Oh Miami. What a fantastic place for a haute beach wedding. When Shane Carpenter from Readyluck sent these colorful images our way, we couldn’t help but to do a little dance while singing Will Smith’s “Welcome to Miami.” It’s just one of those affairs you can tell was a over-the-top fun party just by perusing the photos. The colors were vibrant, the fashion was fantastic, and the dog was just another well dressed guest. We love it. The high style continues in the gallery, too!
On the three year anniversary of our first date Charles and I had planned to have a quiet dinner in the neighborhood, or so I thought. We arrived at the Fontainebleau on Miami Beach to try out their new sushi restaurant. We had a drink at the lobby bar and reminisced about our first date. When it was time for dinner, having never been to the newly renovated Fontainebleau myself, Charles led the way. We got on an elevator and Charles pressed 34, I thought this was odd, however Miami now has several restaurants located on the top floors of hotels so I disregarded it. We go off on the 34th floor and I noticed it looked exactly like a regular hotel floor, no signs indicating a restaurant, no bar and no people.
As we are walking down the hall I suddenly stopped and ask “Where are we?” and with that light up a room smile he has, Charles looked at me and said “I got us a room for the night.” With that he opened the door to a room which is covered in rose petals with champagne and sushi waiting for us. Charles walked over to the bathroom door and out ran ChiChi, our Chihuahua. As I bent down to pick her up Charles knelt in front of me took my hand and asked me to marry him. He held up ChiChi and there was an engagement ring hanging from her collar. It was truly perfect.
Miami, as you can imagine, has several well know wedding venues. We looked at all of them but not one of them compared to the view from the AQUA Island on Indian Creek in Miami Beach where we live. The wedding ceremony site is just below our balcony so it is a place that we look down at every day. It is a very special location to us. AQUA is unique and marvelous and the perfect place for Charles and me to get married.
The cocktail hour and wedding reception were at AQUA as well. Both the ceremony and reception area’s were designed by Fé Domenech of the Event Firm in Miami. Fé is extremely creative and worked with us to create an event that was unique to our personal style and our site. We had chosen Black and bone as our main colors with Tiffany blue accents.
The reception tables were a mix of high top cocktail tables, standard rounds and low lounge tables. We wanted to keep the area fun and allow guest to mingle and get to know each other. The center pieces were also high and low with flowers and candles in individual acrylic vases.
When deciding the menu we wanted to keep the location in mind. Our friend Micah Edelstein, a Season 3 Top Chef Contestant and chef/owner of The Wandering Chef Caterers, was the perfect choice to help us create our menu. Stations were set-up around the pool and featured several salads along with stone crab and key lime mustard sauce, seafood paella, and whole roast pork with guava glazed plantains. Guests raved about the food. The wedding cake was made by Pam’s Gluten Free Kitchen and was a 3 tier rum cake with canolli cream filling.
Photography: Shane Carpenter of Readyluck / Event Design: Fe Domenech of the Event Firm / Day of Coordinator: Noel Brown of Medallion Occasion Boutique, Inc. / Ceremony Location: The AQUA Miami Beach / Reception Location: The AQUA Miami Beach / Catering: Micah Edelstein of The Wandering Chef / Cake: Pam’s Gluten Free Kitchen / DJ: DJ Michael Berrios / Tuxedo: Armani / Make up: Judy Irizarry of The Make Up Mob / Gown: Custom