Why We Love The Cedar Room: Charleston's City Chic Wedding Venue
4 Reasons why we absolutely adore the Cedar Room, complete with real couples’ wedding videos to show you how you can maximize this amazing space for your wedding day vision. Photo credit by our friends Sean Money + Elizabeth Fay.
Why We Love The Cedar Room: Charleston's City Chic Wedding Venue
We're down to the last few months of the year. And as the breeze blows a little bit cooler, the reality of your wedding day inching closer begins to sink in. You've gone to great lengths to find the perfect dress, choosing the best photographer, finding a videographer, getting your cake made, and booking your DJ...it's now it’s time to talk shop about ideal wedding venues in Charleston.
Very few wedding day decisions make a more significant impact than where you plan to host your big day. Your venue sets the whole tone of your wedding. And it will serve as the backdrop for photos that will live forever on your mantlepiece. No pressure, right?
To be honest, it doesn't have to be. Charleston's city chic wedding venue, The Cedar Room, is the hidden gem that you should've already booked yesterday.
Here's our take on why we think the Cedar Room rocks, is the perfect venue for couples wanting the mix of idyllic southern historical touches mixed with a downtown, city-chic vibe. True to our videographer fashion, we’re completing this deep dive assessment with real couples’ wedding videos so you can tour and take in visually the way this wedding venue can be absolutely transformed to fit your wedding day vibes.
1. The Cedar Room's Versatile Interiors
Warm and textured, The Cedar Room can frame your wedding in a way that only places steeped in history can. Being a structure that has stood the test of time for almost two centuries, each pillar and brick bears the history and transformation of The Cedar Room. It dates back to 1881, where it served as a textile factory, a cotton mill, and then a cigar factory before it was eventually restored and transformed into a functional space for locals and tourists alike.
Makenzie and Zach know how to throw a PARTY! This chic wedding celebration was TWO YEARS IN THE MAKING. M + Z celebrated their love at The Cedar Room in historic Charleston, South Carolina -- formerly the Cigar Factory - so cool, right?!
Makenzie and Zach's Cedar Room wedding day was filled with the full spectrum of emotions, and that cake cutting... I mean -- I can. not. handle. the devious scheming on Makenzie's part! :) :)
Congratulations, Makenzie and Zach! We wish you and your families the absolute best!!
And shout out to our dear friends -- Catherine Anne Photography for absolutely CRUSHING as our photographer of the day to lead these two into some incredible moments -- Katie freakin' ROCKS!
The Cedar Room is located in the 1881 building, where it fuses old school charm Charleston is known for with modern amenities. Part of the draw of The Cedar Room is evident in this very aesthetic. Its historic wood columns and gleaming hardwood floors complement the rustic brick walls, which make a beautiful, versatile backdrop against any motif.
To us, Britney and Patrick embodied the blend of a chic-upscale modern wedding with roots in traditional touches. These two were married in beautiful historic Charleston, South Carolina at the scenic Sacred Heart Catholic Church and reception to follow at the lovely Cedar Room wedding venue in the old Charleston Cigar Factory building. By the way if you love this thumbnail picture as much as we do it was taken by our friends, Sean Money + Elizabeth Fay — their work is freakin’ amazing and we love them!
Oh yeah, the freakin’ legit rooftop.
So you’ll see in several images when you google “Cedar Room Charleston Wedding” couples on some kind of awesome high platform — that’s another really, really fun perk of this venue from a photography and videography perspective. The Cigar Factory has a series of winding elevators, super secret stairways, etc. that are shared with the other businesses in the building — and one of these really cool super secret elevators brings you up to the rooftop platform. This secret hidey-ho has a nearly 360 degree view of the peninsula, with the gorgeous Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge (AKA the Cooper River bridge to locals) in the background, the peninsula tree tops and church steeples in the other direction, the freighting businesses in the harbor, it is the coolest place that makes for EPIC photos and videos. We’ve seen couples do portraits only in this place and have a quiet few moments for themselves to love on each other, and we’ve seen whole bridal parties come up for portrait shots up here. It can be windy (which usually makes for those romantic, whispy on-the-verge-of-eating-your-own-hair-in-a-good-way shots we all love), and it’s such a unique value that’s very special to the Cedar Room wedding venue.
Versatile Ceremony Options, Too.
An open-air courtyard also offers an adjacent space where you can host wedding ceremonies. Framed by the venue's inherently rustic architectural elements, this makes The Cedar Room a popular choice among couples who want a solemn space where they can exchange vows, and still have the easy convenience of a reception venue.
