Fourth of July in Charleston

With wedding planning at a CRAZY point right now, Caleb and I spontaneously decided to go to Charleston for the fourth, provided I (and my coworkers) met our leasing goals and I had off from work.
We hit the road at 7am, and arrived in Charleston at Patriot's Point Naval and Maritime Museum aboard the USS Yorktown at nearly 11am. It was HOT! We were rushed onboard to meet with the woman in charge of event rentals, because we were tossing around the idea of a reception on board. We liked the fantail and loved the hangar, but like I said, it was HOT. Finding that the only air-conditioned room smelled like a hospital's cafeteria, we continued our search for the perfect venue. A cool place to visit, a neat museum, awesome place for their weekly boyscout camping trips, and a great place to see genuine military aircraft up close, but no longer a frontrunner in our race for the perfect venue.
We then went to the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon to sneak a peek at their Great Hall. It's pretty! This building is STEEPED in history: The British built it before the Revolutionary War. SC seceded from the Union here, and then later ratified the Constitution in the same room. George Washington threw a party in the Great Hall. We liked the Exchange a lot, although to get to the Great Hall you have to walk through a couple museum-esque informational displays, and I was not a huge fan of that. Still in the race though!
After lunch we had some time to pass until our 3:00 meeting at First Baptist Charleston, which we used to wander the area and scour for potential reception venues within walking distance. The gorgeous church was in the process of being set-up for a wedding the following day, and as we stood in the balcony we could almost see our bridal party up at the front, with Chloe and Eliese sitting on the left side of the steps, giggling and fussing with their dresses, with Jack and Dustin on the right side, itching in their formalwear. We could imagine the organ playing as I walk up the aisle. We could envision us walking back down the aisle, holding hands and glowing, having been pronounced "husband and wife". But we asked ourselves: is this church, where we will spend roughly 2.5 hours and our guests will spend under and hour, worth the incredible expense? We haven't yet decided...
After touring FBCharleston we headed over to the market, only to find most shops closing up early. Having picked up a map we found a restaurant on the bay and headed over there, only to find that it was their Grand Opening and they didn't have a table left! So we headed back into town and ate at the Southern Brewery, which was pretty good and had a fun atmosphere.
Anticipating fireworks, we went down to the Battery and walked around a little bit there, but then we heard the guy at the Yacht Club directing somebody else to the Waterfront Park. Taking the advice of a local, we found a great spot at the end of the dock in Waterfront Park, and settled in to listen to babies and dogs getting tired, families having fun, and the sound of boats' wakes lapping against the dock. We were able to see five or more different fireworks shows going on across the bay in Mount Pleasant while we waited for the fireworks show at Patriot's Point.
It was a fun day, and we learned a lot (one lesson learned: Charleston is not a daytrip).