A secret I held with the mother of the bride

My text to iHeart

Actually, we held a few secrets.  However this was the biggest.  Today we know it was 100% the best secret ever kept.  You see, this bride didn't want video.  Her mom & I kept the secret that we had hired iheart until the day of the wedding.  Today, we saw the video trailer (below) and this was my response to the videographers (iHeart Films) and Emilys response (bride) and her moms response to me.

The mother of the bride's email to me.

Bride's email to her mom & I

South Seas Island Resort Wedding - Emily + Clark from iheART Films on Vimeo.

PS, we totally got rained inside for this wedding.  Torrential rains.  Kind of great proof for how a great back up plan (or in case plan D) can still be amazing.  I am so in love with the draping, lighting and church pews.  Oh, and the church pews were another one of the secrets we kept.

See your wedding venue all dressed up! Are you following me on Instagram?

It can be really hard to imagine what your potential wedding venue looks like when its "dressed" for a wedding.  Even though your wedding will certainly look different from what we have done, its nice to see that there really can be transformation!

Captiva Ballroom at South Seas, Vanderbilt Ballroom at LaPlaya,
Sunset Cove at South Seas & Kings Crown Lawn at South Seas

So with that said, follow me on instagram.  I often post photos from behind the scenes and right from our weddings and wedding events (welcome receptions, luncheons, rehearsal dinners cabana parties and farewell brunches). Along with my wedding photos you'll see some real life photos of our studio happenings and my family & friends.

Fun Joyous Celebratory Destination Wedding on Captiva Island

There are so many reasons why people choose to have destination weddings. Some want to keep it small, some want to do something different, and then there are those who just want to have the BEST TIME EVER.

This is one of those weddings.  It was a spectacular summer wedding that I will never forget.  I adore Michelle and Luke.  So much so that I have yet to return this to them (sign on left).  I just can't.  I have no use for it.  But if I return it, it would mean the wedding is over for real. And as far as I am concerned, there is no reason for the celebrating to end. All this being said, watch this awesome video by iheart films. Its one of the cutest videos ever and totally shows what a fun wedding weekend should feel like. So fun. So so fun.


South Seas Resort Wedding - Michelle and Luke from iheART Films on Vimeo.

A Twirling Bride Under Cafe Lights and a Clear Tent

At the kiss...he lifts her and she kicks her feet!

She dances down the aisle!

TWIRLING. There is twirling!

Who doesn't want to twirl in their wedding dress?

Yes, you should twirl.  The one day where you really should take full advantage of twirling. Everything about this destination wedding at South Seas makes me smile. Aly, the bride was even more joyous than you could possibly imagine a bride could be.  On her seaglass & Beatles inspired wedding day she danced and sang Beatles songs the whole day in her oh so sweet gown of petals.  This is one of those weddings that makes video so awesome - it captures the cheerful spirit of this wedding so well. And with the teals, aquas, turquoise, sand and white as her color story...love.  just love.

Thank you so much iheART films for sharing this! I'd love for you to see more of this wedding story in photos, click here. Trust me- you want to see more.

Floral: Floral Artistry Sanibel
Officiant: Tom Funk
Band: None Other
Cake: Kakes by Karen
Venue: Sunset Cove and Kings Crown Lawn at South Seas Island Resort on Captiva Island, Florida

Hemingway Inspired Destination Wedding

Today I was reminded of one of my favorite weddings on Captiva, Florida at South Seas Island Resort.

Jen and Des designed some their own decorations for this very Hemingway themed wedding.

Des, the groom, wore a personalized tie clip. I love his style! 

 Jen and Des on the boardwalk to Captiva beach, behind Chapel by the Sea. 

The Muller's captured this traditional wedding photo on the sand dunes making it a little less traditional!

Chapel by the Sea is known for their traditional sea glass blue pews.

Just married!

The bridesmaids wore sophisticated, but beach perfect, strapless, knee length, turquoise dresses.

Instead of a typical guestbook the bride and groom used a Hemingway coffee table book and asked guests to leave notes under the images. 

 The vintage labels above the card box and guest book were collected by the bride during the months we were planning her wedding.

For seating, the groom used titles of Hemingway's manuscripts & made an authentic looking covers.

Each title was actually the name of a guest dining table.

Under each title he put the guest's names. 

 The bride and groom collected several 

antique, Hemingway themed items to display at their wedding for decoration.

 Des designed all the paper details including the table name, menu cards, and place cards.

  

To make the reception feel a little less traditional-been there-done that, we used longer rectangular Kings tables that sat 8-12 guests each.  These are great for low and long centerpieces like these.

The bouquets included roses, succulents, and green viburnum.

We love what Floral Artistry created for the table centerpieces.

Including the fruits made it very island authentic. 

