I’ve photographed  several weddings at The Westin in Hilton Head and can highly recommend it for destination weddings. There are so many options for ceremonies on the beach or on the deck and reception areas from intimate dinners to grand ballrooms. Catering sales manager Julia Dodson is wonderful to work with both from a bride and photographer perspective. to make everything come together just right.

As is most always the case in Hilton Head, even mid-November weddings have picture-perfect weather to keep brides in strapless gowns comfortable. And speaking of picture perfect, it was hard to go wrong with this couple who looked like they just stepped out of the covers of GQ and Vogue!

All in all, a fabulous night. Enjoy the pictures!

Click here for a slideshow of Kristie and Trevor’s wedding.

This gallery-wrapped canvas was a scenic of Shelter Cove, a favorite hangout for us whenever we are in Hilton Head. Apparently it held the same nostalgic meaning for this couple who stay in Shelter Cove during their Hilton Head Island vacations. I wonder if they had a Hilton Head Island wedding as well.

My daughter snapped this picture of two of my Hilton Head Island photographic canvases at the Village Artists at the Village at Sandhill.

My other two large landscapes were also Hilton Head Island photographs. The most popular one depicts a pier in Hilton Head that customers remarked looked so incredibly three-dimensional that it felt like you could step into the canvas. During my show in March at the Village Artists gallery, patrons kept staring at the pier, walking left, then right, then back again, asking about the phenomenon that the pier seems to follow the viewers wherever they stand.

In the category of small-world irony, the person who bought that  Hilton Head photographic canvas turned out to be the father of one of my best friends, though he had no idea I was the artist! He said it reminded him of his summers spent with his grandparents on the coast. He was a man of few words but I could tell it held special meaning for him and was thrilled to  have my art hang in his office.

The other Hilton Head landscape is a serene scene of seagrass and water, full of beatific blues and golden yellows that make you want to just lay back in a hammock, take a deep breath and appreciate God’s wonder in the creation of it all. This one will hang in my house one day.

An interested patron views the Hilton Head Island photographic canvas by Renée Ittner McManus.

While Hilton Head weddings are my mainstay, it’s been such a rewarding experience to branch out into landscape photography and even more special to have complete strangers fall in love with the Hilton Head scenery as much as I did. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll wonder into the home of a friend of a friend and see my canvas proudly displayed over his or her  fireplace. Now that would be a real treat.

Indian weddings are characterized by elaborate rituals and traditions. I first joined the families celebrating the Garba the night before the wedding. It provides a wonderful opportunity for the two families to meet and mingle before the wedding began as they joined in the Raas, a dance involving pairs of people tapping out the rhythm of the music with dandia sticks.

The wedding day was equally rich in pomp and ceremony starting with the arrival of the groom and his family.  The groom is welcomed amusingly by his mother-in-law who playfully tries to grab his nose at the entrance.

I was entranced by all the intricate customs of the wedding ceremony from the exchange of garlands between the bride and groom to the honey and milk drink given as a token of love. In another part of the ceremony, the groom helps the bride in touching the seven betel nuts with her right toe, while both of them recite the seven vows for their commitment towards each other. There are more playful moments too, like the bride’s sisters trying to steal the groom’s shoes to the groom tugging his mother-in-law’s sari  in a way that it looks he is asking the bride’s family for gifts.

It was a truly an incredible experience that made me feel like I had stepped foot into another country without ever leaving Columbia.

Photos by Renee Ittner McManus/RIM Photography

Linda and Forrest, along with their  family members, chose to make an extended weekend for their destination wedding by staying in cottage suites and upscale homes amidst the winding paths of this peaceful retreat.

Because they wanted to see each other in a private moment before the wedding, we arranged for Linda to walk up behind Forrest and surprise him with his first view of his beautiful bride in her wedding gown. The graceful grounds around the cottages provided the perfect romantic setting for this encounter.

There was something wonderfully timeless about this setting with its ancient oaks and dripping Spanish moss, so, in a change of pace from my regular postings, I’m presenting these pictures in classic black and white.

Photos by Renee Ittner McManus/RIM Photography

While about half of my weddings are on the coast, this was my first time to the Shorehouse at the Hilton Oceanfront Resort, a beautiful setting for a destination beach wedding with white folding chairs on an expansive deck overlooking the ocean. As with most beach weddings, after the ceremony and group photos, we took a few minute to escape down to the beach for a more intimate photo session of Regina and Paul walking near the water’s edge.

The reception was an easy walk to an adjacent deck where family members and friends enjoyed a fully catered sit-down meal, then danced the night away as the sun set over this idlyllic setting.  The only surprise was a sudden Southern downpour that put a momentary halt to the post-wedding speeches but quick thinking on the part of the staff meant easy access to the pull-down shades that protected the area from the ensuing storm. Within minutes, it had passed, the partitions came up and the dancing continued late into the night.

The most memorable part of this wedding for me was the affection Regina’s parents had for her. Though divorced, they were very much at ease with each other and made their daughter the center of the day, even sharing several dances with the three of them holding onto each other as they chatted and laughed and glided across the dance floor in a wonderful show of unity on this special day.

