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Everything for a Lowcountry Wedding
A venue, then eight or nine other people.
Every venue here is photographed — all eleven of them. Behind them, 273 pros in ten trades, 240 with a portfolio to look through before you call.
Or say it in a sentence
All eleven venues, room by room →
Ten trades, 273 pros. The six with the most published work lead.Hair & Makeup 21Transportation 18Planners 17Officiants 12
The whole corridor, south to north — all 273. See them on the map →
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By Age
Public Attendance Zones and Independent Schools
28,323 homes are zoned across 209 of them · two at each age, the biggest first
Elementary113Middle62High36
All 211 public schools ordered by zoned homes
85 across the corridor · one from each town the spine names, south to north
Nonsectarian31Christian15Roman Catholic14Baptist9Seventh-day Adventist3Jewish2
By Craving
Eat Like a Local
The Table, Savannah to Mount Pleasant
The top-rated four in each of the six towns — 24 of 228, ranked by rating.
Say what you feel like eating
Reserves — call ahead113Casual counters & takeout46Seafood houses41Seafood markets11Barbecue8
Price shown where restaurants report it — 154 of 228. Hours as the restaurants list them; we do not publish wait times or busyness — nobody can measure that honestly.
By Type
Escapes
Where to Sleep on This Coast
Every stay area on this coast — 125 stays, eight places, largest first.
However you like to sleep
Resort36Historic Inn31Hotel30B&B15Boutique12Rental1
Say what you are looking for
Photographs via Google Places — these stays do not yet carry photography we host ourselves.
Things to Do
Golf
Events & Teams
Everything There Is to Do Here
What’s on · soonest first, one per venue · 27 in the next week
This weekend, 6 Nov – 8 Nov20The whole calendar282
The Store
Charleston & Mount Pleasant
Savannah & the South
Two Ways to Shop the Lowcountry
Outdoors
Wildlife refuges where the winter ducks arrive, state park beaches after the summer crowd, live-oak walks, kayak tours on the month’s highest tides, and the dates, hours and prices for each.
November turns the Lowcountry marsh gold. Smooth cordgrass, the tall grass of the salt marsh, flowers in October and November (SC DNR), and the marsh runs tawny under cool, clear days. Waterfowl arrive at the coast’s wildlife refuges for the winter, American oystercatchers gather on oyster bars at Cape Romain, and the state park beaches are quiet after the summer. The month ends with its highest tides, on the mornings of November 23 to 27.
Daylight saving time ended on November 1. In mid-November the sun sets at 5:18pm in Charleston and 5:24pm in Savannah, and rises at 6:50am and 6:53am, according to the US Naval Observatory. A day out ends by about half past five, and the parks that keep long summer hours are on their shorter winter hours now.
Savannah National Wildlife Refuge lies across the Savannah River from the city, at Hardeeville, and it was established in 1927 as a sanctuary for migratory birds, wintering waterfowl above all. Its trail guide puts birdwatching at its best from October through April and waterfowl at their most abundant from November to February (USFWS trail guide). The refuge covers more than 30,000 acres across Georgia and South Carolina.
Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive runs 4.5 miles off SC Highway 170 through the refuge’s impoundments, freshwater ponds held behind earth dikes. The drive is open daily from sunrise to sunset with no entrance fee, and the visitor center opens Monday to Friday, 10am to 2pm (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). Alligators come out in winter on warm, sunny days.
Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, at Awendaw north of Mount Pleasant, holds the largest wintering population of American oystercatchers along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and 293 bird species have been recorded there (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). The refuge’s islands are reached by boat. Sewee Visitor Center is open Wednesday through Saturday, 9am to 5pm, as staff are available.
Coastal Expeditions runs the ferry to Bulls Island: $55 for adults, $35 for children 3 to 12, free for 2 and under. The spring and fall schedule sails Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 9:00am and 12:30pm, returning at 12:30pm and 4:30pm, and the company’s advice is to take the 9am ferry and stay all day. The winter schedule sails Saturdays, out at 10am and back at 3:30pm (Coastal Expeditions).
Pinckney Island lies between Bluffton and Hilton Head Island, with its entrance on US 278 between the two bridges to the island. Past the parking area it is open on foot or by bicycle. The walk to Ibis Pond, the first pond, is about two miles there and back. Ibis, egrets and herons nest on the island, and it is one link in the Atlantic Flyway chain of refuges that draws thousands of migratory birds each year. The refuge is open sunrise to sunset, seven days a week, and dogs are not allowed on refuge lands (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).
Caw Caw Interpretive Center in Ravenel, west of Charleston, runs an Early Morning Bird Walk every Wednesday and Saturday from 8:30am to 10:30am. Registration is $12, free with a Charleston County Parks Gold Pass (the county parks’ annual pass), and it has to be booked in advance, with no sign-up on site. Walkers bring their own binoculars. The center covers 1,046 acres of former rice fields, and bird walks there go back to 1985, with 274 species recorded (Charleston County Parks).