For more images from this wedding, check out our real wedding pinterest board

A Beach, A Tent, and Fuchsia Peonies Vol 2

Did you enjoy the video? Audrey and Mike shared some more of the wedding and I thought after seeing the video you might want to see more! Enjoy these great photos:

The bridesmaids bouquets

A pre ceremony toast

I'm still dying over this bouquet by Signature Floral. Have you ever seen such stunning colors of peonies, roses, ranunculus?

Who doesn't love a petal dressed aisle?

See- THIS is great use of flowers at a beach wedding!

I love calligraphy. ALOT. Thank you Samira for these!

And no, you most certainly do not have to go overboard with the "beach" or "shell" theme...its quite possible to keep it elegant and simple!

A lined tent (draped poles too) with great lighting and pretty linens to match. All the details are what make this look so perfectly sophisticated.

The cigar roller was a surprise from Andrea to Will.  He was a huge hit of course.  The tent-patio we placed just outside the tent was the perfect compliment.

The fireworks show was a surprise for all the wedding guests and marked the start of the after party!

Audrey & Mike, thank you so much for sharing the photos.

A Beach, A Tent, and Fuchsia Peonies, oh yes.

Last November we had the most lovely tented wedding at South Seas resort on Captiva Island.  Here is a little peek into the day, courtesy of AMC Video


Andrea and Will had their ceremony on Sunset Cove and cocktail hour on Sunset Beach before heading to the tented lawn after an amazing sunset.  The raspberry and fuchsia flowers (roses, orchids and peonies) by Signature Florals were so pretty and cheerful, just like Andrea.  Before the night was over, all the guests headed over to the beach one last time for a surprise fireworks show.
I miss this wedding... I'll blog pictures next!

Elegant, Sophisticated Stylish Beach Wedding found Vol. 2

Yesterday I opened my mailbox and found a dvd inside from Alys dad. He actually took the time to compile a slideshow format movie of the wedding weekend with all the pictures they collected from their guests. What a great idea and I can not wait to watch it tonight. In the meantime, here are more pictures from Concept and a few bits of insight into what was truly one of the best weekends I've ever had the pleasure of planning.

Color goes a very long way at beach weddings because your environments are usually every "un-color" imaginable. If you don't infuse some color; go heavy on texture.

Aly & Mike had a Beatles inspired ceremony.  I can't wait to see the video because the toast the Aly's dear friend made was hands down the best tie into a ceremony I have ever heard.

 Got 5 more minutes of light before you head into cocktail hour? Practice your 1st dance!

 I will forever love market lighting and clear tents.

 I still have visions of this engagement ring running through my head. STUNNING.

Yes, she forgot the bouquet.  But really, do you think she could have been any happier?  I have to admit, I kind of love the excited hand wave!

We could have removed all the seats after dinner because nobody sat down again once the band got going.

 Brown eyed girl with the best lashes ever.

How sweet are the petals on this dress? I adore Monique Lhuillier

 I will forever love long tables at weddings. Why?

1. Because people love to sit at them so much more than round tables. You can easily talk to multiple people, not just the person to your left or right.

2. Because the centerpieces fill the entire table (I kind of love flowers and so does Floral Artistry).

3. They take up less space.

Get hair & makeup. You will not regret it so long as you hire REAL professionals who use quality products. Doing this will ensure that you look great pre-ceremony until the band unplugs.

Pad your wedding day prep time so that there is time to just sit and enjoy the people around you.  It's such a nice part of the experience of your wedding day.  Drink some champagne, plug in the ipod and giggle.

 The fun photos are the ones you'll cherish the most.  Key reason to LOVE your photographers so that you are totally comfortable being yourself.  When I say love, I mean like you want to have lunch with them and then drink martini's and friend them on facebook love.

A good officiant means everything.  He's the guy who will guide you through the most powerful words you'll ever speak to someone.  I kind of wish this picture was in color, the vow book I designed for Aly & Mike was so pretty.

 Details! From top left:
White Hydrangea, white roses and phalaenopsis orchids
Custom wine bottle table numbers I designed blended right into the table (I'm not a big fan of table numbers)
The blue runners and napkins allowed the flowers take center stage during the day when there was so much light.  In the evening the candlelight took on this duty.
The rock candy was Aly's super cute idea.  The tags said' "You Rock!" Thanks for coming.  This was a small hint to the blue candy bar we had later in the evening.

I wanted to keep the tables less cluttered so we made these framed chalkboards for the menu and table assignments.
The cake. YUM and gorgeous.  Who doesn't love a bunch of pretty ruffles? 

 Rush matting aisle runner. Keep it natural on the beach folks.

 Look really close...the champagne glass says Mr. (Aly's says Mrs a few photos up)

 This dress was made for this twirl.

The end. {insert giggle}
Vol 1 is here
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