Afairytale transformation

Phillips resides in Summerton with her husband, Trey, and their two children — 11-year-old Troy and 8-year-old Clara. Early on in her career, she worked as a nurse at Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital in Sumter before becoming a school nurse and an employee at her family drug store, Summerton Drugs. When she wasn’t taking care of others, she spent her time in the great outdoors. She developed a love for hunting after her marriage, and it became a family activity that soon led Phillips and her husband to turn their family hobby into a business.

Phillips purchased land in Rimini, a prime area for duck hunting in the state. Looking to move closer to home, the pair sold the land and purchased property close to Summerton and successfully set up their duck hunting property. When looking to house their hunters in a comfortable and convenient lodge close to the land, Clarendon Club came up for sale five minutes down the road.

After purchasing the club, it was soon filled with duck hunters. In their absence during the off-season for hunting, the property became a venue for one of the most sacred, traditional events known to manweddings.

Owning and operating the versatile Clarendon Club has been a learning experience for Phillips.

“There are always new opportunities, and people come and ask to use the place for things that we have never even thought about. It’s been fun because weddings seem like they could be boring over time because you feel like if you’ve been to one, you’ve been to them all,” she said, light laughter following. “But it’s not true; every wedding

Appreciating rural South Carolina's splendor

Clarendon Club takes advantage of the great outdoors, as the property features open-air ceremony sites with a rustic atmosphere and outside event spaces to host receptions and cocktail hours.

Newlyweds can enjoy celebratory drinks, dining and dancing in the Pavilion, a covered outdoor area that can be personalized with lighting, floral arrangements, table layouts and other decorations. Photo opportunities are endless thanks to the aesthetic backdrops of the barn, the front pond and the woods.

is different. People kind of make them their own, which is what it’s supposed to be. So even with the weddings, it’s not boring because it's always a different group of people, so we learn different things about the way people like to do things but also what we are able to do as well and things that we know that we need to improve on.”