Katherine and William met in November 2017. Two years after their first date, William proposed. The glorious spring wedding was planned at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, with a reception at Forest Lake Club.
It all started when they met on a blind date in November 2017. Mutual friends thought Katherine Dyke and William Buyck would hit it off, and as it turns out, they were right. At the time, Katherine was working for the University of South Carolina’s Office of Communications and Public Affairs, while William, an attorney, was clerking at the South Carolina Court of Appeals. Their romance began with dinner dates over long talks and lots of laughter.
In June 2019, Katherine moved to Chapel Hill to begin the MBA program at the University of North Carolina. Katherine and William did not let distance cool their relationship. In fact, William proposed in November 2019, two years after their first date.
“He planned to take me on a walk at the Horseshoe and propose there, but it was raining and he knows I do not like the rain,” says Katherine. “So, when I arrived from Chapel Hill that day wearing my raincoat, he proposed right there in his living room. It was just the two of us, and it was so sweet.”
Katherine still had nearly two years left in her MBA program, and the thought of a long distance marriage did not appeal to either her or William. Then came the pandemic.
The pandemic forced many university classes to go online. Katherine’s were no exception, and she returned to Columbia in April 2020 to study from home. This turned out to be a huge blessing because Katherine had daily access to her wedding planner: Melanie Crawford, her mother. “Mom really shined as a planner,” says Katherine. Living with her mother and Fred Crawford, her stepfather, as well as being so close to William made wedding planning much easier. “It was a special and meaningful time,” she says.
When it came to the church and the reception venue, the decisions were easy. Katherine and William attended Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Melanie and Fred are members of Forest Lake Club and live on Forest Lake, and Katherine, who has a degree in architecture, had always appreciated the club’s design. So, the two locations were booked for April 17, 2021. Katherine and William enjoyed choosing the wedding music together. “We chose songs we thought were beautiful and joyous,” she says. “We wanted the ceremony to be very, very happy.”
Next came the dress. Katherine and Melanie planned a trip to Hayden Olivia Bridal in Charlotte, bringing along Mary Walker, Katherine’s maternal grandmother; Mary Caroline Bubnovich, Katherine’s sister; Marie Buyck, William’s mother; and Adele Grimsley and Trenholm Hardison, William’s sisters. “I thought she would just try on some dresses and we’d have lunch, and then she and I would find her dress later,” Melanie says. However, Katherine found her dress that day. The Romona Keveza silk crepe strapless gown featured an asymmetrical neckline and fluted skirt, along with a single loop bow in back. “I put it on and the fabric and the cut were beautiful,” Katherine says. “It felt like me. It was streamlined and very much my style.” To go with the dress, Katherine selected a lace-edged, cathedral length veil.
Once the dress was chosen, Katherine and Melanie turned to the invitations. Katherine’s love of architecture and eye for art came in handy when designing her invitation suite. She and Melanie worked with family friend Merryman Cassels, who owns Hive Design in Gastonia, North Carolina. “Merryman is remarkably talented. She was able to understand what Katherine wanted to do and make it a reality,” says Melanie.
Katherine had William and Fred’s help when it came to the reception menu. “William is a big hunter,” Katherine says of her groom, a native of St. Matthews. “He is also passionate about South Carolina history and culture. He was very excited about sharing that part of himself through the menu.” William crafted a seasonal, local menu that included shrimp and andouille stew, ham biscuits, mini-crabcakes, shrimp and grits, and quail risotto. Katherine, Melanie, William, and Fred all helped choose the cake from Parkland Cakes. “They were so nice to work with,” says Katherine.
One of Katherine and Melanie’s biggest wedding projects was choosing the bridesmaids’ dresses. “I kept thinking of the classic bridesmaid dress horror stories,” Katherine says. “I wanted to find something they wouldn’t groan to have to wear.” As she scrolled through photographs on the internet, she found a picture from a wedding where none of the bridesmaids’ dresses were the same but worked around a central color scheme. “I wanted everyone to feel comfortable, to have that feeling of dressing up to go to a party,” Katherine says.
She and Melanie worked together and shopped for each person’s dress at many different stores. “It was a project to find a dress that matched each girl’s personality,” says Melanie. “It was fun but probably the hardest thing we did.” Some dresses were floral, others were solid, and all were different styles, but all worked with a color scheme of coral and French blue. In the end, the effort was worth it. “I am really happy with how it turned out,” says Katherine.
William dressed his groomsmen in classic black tuxedos. His jacket was midnight blue with black lapels. Like Katherine, William honored each friend’s individuality by selecting Brackish bowties to suit their personalities. The ties were also a nod to William’s love of hunting and South Carolina.
Between them, Katherine and William have many nieces and nephews. “We wanted to involve them in ways that their personalities would shine,” Katherine says. They were flower girls and ring bearers, greeters, and bell ringers. The younger girls wore white dresses with sashes that matched the ring bearers’ bow ties. All were perfectly attired in concert with the wedding color scheme.
The photographer and the band were two more easy choices. Katherine had seen the work of photographer Ashley Seawell. “I loved her classic style,” she says. The Business, an Asheville based band, played for Mary Caroline’s wedding five years before. “Ours was one of their first times playing together again after the pandemic,” says Katherine. “They were particularly excited to be there.”
For a sunny April wedding, flowers were important. Katherine and Melanie put their trust in Julianne Sojourner, who selected blooms such as white, pale coral, and apricot roses; ranunculus; delphinium; spray roses; stock roses; and lisianthus for the bridesmaids’ bouquets, which followed the color scheme and provided cohesion for their dresses. Katherine’s bouquet was a collection of peonies, roses, ranunculus, lisianthus, lily of the valley, and spray roses. Julianne achieved just the right look for the wedding and the reception.
