Isle of Palms SC Wedding

Thinking of having an Isle of Palms SC wedding on the beach? Think again! The Isle of Palms has made it illegal for anyone involved in professional services to "conduct business on the beach." This means that if you are paying anyone for anything at your wedding, then that business can face fines of $1,100-$2,200.

Isle of Palms SC Beach Weddings are out, so follow this link to find an alternate location.

Who cannot work for your IOP beach wedding?

• The minister cannot be paid to officiate on the beach at IOP
• The florist cannot set up flowers
• The rental company cannot set up chairs
• The photographer cannot take photos
• The videographer cannot record
• The DJ cannot set up a speaker for ceremony music
• The wedding planner cannot coordinate or direct.

If you can walk out to the beach, get married with ten people by an officiant who is a family member and don't want other professional services, then the Isle of Palms is for you.  Anything else is a huge risk to the vendors.

What the property managers are not telling you

I mentioned this to a bride who called us to see if we would shoot her wedding in November of 2008.  I told her about the regulations and the possible fines that we could incur for shooting out there.  We were the second vendor who had told her that.

She was very angry to say the least.  She was spending $8,000 for the week to rent the house she was going to stay in.  She had specifically told the property managers that she would be having a beach wedding.  Not once did they tell her (warn her) of the ordinances that the IOP has imposed.

She was very upset because after planning for a very long time the biggest day of her life and putting out thousands of dollars for a rental, no one on the IOP thought it would be good to at least tell her that she might not be able to have a photographer or planner or minister for her beach wedding.

What to do?

The Isle of Palms has made it virtually impossible to make a change.  Unless you are a resident or homeowner on the island, then you don't have any say in a town council meeting. 

Obviously, the businesses don't have any pull because the town is making a fortune off of ticketing vendors and businesses.  So we cannot do anything. 

The only hope we have is that people who read sites like these will take a moment and contact the Isle of Palms and say that they were thinking of renting a house on the island but changed their minds because of the ordinance.  Perhaps when it hits their pocket books, they will think about changing the ordinance.

Isle of Palms SC Beach Weddings are out, so follow this link to find an alternate location.