Happy weekend everybody,
Here's something a little different for a Saturday but I figure you can never have too many inspirational real weddings!
Cheryl, the bride, sent me the sweetest email and asked if I'd like to feature her wedding on Bridal Musings. It's a bright and colourful wedding full of personal touches ~ of course I wanted to feature it! As an added bonus Cheryl has such a lovely writing style, not to mention she is one gorgeous bride! I have serious hair envy right now.
So here is Cheryl and CJ's glamourous, beach themed wedding day:
The Dress: My adventure for the perfect gown begun immediately after becoming engaged. I went online to get some inspirational ideas and ended up visiting two local bridal salons. I liked a handful of dresses and thought I had narrowed down my final choice (also a Maggie Sottero gown) when I stumbled upon the most amazing dress I had even seen in my entire life. The only problem was that it existed on the screen of my computer, with no designer or style information. I knew Maggie dresses had a special place in my heart, so I began aimlessly searching the pages and pages of gowns on the site for something that looked similar. That was, until I found the EXACT dress– the breath-taking, awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping Rhianna Royale.
But my search wasn't over there. When I called the salon, they didn't have the dress in stock and neither did any bridal salon in a 3-4 hour radius. Having complete confidence that this was indeed my dream dress, I placed my order for the gown on blind faith. The dress arrived a few months later and was even more stunning in person. I couldn't be happier with my gown and received numerous compliments from guests at our wedding, not to mention from everyone who sees our wedding pictures, too! The Maggie Sottero Rhianna Royale was my ultimate fairytale wedding gown and was the perfect finishing touch on the most unforgettable, joyous day of my life!
The Shoes & Accessories: My shoes were 4” silver stilettos with ruffles on the heel and near to toes. I wore a headpiece made from a few of the actual rose appliques on my gown, along with a crystal-adorned finger-tip veil.
Hair & Make Up: Romantic, Vintage Glamour.
The Grooms Attire: A black suit by JoS. A. Banks, with a red tie and white-collared shirt.
Bridesmaids/Groomsmens Attire: The lovely ladies wore floor-length, flowy red gowns purchased at David’s Bridal and the gentlemen were dapper in matching JoS. A. Banks suits as well, with black ties.
Theme/Colour Scheme: Our theme was vintage romance for our ceremony, with vibrant reds and classic whites to complement the breathtakingly beautiful stained glass in the church. For our reception, we wanted to highlight the fun-loving nature of our personalities, our mutual love of the ocean and the embrace all that is wonderful about the Sunshine State of Florida! We chose to host our reception at the eclectic, island-themed Sugar Cane Island Bistro. This Key West-style restaurant was the perfect backdrop for our Floridian festivities- complete with tiki bars, aquatic décor- fish, sand, starfish and seashells!
The Flowers: I choose a romantic and vibrant bouquet of red roses for my bridal bouquet and my bridesmaids carried dainty, bouquets of white calla lilies (matching those adorning the pews and the altar). Our family members also wore either wristlets or boutonnieres of white calla lilies or soft white orchids. My dashing groom wore a red rose boutonniere to complement my bouquet. For our reception, we chose centerpieces filled with sand, starfish, seashells and a wide array of cymbidium orchids in eye-catching colors like green, purple, and yellow.
The Photographer/Videographer: We chose the incredibly amazing Alexi Shields of Palm Beach Wedding Photography. Visit her website, her work speaks for itself! She came highly recommended by one of my bridesmaids who works in the wedding industry.
The Cake: The cake was a magnificent four-tier creation by Cakes by Diane in Delray Beach. It was a seaside-themed, ocean blue cake with edible white chocolate seashell, starfish and seahorse creations. Our florist also added a few strategic cymbidium orchids to tie-in our floral theme. The cake had two distinct flavors of key lime and vanilla butter cream.
The Details: My amazing aunt personally crafted dozens of pink white chocolate starfish, seahorses and shells and assembled them into favor bags tied with pink ribbons and decorated with a picture from our engagement photo session (in which I wore a pink/white Lilly Pulitzer dress and C.J. wore a pink polo shirt, which both perfectly matched the colors of the chocolates and the ribbons).
Additionally, we assembled welcome gifts for our out-of-town guests. We created sand-filled buckets filled with water bottles, fresh Florida oranges, seashells, tourist guides and information, sunscreen and much more! I also designed a welcome postcard and wrote a poem for our guests thanking them for traveling from afar for our special day. They were a huge hit and helped everyone get ready for a weekend of fun in the sun!
The Entertainment: We kept our guests entertained with the services of a dynamic, full-service D.J. (Chris Breighner, Elite Entertainment) who was incredibly energetic and entertaining. He keep the festivities lively throughout the evening and was certainly able to get everyone on the dance floor.
The Wedding Music: Processional, recessional and first dance songs? Our processional was to Pachelbel in Canon in D”, the bridal processional was to the tune of “The Bridal March” and our recessional was to the “The Wedding March”. I wrote a guest blog for Soundtrack to I Do that features our choices in wedding music, check it out!
Personal Touches: We were married in a Christian church, as we both were raised in religious families. We included a special memorial for deceased family members in our wedding ceremony program, with specific attention paid to my late father-in-law who passed away a few days after C.J. and I first met. Additionally, I was incredibly close to my late, great grandmother growing up. She loved silver bells, especially around the holidays. We incorporated her memory by having our guests ring tiny silver wedding bells as we exited the church. Finally, we dedicated a portion of the reception to acknowledge all of the married couples for a special dance—my grandparents who have been married 50+ years especially enjoyed this! It was wonderful to see love withstand the test of time.
Favorite Moment: The most special moment of our wedding day was seeing my groom as I walked down the aisle and getting MARRIED! There is nothing quite like knowing you are about to begin your amazing journey of a lifetime with your soul mate. A close second was glancing over my shoulder during the ceremony and seeing my dad wiping away tears from his eyes- so emotional, I almost lost it!
Any Advice for Other Brides? I actually wrote an entire article all about my ‘Wedding-Do-Overs‘. Check it out and feel free to re-purpose my advice!
Don't you just love how they didn't follow the unwritten colour scheme rules? {That your colours should be the same throughout your wedding day.} The vibrant, classic red worked perfectly for the ceremony and the beachy chic, turquoise and pink colours of the reception gave it such a fun, fresh feel. Almost like having two weddings in one!
I also adore the personal, meaningful touches honouring relatives who couldn't be at their wedding such as the silver bells and the special dance for married couples, young and old.
Wishing Cheryl and CJ a lifetime of happiness. Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful wedding story!
{To find out even more about Cheryl and CJ's beautiful wedding head over to the fabulous The Wedding Pickle}