Photos by Renee Ittner McManus/RIM Photography

As a photographer, I was like a kid in a candy shop: the sites and sounds and even smells were all so fabulously different than anything I had experienced at a wedding. The biggest surprise was that I was encouraged to photograph from the front of the church, such a novelty that I insisted on confirming that fact with the priests before the ceremony began.

Always respectful of the sanctity of the ceremony, I did my best to stay quiet and behind the wedding party so as not to distract from the hour-long ceremony. It felt odd, at first, to be up at that level, but, the vantage point was amazing! It felt so special to see everything in such detail and I was riveted by the holiness of the ceremony that’s continued unchanged for centuries.

I felt transformed back in time as the bearded priests, speaking in Greek, guided the couple through the Service of Betrothal and the Ceremony of the Sacrament of Marriage. Symbolism abounds in this holy ceremony as the priest blesses the rings and makes the sign of the cross over the bride and groom’s head. The “Koumbaro,” the couple’s religious sponsor, who is to guide them throughout their marriage, then swaps the rings three times between the bride and groom’s fingers.

Many rituals, like drinking from the common cup and the placing of the crowns on the couple, symbolizing the glory and honor placed on them by God, are repeated three times to denote the Holy Trinity. The couple then takes their first steps as husband and wife by walking around the altar (can you guess how many times?) as the Koumbaro walks close behind holding the crowns in place.

I could go on and on about this ancient and gloriously tradition-laden ceremony, but since pictures speak louder than words, let me give you just a glimpse of my first Greek wedding:

Photos by Renee Ittner McManus/RIM Photography

Seven Oaks, built in 1850, was originally a family residence and later, a boarding house for tired travelers looking for a meal and a night’s rest. It was one of the few structures not burned by Union troops in 1863 in a fire that destroyed two-thirds of Bluffton during the Civil War.

The beautiful 2-story house,  named for the seven giant oak trees that stand sentinel on the now lush and immaculate  grounds provides a magnificent view of the May River from the back of the house.

The fabulous food was catered by Downtown Catering in Bluffton. Leah McCarthy and her team do an incredible job and have the most mouth-watering Southern delicacies this side of the Mississippi. They cater in many venues around the Hilton Head area and Leah is a whiz in wedding planning as well. Definitely give her a call for planning weddings in the Bluffton/Hilton Head area.

Babs and Brian opted to wed on the front porch of this grand estate with guests seated in in folding white chairs on either side of the walk leading to the porch. For the reception, guests dined and danced under  an expansive white tent on the back lawn, perfectly situated amidst the towering oaks. Giant fans kept the guests comfortable until the temperature cooled and they could stroll around the ample grounds and walk overlooking the gently flowing May River.

As for Babs and Brian, they make a darling couple, and their friends were so much fun! They were all very kind, making sure I had water throughout the evening and even keeping me cool with a portable battery-powered fan. One of their more extraverted friends took center-stage and sang a couple of ballads for the happy couple, much to the delight of their hooting and hollering friends.

It was only with the donning of the dress that the true emotions of the day began to surface when her sister Jodye had to run from the room to make sure her tears didn’t get Erynn started. Erynn held it together until she approached the altar with her father and tears began to fall. Her father held her close and tenderly wiped her tears until she recovered. It was one of the sweetest moments I’ve witnessed.

From that point, everything was smooth sailing. The reception, at Alhambra Hall in Mt. Pleasant, brought a surprise for her father and guests who assumed they were arriving for dinner but had no idea Erynn and Matt had secretly hired a DJ for the event. Her dad was astounded as she had adamantly refused to have a dance floor as neither she nor Matt were into dancing. As they approached the reception, the DJ met them half way and the astonished father of the bride began to smile gleefully as he realized what was happening.

The reaction of the bridesmaids topped even that as they screamed and collapsed into a group hug to thank Erynn for an evening of dancing. And while Erynn stayed true to her word, and only had a 30-second first dance with her new husband, she was spotted more than once being dragged onto the floor by her eight bridesmaids and was even seen belting out an Aretha Franklin song into a water-bottle-turned microphone.

Erynn's bridesmaids react to discovering a dancefloor at the reception.

Enthusiastic bridesmaids prepare to outreach each other for the bouquet toss.

Bride Linda Sprinkle, who could easily have a second career in destination wedding planning, found a spectacular Village Home that welcomed guests with antique pine floors, high vaulted ceilings, cozy fireplaces, and spacious screened verandas. When not running out the door to hop on their bikes, Sprinkle’s nephews could be found soaking in the ambience of a huge family room with its wall-size home theater system.

The families blended together seamlessly as they sipped wine while sharing stories and laughter around the large wooden dining table or lounged comfortably in oversized sofas in front of a roaring fire. 

Linda had everyone dress in jeans and white shirts for family portraits amidst the panoramic vistas of the lowcountry visible right outside their back door. Large oak trees and hanging Spanish moss provided the perfect backdrop for their family pictures. 

Everyone was a sport too, about the unusually chilly weather. With a high of forty degrees, and the temperature dropping steadily, family members shed coats and mufflers for group poses during which they were more than happy to snuggle in tightly and think warm thoughts before running back to the warmth of their coverings. 

We got some great photos in that last hour before sunset. Here are some of my favorites:

Photos by Renee Ittner-McManus/RIM Photography.