Sarah Attaway of Sea to City Travels and Blake Bunte may have first found each other through Hinge in 2017, but they believe that even without the app, their paths would have surely crossed. Even though they were both new to Atlanta, they had plenty of friends in common from college. There’s surprising overlap between Sarah’s coterie from her Phoenix hometown and Blake’s in Dana Point, California.
By 2021, the couple lived in Los Angeles together. During a romantic weekend trip to El Encanto, he proposed, and they began planning their wedding in The Holy City. Sarah calls Charleston, where she attended the College of Charleston, her home. She’s not the only one so charmed by the city. Her family fell in love with it while she was in school and now live there, so it was the perfect locale to host her wedding.
“I always envisioned an outdoor ceremony and wanted the logistics of the day to feel seamless, so having both the ceremony and the reception at the same venue was important,” she shares. “As far as aesthetic goes, I could not have refined it out without my wedding planner, Lindsey Boyce of Lindsey Boyce Design.” With the help of the bride’s Pinterest boards, Lindsey curated an elevated, glowing garden party and enlisted Olivia Rae James to capture every picture-worthy moment of the event.
With an almost two year engagement, Sarah was able to leisurely look for her dress, and she and her mother visited ateliers throughout Orange County. She soon fell in love with the Monique Lhuillier Kingsley Dress and its buttoned train, structured bodice, and drop waist—but decided to wait before buying it. During a trip to Atlanta for a design meeting with Dear Elouise, Sarah visited Mandi of Mandi Jackson Bridal who flew in that Monique Lhuillier dress for Sarah to try on just once more time. This second try-on sealed the deal. Sarah also purchased a midi Monique Lhuillier dress for her rehearsal dinner.
On the day-of, Sarah got ready with Pampered & Pretty before putting on her Croghan’s Jewel Box emerald drop earrings and Monique Lhuillier block heels—appropriately named the “Sarah”—for the outdoor ceremony. Bridesmaids wore different green dresses that Sarah chose for them. Her sister, Jillian Eversole, donned a beautiful Markarian look.
Blake donned a custom black tuxedo by a local tailor in Newport. He had his initials of “BDB,” which are the same as his father’s and grandfather’s, monogrammed on the wrist of his shirts. He also wore a black bow tie from Brackish to complete the look.
On November 12, 2022, surrounded by spectacular Gathering Events arrangements, Blake and Sarah were married by the same pastor who married her sister and her husband. In this sense of tradition, Sarah’s mother even read an excerpt from her own 1988 wedding. “It was really special to have my mom read it almost 35 years after she and my dad were married,” Sarah reflects. Two of her nephews served as the ring bearers and held the pillow needlepointed by Sarah’s sister-in-law.
The newlyweds joined their guests in the tented reception space, adorned with green silk drapery and moody greenery. The custom tablecloths by Lola Valentina Designs were sprawled over three different tablescapes, each set with different plates, menu designs, and napkins. To this day, the couple uses their cabbage plates and “B” napkins that they had on their wedding night. “I love being able to keep and use items from our wedding in our own home,” Sarah gushes. The Patrick Properties three-course dinner of salad, filet, and seasonal fish followed. Sarah promptly switched into a sparkly The Vampire’s Wife midi dress after cutting the Jim Smeal cake.
The bride and groom prioritized having a lively dance floor, so they hired the Atlanta Showstoppers. The live band played at Jillian’s wedding, and they were such a hit that Blake and Sarah hired them for their own wedding. They shared their first dance, just the two of them, to “Joy of My Life” by Chris Stapleton.
The late-night after-party commenced at Parcel 32 on King Street right after the ceremony. The newlyweds only lasted an hour before bidding guests goodbye and heading to the Dewberry Hotel for spare reception leftovers.
As she looks back on her wedding, Sarah confesses, “I was definitely a bride that loved practically every minute of planning and was sad when it was over, in part because it was such a special time with my mom. She was integral to the planning process, and I miss our weekly and sometimes daily calls about all the details.”
