We loved Stacy and Steve’s elegant St. Augustine wedding at the River House with beautiful sapphire blue, cream and splashes of purple details. One of my favorite parts of the evening was when Stacy made her beautiful long wedding dress into an amazing short dress as a surprise for Steve right before their first dance! As advice to new brides, Stacy said, “Enjoy every minute of the day because it passes very quickly.” They wanted a fun celebration with their family and friends and that was exactly what they got – so many people there to share their joy. Courtney and I were so happy to be able to be apart of it!
We loved Allison and Jed’s Vintage beach DIY wedding at the Casa Marina Hotel. Teal, seashells and starfish on a really rainy day. And Allison looked like a movie star. My best friend Pegi is the grooms step-mom – her family was all there and are dear friends which was so fun for us. Congratulations Allison and Jed! Thank you for including us on that wonderful day xo
I asked Allison to share some thoughts of her wedding day:
Describe your wedding day style in one sentence: Our wedding day was relaxed, vintage beach with a little bit if liquid sunshine on the side! Wedding day color scheme: Ombré teals and tan. Describe your wedding planning process: My entire wedding was DIY! From all decor to flowers to the music. All of it was done by Jed and I, with the help of our family! What advice would you give to future brides for their wedding day? Things will go wrong, people will show up late and see you before walking down the aisle! Take a deep breath and let it go! Enjoy every single moment, mistakes and all because it goes by so fast! Anything you would have done differently? Been a little more prepared for the rain! I didn’t have a plan B and wish I would have! Most memorable moment during the planning process: Spending an entire weekend with my mom and nana making all of the centerpieces, bouquets and wrapping up decoration ideas. We call it our “wedding weekend” (In February!) What are you most looking forward to as a married couple? Having our best friend by our side for life! Also, Starting our life together and hopefully starting our own family one day! Which moment are you the most excited to see in photos? The first look and the wedding party with umbrellas! What was your wedding inspiration? We love the beach, so having our wedding at a historical beachside hotel was perfect for us. We wanted our wedding to be relaxed, tropical and a memorable day for everyone! Describe some of your favorite wedding details and how you came up with them. I love starfish! (Even have a tattoo of one!) my favorite details were the hundreds of starfish placed all around the reception! Another detail Jed and I worked hard on was our picture frame of our family and friends who have passed and were unable to come to the wedding. Having their pictures there reminded us of everyone who was watching from heaven!
We had so much fun at Joy and Gabe’s engagement session that we became friends right away. So of course we were quite excited for their Casa Feliz wedding! They are both chiropractors that planned their wedding while working, finishing school and graduating – all from California. Despite the rain, their wedding was beautiful – full of friends, family, Filipino traditions and their beloved Cocoa. Thank you Joy and Gabe or including us in such a wonderful night!
I am so in love with this Cocoa Beach Trash the Dress Photography shoot with Kim amd Royce! There was a tropical storm on the the night of their wedding. Their plans for a beautiful under-the-tent on the beach wedding went away with the wind! So we got together after for a fun run on Cocoa Beach “After the wedding”. No storms can keep these two apart.
Cocoa Beach Trash the Dress Photography provided by The Canovas Photography.
I was so happy to get a call from Abigail to talk about a Trash the Dress session for her and her husband Joel. The New York couple was visiting family in Florida and wanted to do a shoot for their 5th year wedding anniversary in Cocoa Beach. Though we had never met, we all felt like we had been friends for a long time. Abigail and Joel were so sweet with each other, loving and romantic but also funny – there was lots of laughing. I felt like they had a secret that only the two of them understood. They made our job quite simple.
