Category — Florida

I wanted to share a quick link to a beautiful venue here in Sarasota, FL, the Ca d’Zan Mansion & Ringling Museum of Art.

The estate, established by John & Mable Ringling is 66 acres of landscaped grounds, including a Rose Garden perfect for an outdoor ceremony.  The mansion sits on the Sarasota Bay & offers beautiful sunset views for terrace receptions.  If you desire to have a Venetian feel to your wedding without going to Venice, this estate is really the perfect place.  Plus Sarasota offers so much for your guests, including nearby Siesta Key’s soft, white beaches.

And if you’re looking for an elegant yet dramatic reception venue I highly recommend the museum courtyard.   For further information contact the Events Dept. at 941.359.5700 x 5703. 

I love photographing weddings at the Marco Beach Ocean Resort. There are so many amazing locations for photography.

It’s tailor-made for destination weddings. You get to have your wedding in an absolutely gorgeous location, and your guests get to really enjoy a wonderful get away too!

The staff is exceptional at the Marco Beach Ocean Resort. The Director of Catering, Melissa Burke-Cabral, and the Wedding Coordinator, Jade Calvert are a pleasure to work with, and will help you plan the wedding of your dreams. Please tell them I sent you.

The Marco Beach Ocean Resort does lots of beautiful and grand full-day weddings. But they also have a wonderful all-inclusive package that is perfect for smaller weddings or weddings of a shorter duration.

The Romantic Escape includes:

• Beachside or garden terrace ceremony with arched trellis and carpeted aisle runner with flower petals
• White wedding chairs or tiki torches to mark ceremony area
• Officiate to write personalized ceremony and complete legal documents
• Tropical or traditional floral bridal bouquet and boutonniere*
• Chilled towel service and iced water and tea station
• Two hours of photography services for photos of ceremony, sunset and other scenic venues at the Resort
• Keepsake copy of wedding vows and decorative marriage certificate
• Bottle of champagne delivered to room or available for toast following ceremony

Here are several photographs from two recent weddings by Shari Bare Photography.

I’ve been wanting to highlight Ian Prosser and his team at Botanica for a while since I really, really love his work.  Based out of Florida, they travel internationally, creating beautiful wedding and event floral designs.  So if you’re looking for a unique, elegant floral designer give their site a visit.  And to see a recent real wedding, visit their blog.  Happy Friday!!

A beautiful reason to choose sunset weddings on the terrace at the Ritz Carlton Beach Club in Sarasota.

The staff is exceptional and they have a list of vendors in the Sarasota area who are also top notch.  So if you’re considering an elegant Florida beach or sunset wedding give them a call.  Enjoy your weekend!

Kelly McWilliams, the genius behind so many fabulous destination weddings with her company Weddings by Socialites, has done it again with the opening of the WBS Planning Studio and Brides Library in Cape Coral, Florida.

This is such a great idea. The studio is open to ALL brides, not just Kelly’s clients. It’s a fun place to get some amazing inspiration. She and her staff have really done a great job with their new studio. It just feels bridal!

As Kelly puts it, “We’re trying to make it easy for brides to find only the best of the best. Every bride that comes in will have the opportunity to browse my wedding library for inspiration, will be offered beverages (yum, champagne!), browse & purchase wedding stationary, and be introduced to your amazing work (local vendors). Of course, they’ll also be offered a consultation upon request.”

Here are some pictures from the grand opening celebration, which was lots of fun! Here’s me and my honey Sean, Kelly’s in the middle.

Give Kelly a call at 239-673-9620, or visit her really fun blog: http://www.weddingsbysocialites.blogspot.com/

Not necessarily the Disney wedding you dreamed of with Mickey, Minnie and the Cinderella mice but it does include style, sophistication and a wedding designed by the very talented David Tutera.  Choose from design elements that are elegant and chic with chandeliers, gilded mirrors and unique lighting packages.  The Disney team assist you in bringing to life your fairy tale wedding.  And if you still want to ride in Cinderella’s Coach pulled by 6 white horses, they can easily arrange that too! 

So if you’ve always dreamed of that princess wedding consider Disney Weddings.

