friends could keep the photos they took, or they had the option of adding the photo to our guest book,” Jennifer says. Alongside photos in the guest book, friends and family left messages for the newlyweds. After an evening of celebration, the lovebirds exited under a tunnel of sparklers and departed in a luxurious 1960s white Rolls-Royce. —Marissa Hermanson