Besides adding some fun to their wedding, which every wedding should have, the couple had other reasons for choosing to have a destination wedding in Key West. “We chose Key West because I wanted a destination that felt like a tropical getaway, but was still in the United States, so guests wouldn’t have to worry about international travel or needing passports to attend,” says the bride. “The funny thing is, I had actually never even been to Key West before I booked everything. I made my decision because Lyle had spent a lot of time there and he loved it. Lyle was a little nervous that I wouldn’t like it because he feared it might be different than I was picturing, which was that it’s a lay-on-the-beach type place, but I instantly fell in love when we went there for the first time for a planning trip.”
For guests, they were excited to travel to Key West for the couple’s big day. Many of the guests had never been to Key West before and had always wanted to go, while others had been to the location and couldn’t wait to go back. “Others that didn’t really know what to expect had a great time, so it was a great mix,” says Heidi. “There were some that couldn’t attend because it was far for them to travel, but they also wouldn’t have been able to make it if we had it in our hometown, so although we missed them greatly, we didn’t regret our decision in the slightest.”
This wedding was such a pleasure to capture, the couple married on the beach of Danielle’s parents home in Islamorada Florida. “We wanted to embrace the natural beauty of the Florida Keys, wit a formal yet fun feeling to it all” Danielle said. Bromelias, air plants driftwood and fresh flowers all added to they decor, and the menu featured fresh local fish. One of our favorite guest was ‘Solo” Danielle and Mitch beautiful pet.
Mindy and Cort wanted a venue on the beach where they can accommodate their family and close friends, including 5 puppies. Cort proposed on the most original way:
It took a lot of planning and preparation. He knew he had to include our dogs somehow in the proposal. He originally tried to do it in my hometown of Vermilion, OH surrounded by my family and our pets. When schedules wouldn’t permit, he decided to propose in Aruba but enlisted the help of my neighbor to craft a creative proposal that incorporated our pets. They came up with the 4 dogs holding a sign that read “Will you marry me?” and placed it on a card. While in Aruba he took me to the Renaissance Private Island to get a couple massages in a bungalow hut over the water. Once the massage was complete, the masseuse handed me a packet. In the packet was the card with the 4 dogs and an china egg that my dad used to propose to my mom! I knew exactly what that egg meant and the card was the perfect way to ask. To see more click in Style Me Pretty click here.
From the bride:
Cort is from Columbus, Ohio and I’m from Vermilion, Ohio. I used to work in Fort Myers, Florida, but after we met on Match.com, I changes jobs and moved back to the Columbus area to be with him. When I was in the middle of changing jobs, Cort took me to the Cheeca Lodge and Spa for a weekend getaway and celebration. For that reason, the Florida Keys have a special meaning to the both of us. We knew we wanted a small wedding with just our families and 4-legged family members. Finding a venue that allowed dogs, and that our families would enjoy, was a priority for us. Our wedding planner Julia, from Blue Water Weddings, found a realtor who showed us a few homes and walked us through how things would be for the wedding. It was perfect seeing the homes with her because she could visually walk us through the layout for the wedding.
We are honored to have this beautiful event featured on Style Me Pretty. To see more, click here.
From the bride:
We love how much we deeply love each other. We both truly care for the other, and that just brings us such security. Both calm, get along well, and enjoy listening to Led Zeppelin, so that makes a pretty good match. We have so many stories…we were friends for a while before we started dating. We talk about the times when we were on the softball team together. Giggle now, because we talk how we felt when we would speak to each other then, and we both were so nervous because we had huge crushes on each other yet stayed friends — the time just wasn’t right. We hung out, made excuses to go to the same places, and finally was like — “it’s you I want” and never looked back.
John is from Louisiana, and I am from Florida, however grew up in Louisiana. Strangely, we grew up 15 minutes from each other. We chose Key West because on a whim (while at Coral Castle in Homestead) decided it would be wonderful to visit Key West since we both have never been. Well, it took a lot longer than thought and ended up only being there for about 2 hours that night. We fell in love with the place. It was like New Orleans met with Florida and had a child. To us, it represented both sides of our families, and we love that. For the venue, I personally picked Casa Marina because it seemed like Key West’s history never left. Adore that.