Talking with Melissa Margarita-DiStefano, owner of Masterpiece Weddings, is so much fun & you’re instantly drawn to her sense of humor.  She has been coordinating weddings in Gainesville, FL for years and has a wealth of information for brides.  So I decided to chat with her about destination weddings in Florida, as well as, some great venues.  First I wanted to share a few shots of Melissa in action, grabbed by photographers during weddings, just to show how much she loves her job.

{snapped by K-Gallery }

{photo by Life Long Studios }

As you can see she’s always smiling and from what I hear she has one killer wedding emergency kit!

I don’t normally post the interview word for word but she is so funny I thought the only way to do her justice was to post it all.  So without further ado, here is Melissa’s advice for brides on planning a destination wedding:

1.       What % of your clients are destination brides to Florida?

 Let’s see – according to Miss Seabreeze at Wedding Bee, the definition of a Destination Wedding is:

Destination Wedding* (děs’tə-nā’shən wěd’ĭng) n. Also known as “DW”.

1. A celebration of love that takes place in a location other than the bride and groom’s current place of residence.

2. An amazingly fun excuse to get your closest friends and family together for a week-long get-to-know-you gathering.

3. A slightly sneaky, but completely gratifying, way for someone who wants their wedding day to last FOREVER to stretch the festivities from the usual 12-48 hours to a deliciously extravagant 168 hours.

* Source: the unofficial dictionary of Sea Breeze-isms

 According to the official definition, we work with a fair amount of brides that are planning out of town weddings, if they live in Chicago or Boston, New York or LA, and using our town (Gainesville) as their Destination. They went to school here and decide to get married here, which I think is super fun! I mean pictures in the Gator’s Stadium are fantastical! Especially the super sleuthy way of sneaking in (but shhhhh… don’t tell anyone!) And we also do loads of beach weddings – we are 1 hour away from either coast, so pick a beach, the Gulf or the Atlantic Ocean, and we are there, both are incredible! Having a Destination Wedding is so much fun, you are extending the time you are spending with your loved ones, making the event so much more special, I know I didn’t answer the question, sorry!

2.       Why is Florida an excellent destination wedding spot over say the Caribbean?

I heart Florida! The Caribbean is absolutely amazing – but think about it, I mean seriously think about it. I am not a financial analyst (I’m a Wedding Consultant…), but unless you own a plane (can I borrow it?) and have a secret stash of foreign currency (oh that too!), with the price of the dollar plummeting- it’s first, much more overall expensive to get married in the Caribbean!

 When you have incredible breathtaking views right here, why go anywhere else. There is history in Florida like no other (Ponce de leon, he found this chunk of rock quite a while ago), have you been to Destin or Sandestin Beach? The white sand on that beach and the smell of the air, if I could bottle it, I certainly would! It’s intoxicating! Florida has more coastline than any other state in the US!! I almost feel like a commercial, but why go anywhere else?

 3.       Some favorite venues & locations in Florida.

Gosh, these questions are getting harder and harder! I feel like I’m taking my SAT’s again! Is there a limit to this question, do I have to stop at 50 locations or 3? Okay… let’s see.

·         St. Augustine is beautiful, you can take some incredible pictures at The Forts where the Spanish originally attempted to “hold down the fort” literally. The beaches are beautiful, the quaint downtown is super fun!

·         Destin Beach (or frankly anywhere on the Panhandle) is amazing! There are several all-inclusive resorts right on the water, so you can save some money and be right on the water, there are award winning beaches, incredible food, did I mention the shopping, and the Outlets!!! Wait back to weddings, Destin is amazing!

·         The Keys are amazing, why not get married at the end of the US… Mile Marker 0… its historic, it’s not something just anyone can do, you can get married on a boat and have a Frozen Drink Station with all the Island fav’s and it’s super casual.

·         Amelia Island is so beautiful! It has a Rtiz Carlton right on the water, with your own private beach, you can be treated like a queen! There’s the Amelia Island Plantation, again amazing!

 4.       With your destination brides, how do you build the relationship with them so they feel comfortable interacting with you on their wedding day?