Katherine and William wanted to use blooms and greenery representing their families. Smilax came from the Buyck farm, and lily of the valley, greenery, and boxwoods were from Mary Walker’s Shelby, North Carolina, garden. Julianne, who is a member of Trinity’s Flower Guild, invited Melanie, a past Flower Guild co-chair, to help her decorate the church altar with Casablanca lilies, spray roses, ‘Kermit’ mums, stock, daisies, larkspur, and smilax from the Buycks’ farm. “At Trinity, the Flower Guild does the flowers for weddings,” says Julianne. “It was an unusual treat to have a mother-of-the-bride help me.” A practicing USC organist accompanied them while they worked, making for a meaningful couple of hours.
“Julianne was wonderful,” says Melanie. “When it came to decorating Forest Lake, we had to keep imagining how to make the space pretty if we had to limit it to only 20 or 50 people.” Katherine and William were determined that April 17 would be their date no matter how many could attend. “We made final decisions as close to the wedding as possible,” Melanie says. “It was hard to predict, with the pandemic and having family all over the country. We didn’t know what might change at the last minute.” In the end, the timing was perfect with the wedding taking place after vaccines were available and before the Delta variant emerged.
A lot of the containers and vases came from Melanie’s house. She also purchased two large urns with the intention of giving them to Katherine and William after the wedding. The urns were flower-filled focal points at the reception. The decor also featured a lot of boxwoods from Mary’s garden. Katherine thought they were a nice balance to the fluffy, spring flowers. “They’re sculptural, so I enjoyed the juxtaposition. They cropped up everywhere,” she says. They even showed up on sugar cookies used as wedding favors.
At long last, the fun-filled wedding weekend arrived. Thursday night, Melanie and Fred hosted a welcome dinner for family and friends. Then, on Friday, the women enjoyed a bridesmaids’ luncheon by the lake. Katherine’s mother and aunts arranged the flowers for this event, which included a flower and ribbon adorned bride’s swing. “It is very meaningful for us,” says Katherine of the swing, a tradition that originated in Melanie’s Shelby hometown. “We have a photograph of Mom in her bride’s swing, too.” William’s aunt provided a crystal basket filled with flowers, a Davis family tradition, to mark the bride’s place at the table.
That night, the Buyck family hosted the rehearsal dinner at the Palmetto Club, where their own family traditions were observed. Katherine and William drank from an engraved silver cup for a special toast given by father-of-the-groom and best man Peter Buyck. “It was a joy to see both sides of our family come together to help us celebrate,” says Katherine.
On Saturday morning, Helen and Tucker Lafitte and other close friends hosted a breakfast for the wedding party, family, and out of town guests. William, his groomsmen, and the fathers all came early, then left to play golf. Then Katherine came with the girls. “William didn’t see me until I walked down the aisle. That was important to us,” Katherine says. Afterward, the bride and her bridesmaids enjoyed having their hair done by Process and their makeup by Pout.
Before Katherine knew it, it was time to walk down the aisle with Mac Dyke, her father. “It was overwhelming to see everyone together. I cried happy tears,” she says. While they had rehearsed the day before, Katherine admits it was all an exciting blur. “So, when the priest said, ‘Will you…’ and paused, I blurted out, ‘I will!’ and everyone cracked up.” From that point on, she and William relaxed. “It was easy and there were no nerves. It was happy and fun and us.”
The reception at Forest Lake certainly was. Their first dance was to “Stand By Me,” by Otis Redding. Then, Katherine danced with Mac to “Boogie Shoes” by KC and the Sunshine Band. Afterward, William and Marie danced to “Hallelujah, I Love Her So,” by Ray Charles, while Katherine shared a dance with Fred.
Another special moment came late in the evening, just as everyone was being encouraged to gather outside on the club steps. “William’s friends were telling me, ‘Wait! Not yet! William hasn’t sung ‘Purple Rain’ yet!’ I didn’t know what they were talking about,” says Melanie. “It certainly wasn’t sanctioned by the ‘wedding planner’ – me!”
Undaunted, the friends hoisted William up and carried him over to the band. “William was one of the last of his friend group to get married,” says Katherine. “At William’s friends’ weddings, he always crashed the band and sang ‘Purple Rain’ by Prince.” Unbeknownst to Katherine, William had arranged with the band to sing it at his own wedding as well. “He never sings in front of others, but he has a wonderful voice and he nailed it!” she says. After stepping away from the mic, William’s groomsmen hoisted him up in the air to celebrate the performance.
Guests started moving to the door and were handed Palio flags, a nod to the college semester Katherine spent in Siena, Italy, as well as rose petals. Just then, Forest Lake’s sprinklers came on. “I really do not like the rain,” says Katherine. Melanie agrees, saying, “Everyone knows it, too. So Forest Lake Club’s Brian and Charles brilliantly put trashcans on top of the sprinklers so she wouldn’t get wet.” Katherine and William left the club through a parade of colorful flags and made their way down to their getaway boat: a balloon festooned pontoon piloted by Fred and first mate Edward Grimsley, their nephew. “That was such a fun part of the evening,” Katherine says.
The morning after the wedding, guests stopped by the Crawfords’ home to cap off the weekend and have a bite of breakfast. “Gathering with friends and family was important to us,” says Katherine. “Every chance we got, we grabbed it.”
With a full and fun-filled celebratory weekend behind them, Katherine and William spent a few days at the Cloister at Sea Island, Georgia, where William’s parents honeymooned. Then, Katherine returned to Chapel Hill to take her final MBA exams. Afterward, she and William spent a much-deserved week in Turks and Caicos, unplugged and relaxed. Now, they are starting their own family traditions in Atlanta.
