Destination love
Local couple brings a little bit of 585 to Charleston
by Christine green; photos by Jimmy Gideon
What do you bring to your destination wedding to represent home? How about a little bit of sand from a Lake Ontario beach?
This is exactly what Cassandra and Joshua Gimple did as they prepared for their wedding at the William Aiken House on King Street in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. They asked their mothers to combine sand from their beach home in Sodus with sand from the beach in Charleston as a symbol of unity during their October 10, 2021 ceremony.
The couple added special touches to the ceremony and reception to represent family connection, love, and history. One important symbol was the butterfly. “They are known to represent new beginnings, life, and love as well as a symbol of hope and love for all those we have lost. At the end of the ceremony we released live butterflies,” say the Gimples.
Cassandra wore the head piece that her mother wore on her own wedding day forty-seven years ago—to the day. Cassandra’s mother wore her own late mother’s dress, too. To honor Cassandra’s late father the couple set up a bespoke bourbon bar.
“Everyone ate, drank, and danced to their heart’s content.The food was amazing, and the live band was even better. You could just feel the love!”
After the wedding they decided that the drive back to their Rochester home would be a road trip “minimoon.”
“We took our time driving back with stops at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina and downtown Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. We had another destination wedding a few weeks later in Mexico that we also ‘considered’ a part of our honeymoon.”