I love my destination brides, it’s so much fun to chat with them on the phone and with the invention of this new fangled thing called the Internet, it’s so easy! We can talk on the phone, email pictures, send websites to one another. Really with brides working full time I almost get to talk to my destination client more than my local ones. And our destination brides get fun presents from us in the mail, we send them fun wedding DVD’s with bags of popcorn and Wedding Magazines regularly – so they feel loved and know that we are working just as hard for them as we would anyone else.

 I also think that blogs help a lot, because brides get a peek into what we are working and glimpses of my personal life, so we are absolutely BFF’s by the time their wedding rolls around. And I love that!!

 5.       What is the process after the wedding, even for a destination bride?

First after the wedding, I get home, take off my shoes, take a deep breath, pour myself a glass of wine and reflect on the wedding and a job well done.

 Did you mean like after, after the wedding??? So after the wedding, let’s say on Monday – I write a Thank You note to all of the vendors I worked with, and send a card to my client congratulating them and then – we return any times that need to be returned, cake stands, tuxedo’s, left over booze –that sort of stuff. We make sure that any deposits get put back on her credit cards, verify that all of the vendors have everything they need.

 Then I wait a week or so (until the bride and groom get home and settled) and then we talk on the phone and I find out if they need anything from us and if there is anything they need for us to take care of. We’ve even been asked to write the bride and grooms thank you cards! I did – because we are full service like that!

 6.       What’s your advice to a destination bride?

The best advice I can give you is to not forget to breathe. Oh - and Hire a Wedding Consultant!

 I know sounds silly, but with all of the advice flying at you at a bazillion miles a minute it’s easy to forget that this wedding is a celebration of your love, your life together. NOT Aunt Martha’s fascination with Carnations, or your Mother’s Best Friend’s obsession with your wedding having a receiving line. It’s your wedding. Listen to their advice, and let it roll right over. Don’t bash them or tell them that you are or aren’t doing it, just breathe and say thank you, we’ll definitely look at how that fits into our wedding.

 Remember this is your day, and your dream! And it’s our mission to make sure that your dream for your lives most cherished celebration becomes a reality.

So I hope you enjoyed hearing from Melissa as much as we have enjoyed chatting with her.  She really is a pro & please check her site & blog out.  As she said, she puts a lot of her work & self into the blog so it’s a great way to see into her world.  Thanks Melissa!

I featured this on my personal blog, too, but it was so good it deserves to be repeated!

This was my first event at South Seas Island Resort, and I was so impressed. Located at the very tip of Captiva Island (next to Sanibel Island), you really feel like you are a world away. Which is exactly why James and Glenn chose this location. They live in Naples, but wanted to provide both their local and out-of-town guests something extra special. And they did. Everybody loved the venue!

Kelly McWilliams of Weddings by Socialites did an amazing job putting this all together and was also lots of fun to work with. Amanda Deminie, the Catering Sales Manager at South Seas Island Resort, is a total sweetie and also super great to work with. I highly recommend this venue if you’re thinking about a wedding in Southwest, Florida. Or even just a vacation!

Considering taking your precious pooch with you for your wedding?   Maybe you even want them in your wedding but you’re not sure which resorts will accomodate your requests.  Well here are a couple of excellent hotels that not only allow pets but they pamper them too.

The Loews Miami Beach Hotel

This upscale luxury hotel welcome all dogs of all sizes as long as they are “well behaved”.  In fact they have a program “Loews Loves Pets” that welcomes him/her with special treats, a Loews tag & bowl.  And check out their room service menu for pets!  How cool!!  They are happy to  show you several dog walking routes, so your pet can get some exercise, as well as, refer groomers and vets if needed.  They also have beds available if needed.  And their fee for all this attention is only $25. per stay.  Definitely pet friendly.

Mayfair Hotel & Spa

 The Mayfair is a chic boutique in the Coconut Grove area of Miami.  They are allow up to two pets per room and only charge a flat rate of $25.  They have pet amenities such as a pet bed, pet lounging mat, bottled water with bowl for your little friend & the ‘Mayfair’ biscuits.  Another great resort to consider when planning your destination wedding in Miami.