As wedding videographers, we’ve seen it all in terms of how couples and their planners have absolutely used this place like a Hasbro Transformer that it is. Here’s our Holly and Forbes worked with their planner to curtain off half of the space with a beautiful linen backdrop for the ceremony, then opened it up for their full reception entertaining area.
2. The Cedar Room's Lighting
Natural light fills The Cedar Room's main room, which is a dream for photographers and videographers (and even avid Instagrammers) who want to document your wedding day for posterity.
Every bride who has ever taken a picture in this space can attest to how magical the lighting is The Cedar Room. Light streams through its massive windows and the different interior textures lent by the venue's wood plank white ceilings, exposed brick walls, shiny hardwood floors create portrait-ready lighting.
Our two cents? We freakin’ love filming in here for this exact reason — we’ve done collaborations with the crew at Cedar Room on filming Salsa dancing projects with local business, Holy City Salsa in here — this space absolutely made the whole project shine with the omni-directional gorgeous light that floods in this place throughout the day and bounces off the amazing hardwood floors.
3. The Cedar Room's Amenities
Booking your wedding at The Cedar Room gives you access to the venue for five hours, plus six hours for pre-event set up and two hours for post-event breakdown. The venue also takes the guesswork out of other necessary details as The Cedar Room provides 300 natural wood Chiavari chairs and 30 60-inch round tables for guests, ten 6-inch and 8-inch rectangular tables, ten 24-inch or 30-inch cocktail tables, and a custom built-in bar.
Glassware, service-ware, flatware, and china are also available as are pre-event cleaning services. The venue rental also includes the use of a bridal suite and a warming kitchen.
4. The Cedar Room Offers In-House Catering
Next to venues, perhaps one of the biggest decisions you have to make for your wedding day is the food. Thankfully, booking The Cedar Room offers in-house catering provided by Mercantile & Mash.
Gourmet offerings aside, Mercantile & Mash is best known for its ability to create an intimate, one-on-one planning experience for couples. It starts with the bride and groom handpicking menu items that they would like to try, followed by the Mercantile & Mash chef preparing it exclusively for the couple. Their choices will boil down to one question--" What did you try today that you would want to eat again in six months—at your wedding."
The Cedar Room is available throughout the year—which is a good thing given its popularity. Take note however, that pricing is dependent on your wedding date. Peak seasons run through March to June and September to December, while January to February and July and August cover the lean seasons. So if The Cedar Room sounds like the perfect venue for your wedding, make sure you head over to their website and send an inquiry today.
This is a MAJOR THROWBACK TO 2017 — but here’s a really fun wedding at The Cedar Room from years ago! Hyatt and Sullivan know how to PARTY!!! These two Charleston locals had their ceremony at St. Andrews Church in Mount Pleasant's old village and their reception to follow at The Cedar Room in historic downtown Charleston, South Carolina. A long time family tradition - the “Hat Parade” was one of our all time favorite things to film at a wedding reception and think it was such an absolute blasts for reception guests to engage and celebrate with Hyatt, Sullivan, and their families.
5. It’s A Quick Pedicab/Uber/Limo/Rickshaw/Clown Car Ride Away From Downtown Charleston’s Most Popular Bars And Nightlife On King Street.
If you have a crew of late night party animals in your wedding guest population would want to keep the party going after hours when the city has their noise ordinance (usually 10 PM - 11 PM) — you can conveniently keep the party going by hopping on a rickshaw, line up a fleet of pedicabs, or a few Uber XL’s and bring the crew a few blocks down to downtown famous King Street’s late night spots to keep the celebration going until the wee hours of the evening.
The Cedar Room being conveniently located off East Bay Street, this makes it super easy for wedding guests to catch an inexpensive cab ride back to their hotel if they’re staying in downtown Charleston at a hotel or AirBnB for the immersive historic downtown Charleston experience, so this is another huge value add you can offer to your friends and family coming to support you in this new union in your life.
With some of the other plantations and popular wedding venues, the downside some couples run into is having to pay for costly shuttles running every 30 minutes - hour for wedding guests to be bussed back to their cars or hotels, so this is a great budget-friendly option as this venue is so central to all the action for your late night crew, and accommodating to the older folks in your tribe who prefer the freedom to leave at their leisure and not be cattle prodded into group transportation. Having a venue that is central to Charleston’s peninsula is a great way to empower your guests to have their own experience during their time in the city.