Naples Wedding at The Port Royal Club from Audrey Snow Photography

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April 3, 2013

I think we can all agree that waking up to a torrential downpour on your wedding day is never a good thing. Especially when your wedding happens to be a destination affair in Naples, Florida. But, that's exactly what happened to these two sweeties, who, along with their guests, were expecting a beachy, seaside affair and were greeted instead with flooded streets. True story. Luckily for them, the clouds parted and ONE HOUR before the festivities begin, the sun came out of hiding and allowed them to marry with their toes in the sand. We call that meant to be. See every last sun-filled moment captured by Audrey Snow in the full gallery.

And even more of this gorgeous day from Voila Cinematic. Enjoy, lovelies.

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From the Bride... I will never forget the thought that ran through my head while getting ready for our wedding during a torrential Florida downpour, "we didn't have 160 people come all the way down to Naples for a destination wedding to have it indoors!" Having met in college at Indiana University and being from two different parts of the country, we knew our guests would be traveling no matter where we decided to have the wedding. We thought nothing would be better than a destination wedding in Naples, Florida, a place that has become so special to us over the course of our relationship as we spend as many holidays as possible in the gorgeous beach town.

Our wedding day was filled with rain, and the words torrential downpour really don't do it justice. It poured (flooded streets and all) up until an hour before our wedding. Our wedding planners had reluctantly told Pete and I that we would have to hold everything indoors. Then miraculously, an hour before the ceremony, the skies cleared and our amazing vendors rushed to move everything outside! In the end, we were almost thankful for the rain because it led to the most amazing sunset we had ever seen.

We chose the Port Royal Club for our wedding because we loved the "old Florida" feel the club gave as soon as you walked in the doors. We wanted a tropical and relaxed, yet elegant, feel to our wedding and I think our vendors executed it perfectly. From the bright tropical colors, touches of bamboo, to our amazing band, it was truly the wedding of our dreams.

The little details are what made the wedding our own. We asked the guests to "lose their shoes," in a hammock as they walked onto the beach for the ceremony and then gave them brushes as they made their way to the pool for cocktail hour so they could brush the sand off their feet. A steel drum band played as our guests sipped cocktails by the pool and enjoyed the beautiful sunset. Our reception was filled with candlelight and the tables had three different flower arrangements that were spotlighted so they almost "glowed" in the darkness of the room. Our band was outstanding and had the dance floor packed all night long!

Planning a destination wedding from Manhattan was most definitely challenging and we couldn't have done it without the help of my mother, mother-in-law, and our outstanding vendors. It's so important to choose vendors who share a common vision with you and that you can trust when you can't be there. We will never forget the feeling of knowing that all of those people came from so far just for us. We felt so loved and it was truly the most amazing weekend held in a place that is so special to us.

Vendors

Event Planning: Guiseppe Zanotti | Entertainment: VoxBlu | Vendor: Niche Event Rentals | Venues: Port Royal Club