Every now then I travel to a place that I fall in love with immediately, & Charleston was one of those places. There is a deep sense of history, and quintessential southern charm here like I have never seen! The city encompasses it’s rich past with a new modern style of architecture, delicious cuisine, and relaxing beachy vibes. Our little getaway weekend not only made my photographer heart absolutely explode, but it also was so relaxing for both Hunter & I. Not very often, but occasionally we will travel to a place with zero plans in mind. We did just that for our getaway to Charleston & I am so glad we did!

As a Type A planner kind of person, it can be difficult for me to “over plan” for trips. Over the years, I have learned to adapt to Hunter’s “go with the flow” personality & this time we used that same care free attitude to guide us into our plans for the trip. I am SO glad that we did! Charleston is a smaller city than others that I’ve visited, so it was easy to choose a couple of things that felt right once we got there. Also I feel like I should add that I immediately knew I would come back as soon as I arrived so I didn’t feel much pressure to get it all done. We even found out a couple of days before our trip that some of our best friends are moving to the Charleston area! See you next time Gaby & Ethan!

Speaking of couples we love let’s talk about Peyton & Alex. Peyton is a fellow photog bestie of mine & we decided months ago to do a “photo swap” in Charleston when we would both be here on vacation. Something very common for photographers to do! Unknown to sweet Pey, Alex and I had coordinated months before for this photo swap to actually become a proposal! Watching these sweethearts get engaged was by far my favorite part of the trip! You can read more about their sweet love story here. 

All in all, I have missed this place every single day since I left! I love this little city and I can’t wait to return and make even more memories there. If you need any help planning a trip to Charleston, South Carolina, below are all the places we went, things we did & of course pictures we took!

 

Things To Do:

Stroll Battery Park

Rainbow Row

Charleston City Market

Shop on King St.

Stargaze at Sullivan’s Island

One of my favorite places to be is at the beach at nighttime. Two of our three nights we picnicked on Sullivan Island at night so we could see the stars. It was incredibly romantic and I would highly recommend it! Above is the link to where we parked the car and walked to the beach.

 

 

 

Restaurants:

132 Coffee & Kitchen 

O-Bar Oyster Bar

82 Queen

82 Queen was by far the best food I had in Charleston! They own the rights to the original She Crab Soup recipe, which is the same one that George Washington would have eaten on his visits in the 1700s! It was incredible! I think about it at least once a day and miss it so much!

Poe’s Tavern

Leon’s Oyster Shop

Sugar Bakeshop

 

 

 

Tours:

Charleston’s Old South Carriage Historic Tour

We had a great time on the Carriage tour! A really fantastic way to see the city, and they definitely take care of their horses

which I appreciated as someone who used to be in the veterinary profession.

Historic Charleston Walking Tour

This tour was a great way to learn all about the very vast history of Charleston! All of our questions were answered and we learned a ton.

Fort Sumter Tour

This was by far our favorite tour of the trip! Fort Sumter is where the Confederacy initially fired upon on April 12, 1861, opening the  very beginning of the Civil War. Hunter & I (especially Hunter) are big history nerds so seeing this historic was the perfect end to our trip and helped us tie together all that we had learned.

 

 

 

Breakfast at 132 Spring Coffee & Kitchen

 

O-Bar at Oyster House

Brunch at 82 Queen

 

 

 

Leon’s Oyster Shop

Tour at Fort Sumter

Sugar Bakeshop