This is how you can throw a beach wedding and elegant black tie affair

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Looking for a beach wedding that’s open but still private and intimate? Nikki and Rex found exactly that in their elegant Florida beachside wedding.

The breezy seaside ceremony was followed by a luxurious indoor reception, filled with red and green florals mixed with jewel tones of purple and burgundy. The whole event played seamlessly as two weddings in one, one part easy going destination wedding, one part elegant black-tie affair.

The two were set up by their best friends, Ryan and Cristi. To save Rex from feeling like the third wheel on a dinner with the two one evening, Cristi recruited her then roommate Nikki to come along for the date. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Proposal

Always the planner, Nikki had this day planned out in her head since January (in fact, she even told Rex as they rang in the New Year together that her New Year’s resolution was to get engaged), but always there to keep her in check, Rex made sure he was in control of this decision.

It was her birthday, and the two were traveling to Raleigh for the weekend. Little did Nikki know, Rex had taken control in a big way and had a very special surprise planned for her that night. They had dinner plans at Midtown Grille in North Hills and were spending the night at the Renaissance Hotel. After a romantic birthday celebration dinner the couple was walking back to their hotel on the surprisingly warm December night when Rex asked Nikki to stop in front of the large Christmas tree in the center of North Hills. It was there that Rex gave Nikki the surprise of her life when he got down on one knee and asked her to marry him!

But, this wasn’t the only surprise Rex had planned for the night! After a hug and a kiss and a lot of tears, they heard shouts of congratulations coming from around the side and Cristi and Ryan to congratulate them! As they walked into the lobby of the Renaissance, Nikki was again filled with surprise when she was greeted by her closest friends in the Raleigh area and her best friends from school that had made the trip to join in the festivities! It was definitely a night to remember, and Rex had pulled it off and surprised Nikki (with a little help from her friends).

The Flowers and Inspiration

Our wedding theme was romantic elegance. We wanted an elegant, black-tied (optional) affair to bring all of our closest family and friends together and to throw the party of our lives! Our color palette was based on blush, sage green, and gold and we added pops of jewel tones such as royal blue, burgundy and red.

Boutonnieres were ivory ranunculus with greenery. My bouquet was garden roses, peonies, mini roses, ranunculus and mini calla lilies with stems wrapped in ivory ribbon. We used the same flowers for the table center pieces, but had a combination of tall and short centerpieces for our round tables, and then use a greenery garland with floral accents for our rectangular tables.

The Venue

Isla del Sol Yacht and Country Club was the perfect venue for us! I have always wanted to get married on the beach, but I wanted something that would be private and very elegant. Isla offered the perfect private beach overlooking the yacht dock. It was pristine! We also wanted to have our ceremony and reception in the same location so our guests didn’t have to travel between venues, so Isla was great for that, and it didn’t hurt that while the guests were waiting at happy hour they could watch the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico, what an amazing view!

The Ceremony

We had two personal readings, one performed by my cousin Beth, Bruce Springsteen’s “If I Should Fall Behind” and my cousin Lena (who is 8 years old!) read I Like You, by Sandol Stoddard Warburg. I would highly recommend adding these personal touches to anyone’s wedding. Having personally picked out readings by our closet family made our ceremony so much more special!

The Photography

Our photographer, Lauren Galloway, did an amazing job of capturing our big day. My fiancé and I are not huge social media users or photograph takers, thus we decided to forego the videographer. For this reason, we wanted make sure we had the best of the best for a photographer to capture our big day and Lauren definitely fit the bill!

We got all the formal family and couple portraits we wanted, but she was also able to artful capture all the small, intimate, candid moments between me and my husband, the bridesmaids, and my family, it was incredible! She also did an amazing job of capturing the reception, you can really tell from the photographs how much fun everyone was having!

The Decor & Details

I was quite busy with my last year of medical school during our wedding planning period, so I did not choose to tackle many DIY projects. Luckily, we had an absolutely amazing wedding planner who helped organize all the details and venue décor to make our wedding look absolutely perfect. We had our meal menu written on a beautiful large gold mirror and our seating chart printed on a matte black and gold board.

My maid of honor helped to make the signs for the bars, dessert bar, and “guest book” which we put in Kate Spade crown point gold frames. The one big DIY project that we did was our “guest book”. Rex’s dad is an incredible woodworker, and he made us a wine bottle rack, which we filled with wine bottles corresponding with our 1, 5, and 10 year anniversaries. We asked our guests to leave us messages and advice in those bottles, which we will open and read on the corresponding anniversaries.

Advice for Other Couples

I highly recommend taking some time alone with your new spouse, whether it be a private dinner (highly recommended) or just a few minutes away. The day will fly by, and its very easy to get caught up in it all. Take the time to check in with yourselves, reconnect and remember what the day is all about. You will be so thankful when you look back on it and can remember every moment!