Real wedding: Sugar Bride

Jenny. The sweetest bride with the biggest sweet tooth I have ever come across. There was no lack for sugar at this weekend wedding extravaganza! From the welcome packages to the girl scout cookie favors, there was no lack of sugar…ever. Jenny and her very cool groom Brett have demanding jobs in NYC, so I did most of the planning with Jennys mom Nadine who's across the state in Miami. Daily phone calls, emails, and the occasional trip over were always fun with Nadine. By the time the wedding came we were like family. The girls (Dom, Danielle and Michelle) and I miss them all. It was a crazy wild and fun six months of planning. Ok so why sugar bride? The wedding was one part amazing flowers, one part rockin band, and 4 parts sugar. The welcome packages had at least 3 types of sugar or gum in them, at the rehearsal dinner there was smores packages for the guests to use at the firepit, and at the reception:

• A massive Candy Buffet
  
• A late night Sweet Café with a chef who made berries flambé to order
  
• Hundreds of cupcakes
  
• Fruit kabobs passed on the dancefloor
  
• Girl Scout Cookies for favors
  

All the weekend festivities took place at LaPlaya Beach & Golf resort in Naples. Truly- it's a stunning resort, you can't ask for much better when you want a big city wedding in a beach environment.

All these photos are from Steve Gold Photography. What a totally nice guy! We flipped when these photos came in the mail yesterday. I had almost forgotten how unbelievable gorgeous that Chuppah was, oh and the candle lit aisle leading up to it. Stunning. I still don't know how he got that shot from above. He must have angel wings :)

A real wedding with Real Style Photography.But not Jest-er ordinary wedding.

I can't help the corny title, it was too hard to pass up. With Jester as a last name, I knew there would be fun with this crowd. It was a perfect wedding weekend. There really weren't any surprises until I got the photos back from the photographer. Why? Because they are phenomenal. Jason P Smith- remember that name. At the wedding I barely even knew he was there. He didn't pose anyone- ever. He just let it happen. I was nervous of course, thinking that there was no way he was getting any good shots. Boy was I wrong! I have a new name for his style of photography: Real. Basically, if you're looking to have still memories of your wedding the way it actually happened- Jason is your man. I can't wait to work with him again.
For the ceremony at South Seas resort we had a canopy structure designed that gave the beach some intrigue, but still allowed the backdrop of the ceremony be the true beauty of the space. While Holly walked down the aisle, I kid you not, there were dolphins jumping directly behind the groom. Unbelieveable.
Hollys one request for her bouquet was Lady Slipper Orchids. Well let me tell you something, it took a long trip from Thailand to get those blooms. I had my breath held for weeks that they would arrive. But it was worth it because Holly broke into tears when she saw them. Truly one of the most beautiful bouquets I've ever seen.
A couple little touches- we had a small cigar bar and a signature plate rather than favors and a guest book.
Dinner was out on the lawn under a bazillion stars and then we moved inside for a few great hours of dancing. Starting with an awesome 1st dance to Alicia Keys' "No one".

A Cruise to Cabbage Key

Since most of the weddings I plan are weekend weddings, I get to plan some really great shindigs for my clients. This spring we had our fair share of awesome parties. But the one that seems to have been the overall crowd pleaser was the cruise to Cabbage Key for lunch or dinner. Here's the thing. If you go to the Cabbage Key website, it really doesn't look that thrilling. And if you look at the Captiva Cruises website, the boats don't look like they will blow you away. But let me tell you something, in reality, these 2 combined are off the charts fun.

Why? It's the experience of spending 4 hours with a group of your closest family and friends. It's seeing the dolphins follow the boat, jump the wakes, and completely soak crazy groomsman Jack. It's being in the open air and seeing all the surrounding islands with a cold Captiva Breeze cocktail (yummy beyond all imagination)in hand. If you charter the Lady Chadwick, when you get to Cabbage Key the staff greets you at the dock with another tropical cocktail before you head up to the restaurant for some casual island fare. This is no chain restuarant! The staff all live on the island, and the menu is the menu...they make burgers one way, the good way.

Once your done eating, there's only native Cabbage Key things to do. Climb to the top of the water tower for an unforgettable view, go on a short hike, play football on the lawn, lay out on the beach, chase a turtle (this requires several captiva breezes to be funny), play the hook game (see previous post), and most importantly, hang your signed dollar in the dollar bill room.

I know this sounds like a sales pitch, but its more my intention of letting you in on a secret spot. It's the perfect prefix to the big wedding day. Many times my clients are concerned that its just too casual. Yeah, well, I can say this- I've never heard a single guest use any description but, "Wow, incredible, amazing, teriffic, wonderful, outstanding..."

Oh, and if you have an extra day to spare, rent out the entire island for your wedding party and throw the biggest most fun overnight relaxing bash ever. Party all night, sleep til the sun comes up, gather for breakfast, and then head back to Captiva totally prepared to enjoy the rest of the wedding festivitites. Nothin to do but chill out and have fun together. Speaking from personal experience (my 30th birthday)- it rocks!

Blogging from T-Dock

Danielle and I are having a busy wedding planning day down here! This morning we dropped off the Smith wedding welcome bags on Sanibel Island and then headed out here to South Seas on Captiva to meet up with Super Sarah. It's finally her wedding week! We made some adjustments to a few of her welcome bags (which are unbelievably amazing- photos to come) and dropped them at front desk. Then we headed over to RC Otters in Captiva Village for a crunchy Grouper sandwich. Can I just say how good that sandwich is? When you come, you'll have to try it. Okay, so while we were waiting for our sandwiches, we watched Sarah & Ben roll by in their golf cart and we played a couple rounds of the hook game. Looks stupid- but incredibly addictive. Again, you'll have to come try it out. Now we're sitting out on the dock, watching the manatees, blogging (Danielle is studying for her accounting quiz), soaking in the sun. I am totally cracking up right now by the way. This sure beats working from the office. It's absolutely gorgeous weather- about 80, Gulf breeze, perfect amount of sun, not a cloud in the sky. Love it! We have Glenn & James' tasting at 2:00 about 20 steps away. Oh life is good.
ok, so I know I always post photos- but for some reason I can't get them to upload. I'll try again when we go inside. Ciao for now!

Style Your Dream Wedding Ya gotta get this book

Hands down, I think this is the best wedding book I've opened in years. Those of you who have been reading this blog for the last nearly 2 years know that I am a wedding book phiene. Love love love the wedding books. Well Susie Coelho must have a direct link to the zone in my brain that constantly seeks wedding inspiration. Page after page it has the best wedding photos. And I have to say, some really good advice as well. The book has a myriad of features besides the 600 amazing photos: Quiz booklet, Color palette booklet, Dress silhouette accordion pullout, Six 8-page gatefolds, CD of wedding music, even Postcards. It's insane there's so much stuffed into this book. Truly, it's worth every penny and then some. My personal favorite pages are pages 1 thru the LAST FREAKIN PAGE.
Click below to buy from my favorite online book store (for way less than what I paid for it!):