Over the past two decades, Charleston, South Carolina–based event designer Calder Clark has catapulted into an in-demand wedding planner, regularly attracting international and celebrity clients who rely on her firm for events that feel personal, are designed to the hilt, and feature a level of service normally found only at luxury resorts or Michelin-starred restaurants.
And while Clark’s weddings have gradually moved further afield—the American West, Europe, Mexico, you name it—the Holy City remains a sweet spot. “There’s a deep sense of place here,” she says, “history and charm paired with some of the best food, design, and scenery in the country. It’s romantic without trying too hard, and it always delivers.”
A place-centered approach remains at the heart of her design ethos, though, whether she’s planning an event in Charleston or Nantucket. That’s exactly why Clark’s favorite sort of venue isn’t always a public one. “There’s something incredibly special about building a wedding weekend in a family home,” she explains. “A place that holds real meaning for a couple. At a private residence, we love to extend existing structures with a tent and layer in all the thoughtful bells and whistles. It’s a blank canvas, and the end result always feels intimate, intentional, and entirely one of a kind.”
Even abroad, Clark’s team brings Southern hospitality to the table. “Europe gives us the chance to curate an entire week of events and craft an immersive experience for a couple and their guests,” she says. For the decor, Clark and her team become full-service interior designers. “We’re not just sourcing from traditional event rental companies,” she says. “Rather, we’re pulling textiles and applying finishes worthy of interiors projects. That mindset allows us to create truly custom, layered environments that feel elevated and personal.” In recent years, Clark has seen a rise in specialty tabletop vendors, allowing more access to such items as French flatware, silver, and heirloom china. “It’s a welcome evolution, and one that continues to raise the bar.”
As Clark preps for the festivities on her calendar in the coming months—including nuptials at none other than Bunny Mellon’s Oak Spring in Virginia—she often looks to the work of interior designer Veere Grenney for inspiration, as well as that of Bahamian-based interior designer Amanda Lindroth. “Her work with draping has been especially inspiring when dreaming up tented installations,” Clark says. “It’s clever, transportive, and always chic.”
Recently, Garden & Gun sat down with Clark for a video series highlighting some of her favorite tricks of the trade. A few of our favorite takeaways: The number-one thing any bride should invest in is “the best photographer you can afford, period, end of story,” Clark says. (Photos last forever. Flowers don’t.) And what makes a wedding feel modern these days? An emphasis on the guests, as well as the couple. “This is not your grandmother’s wedding,” Clark explains. While decades ago the bride was always the focus, today the guest experience is a huge part of hospitality and event design, which often makes the wedding more warm, inclusive, and memorable.
Clark has plenty of war stories of mishaps and last-minute scrambles, as one might imagine from decades in the wedding business. She recalls, for instance, one evening when she and her team had hung dozens of lanterns with real, lit candles inside a tent, only to see the lanterns drop and crash one by one. Clark’s team rushed in to remove them quickly and quietly, and it turns out the culprit was glue inside the lanterns that had melted due to the heat of the flame. Lesson learned: No real candles, ever again. “You better have a team to pinch-hit,” Clark says. “Because you just don’t know what you don’t know.” At another event, involving torrential rain, a restroom trailer had to be moved to the front entrance of a tent (and adorned with much draping to camouflage the oddity) because of unstable, muddy ground. Not ideal, but Clark made it work. “I hope [stories like this] lower your blood pressure,” she says. “People like me exist to fix everything for you. We are the fixers.”