Audubon Newhall Preserve on Hilton Head Island holds a free guided nature walk every Tuesday morning, led by a master birder or a naturalist. Walkers gather by 8:30am, and no reservation is needed. The preserve is open every day from sunrise to sunset, and donations are welcome (Hilton Head Audubon).
Audubon’s Francis Beidler Forest in Harleyville has a 1.75-mile boardwalk through an old cypress and tupelo swamp, accessible to wheelchairs. It is open Wednesday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm, and Sunday, 11am to 4pm, and closed Monday and Tuesday. Admission is $12 for adults, $7 for children 6 to 12 and free for 5 and under, and the second Saturday of every month is free for everybody, which in November is Saturday the 14th (Audubon).
The Ernest F. Hollings ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge has no entrance fee, and 291 bird species have been sighted there. Some impoundment dikes close by season, and parts of the refuge close to visitors during scheduled hunts. About 25 miles of unpaved service roads on the refuge’s Edisto Unit, near Hollywood, are open for hiking and biking all year (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).
Hunting Island State Park, at 2555 Sea Island Parkway east of Beaufort, has five miles of beach, thousands of acres of marsh and maritime forest, and a saltwater lagoon. The park is open 6am to 6pm (SC State Parks). Its lighthouse is the only lighthouse in South Carolina open to the public: climbs start at 9:30am, the last is at 4:30pm, and a climb costs $5 a person on top of park admission (SC State Parks).
Edisto Beach State Park is open 7am to 6pm, with more than four miles of trails accessible to wheelchairs and cabins on the salt marsh (SC State Parks). Admission matches Hunting Island.
Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve, run by SC DNR on the same island, opens half an hour before sunrise and closes half an hour after sunset. It is closed on Tuesdays and for scheduled special hunts. Every visitor fills in a free day-use pass on the way in. The beach is reached on foot, by bicycle or by boat, dogs are not allowed on the beach or the causeway, and shells, driftwood and fossils stay on the sand (SCDNR rules).
Boneyard Beach on Bulls Island is a beach of bleached, fallen trees at the edge of the sea. The island is part of Cape Romain, and the Coastal Expeditions ferry is the way there. Low tide gives the most access to the boneyard, according to Coastal Expeditions (Coastal Expeditions).
Skidaway Island State Park in Savannah is open 7am to 10pm, and parking is $10 a vehicle. The Avian Trail and the observation tower are closed because of bridge damage. Six miles of trails run through maritime forest and past salt marsh to a boardwalk (Georgia State Parks).
Wormsloe, on the Isle of Hope in Savannah, is a live-oak avenue leading to the ruins of Noble Jones’s colonial estate, with a nature trail beyond. The site is open daily, 9am to 4:45pm, and closed on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Admission is $12 for adults 18 to 61, $9 for seniors, $5.75 for ages 6 to 17 and $3.25 under 6, plus tax (Georgia State Parks).
Angel Oak on Johns Island is a live oak 25.5 feet around, whose shade covers 17,000 square feet. It is free, open to the public seven days a week and closed on holidays (City of Charleston).
Charles Pinckney National Historic Site is in Mount Pleasant. The grounds and trails are open 9am to 4:30pm, including days the visitor center is closed (National Park Service). Fort Pulaski National Monument stands on Cockspur Island on the road to Tybee. Entrance is $10 a person, and an annual pass is $35 (National Park Service).
The mornings of November 23 to 27 bring the highest tides of the month. NOAA predicts a peak of 6.78 feet on the Charleston Harbor gauge at 7:52am on Wednesday, November 25, about a foot above the average high tide there (NOAA). Full moon falls on November 24. On those mornings the creeks run full and water spreads over the marsh grass, so a kayak reaches places it cannot at an ordinary tide. A launch an hour before high tide rides the rising water in and the falling water out. A smaller run of high morning tides comes with the new moon, November 7 to 9, at 6.36 to 6.42 feet in Charleston.
Boat hire and more time on the water are in the on the water guide and the boat rentals directory. The fall fishing guide covers launch ramps and fishing from a kayak.
Johns Island County Park, 2662 Mullet Hall Road, holds its Harvest Festival on Saturday, November 7, from 11am to 4:30pm. Three bluegrass bands play: YeeHaw Junction at 11:30am, Southern Flavor Bluegrass Band at 1:15pm, and Willie Wells & The Blue Ridge Mountain Grass at 3pm. There are hayrides and local crafts, and food is sold separately. Entry is $10 for ages 13 and up, free for 12 and under and for Gold Pass members, paid at the gate with no advance tickets. Visitors bring their own chairs or blankets (Charleston County Parks).
The Lantern Parade fills Lowcountry Celebration Park on Saturday, November 14, from 5:00 to 8:00pm, with lanterns by the artist Chantelle Rytter, hundreds more made by residents, visitors, school groups and local organizations, and four bands (Hilton Head Island).
James Island County Park lights up every night from November 13 through December 31, 5:30pm to 10pm (Charleston County Parks). Other displays and parades are in the Christmas lights and parades guide.