Courtney and I had the most wonderful wedding anniversary last November, our 6th. We spent it with 20 new amazing friends and 2 we knew well – Yvonne and Eric. We were all on the wonderful Fantasy Disney Cruise for their wedding! We were so honored to be there and to photograph their beautiful wedding. They treated us like family which meant so much to us. We’ve had two other shoots with them, an engagement shoot in Florida and one in New York, both so much fun and just re-enforced our friendship. Getting to meet and spend days on a cruise with them and their friends and family was icing on the wedding cake! Thank you Yvonne and Eric for including us in your lives. We are so lucky and honored to be there xo
I asked Yvonne and Eric to give us some insights on their Disney Cruise Wedding – in their words: Planning our wedding was surprisingly really simple. The two of us enjoy cruising very much and it was an easy decision to do a cruise wedding. I think I can speak for the both of us that we enjoy the company of our close friends and family very much. Because of that, we wanted them to also enjoy our wedding and hopefully make it as their own vacation.
Choosing a cruise line wasn’t that hard either. I always wanted to sail with Disney but never could justify the cost for a week long cruise. Disney had to be for something special and something that would make me disregard the cost entirely. It is the best decision we made. Disney just made everything so much easier. That’s why I said planning our wedding was really simple. They took care of almost everything. Flowers, cake, champagne flutes, music… and of course Disney’s unbelievable customer service. They really go up and beyond for you. Aside from the cruise line planning guide, I added some extra detail to make it more personal to us. Instead of ordering all fresh flowers for the groomsmen and bridesmaids, I ordered silk flowers from Etsy for them. It was fraction of the price if I were to get fresh flowers from Disney. Best thing about the silk flowers, you can keep it for as long as you like. They turned out so beautiful and real looking. We also gave our guests little tote bags with goodies in it to use for the cruise. It’s our thank you/ favors for them.
Every day/night on the cruise has been amazing. I think what made it so incredible is the fact that we had 25 of our closest friends and family with us on this amazing week long vacation. We were so overwhelmed and grateful that they took time off just to be there for us. It really is….there’s really no words to express how great they all are. To ask us what our favorite thing about the cruise is, it’s hard to give you one thing. We loved everything about it. From the rotation dinners, to pirate’s night, and knowing some of our friends were stalking their favorite cabaret singer. Speaking of which, our pianist, Cara Oman (the bridal party’s favorite cabaret singer) for the wedding ceremony was fantastic. We were so pleased to find out that she was going to play the piano and sing at our wedding. Actually I think the bridal was more ecstatic than we were. I mean they really stalked her, haha. But if I really had to choose a moment to stop time, it would be that very moment when I walked up to the aisle with my dad by my side, and me seeing Eric standing up, there waiting for me with that smile of his, being surrounded by everyone we love. You can just feel all that love and happiness just radiate off everyone. I tear up just thinking about it now.
This is one of those events in life that you can never forget, at least not for us. We will always treasure the memories we had on this wonderful cruise and we will always be thankful to have just wonderful friends and family. They mean the world to us and our wedding wouldn’t be that amazing without them.
Dream Vacation Planner – Pixie and Pirate Destinations – Lisa Reese
Planner- DCL-Disney’s Fairy Tale Wedding and Honeymoon
Floral- DCL- Disney’s Fairy Tale Wedding and Honeymoon, bouquet of white calla lily. BM floral: from Etsy : Songs from the Garden: Lavender real touch calla lily
Shoes- Custom Chuck Taylor converse, beach: Badgley Mischka– Naomi T-strapped Decorated wedge, and reception: Menbur ‘Strass’ pump
Dress- Mori Lee– Elegant Alencon Lace style 1862
Bridesmaid Dresses- Bill Levkoff style 764 color Amethyst
Menswear- Jcrew lightweight chino urban slim in khakis and Jcrew linen shirt in purple and Eric in white.
Officiant- DCL- Bahamian officiant
Cake- DCL- Touch of character, Marble cake flavor with 2 fillings: lemon butter cream and raspberry butter cream
Reception venue – Fantasy Outlook
Ceremony venue – Disney’s Castaway Cay
A perfect night for a small, intimate wedding – New Year’s Eve! So much fun with Lindsey and Zach and their closest friends and family at a private residence in Deland, Florida. We started off on the Stetson University campus – these are a few of our favorites. Happy New Year!
Dress: The White Dress by Evenings by Allure
Make Up and hair: MAC Altamonte Springs
I met Lauren when she was in high school. The fashion photographer in me saw her beautiful face, big eyes and long legs and I said to her Mom: “Please call me when she is ready for her model portfolio!” Which she did, which lead to our friendship and then to them sitting on our living room couch talking about her wedding to her handsome military man Trevor. We loved this wedding! I haven’t seen so much laughing at a wedding like this – giggling really. Such a happy and perfect-for-each-other couple! Thank you Lauren and Trevor for including us in your wonderful family celebration!
And special thanks to Michelle, our amazing wedding coordinator, for this wonderful commentary of Lauren and Trevor’s big night:
On November 2nd 2013, Lauren married her love Trevor at the beautiful Garden Chateau in Winter Garden Florida. This sweet couple showed their love for one another, as well as their family and friends, throughout their remarkable wedding day.
The ceremony took place on the Garden Lawn, adored with market lighting and mason jar floral – the mood was set for the lovely, sentimental ceremony. The purple and lavender floral, provided by Lee Forrest Designs, popped against the gorgeous green Garden Lawn of the Garden Chateau. As Lauren and her father entered through the garden gate, with the view of Johns Lake as their background, guests were in awe.
Lauren was the epitome of vintage elegance with her lace Vera Wang gown and fabulous lace boots. From head to toe, Lauren was breathtaking. Bridesmaids dressed in deep purple cocktail dresses – flower girl Rachel made a special entrance by passing out purple roses as she walked down the aisle. The charming details the couple added to their ceremony made each guest feel so loved.
The evening was complete with dinner in the library and cake cutting in the Grand Room. Candlelight and family photos created a homey, family feel in the Library where dinner was served. The talented Darlene Wood created the three-tiered buttercream cake, embellished with delicate flowers in various shades of purple. Guests enjoyed tea and coffee in antique teacups belonging to the Mother of the Bride. This family affair is one to remember!
Congratulations Lauren and Trevor – wishing you are lifetime of love and happiness!
When our good friend Mary (editor of Oviedo-Winter Springs Life magazine) introduced us to her niece Christen and her fiance Brad, it was love at first sight for us. Christen works for the Sarasota Humane Society and he is a mortgage broker and live in Sarasota. They were so wonderful and funny and made us feel like we had all been friends for years. (See their sweet and romantic engagement session here.)
We sat and talked about their wedding for a long time – we were so excited since we love destination weddings and we love Savannah! It was beautiful with amazing details in midnight blue and grays at a beautiful little chapel and a reception a the historic Olde Pink House.
In Christen’s words, “As soon as Brad and I met, I knew he was the one. After six years of dating, Brad and I went to Siesta Key one evening to watch the sunset and he surprised me by proposing! After dinner, Brad had another surprise up his sleeve and brought me to our local hangout where ALL our friends were waiting to celebrate with us!
I knew I wanted us to get married in Savannah. Every summer growing up, we would stop in Savannah on our way up to my stepdad’s family lake house and I simply fell in love with the city. The charm, the people, the food…the city is captivating!
Planning a destination wedding is quite a lot of work, so thank goodness we had a year to plan! And thank goodness for my Aunt Mary, who introduced me to Bianca at the Pink House. As soon as I took a tour of the Pink House and met Bianca, I knew we had found our reception site! Bianca was wonderful and helped me find all our wonderful vendors. If I could give any advice to future brides, get a coordinator! Cindy Brown was our day-of coordinator and she was amazing! Between her and Bianca, they kept me on task and the wedding was everything we could have hoped for! Every vendor was so friendly and accommodating and so easy to work with!
We were surrounded by our closest friends and family and it was simply the best day of our lives.”
Christen and Brad – Thank you for including us in one of favorite celebrations – you and your family and friends made our jobs so easy. xo
