This blue and white wedding is so fresh and pretty, I could stare at it all.day.long. I love how it’s traditional yet playful, and there’s just a hint of whimsy, which, in my opinion, every wedding totally needs. Szarmack Photography captured all the lovely details down to the fun striped ribbon on the bride’s bouquet. Want to see more? I don’t blame you one bit! Click right here.
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From the Bride… Alex and I got engaged in May 2011. Having met in law school in Tallahassee, Florida, we knew we wanted to be married in northern Florida. The Ribault Club was an easy choice as it was my dream wedding venue. I love the plantation feel and also liked that we were able to get married in a state park and historical destination. We also chose Fort George Island because of its proximity to Jacksonville. I have a lot of out-of-town family and friends, and we wanted it to be easy for them to travel to the wedding. Additionally, Alex is from Atlantic Beach and his family (and grandparents) lives there, so it was nice to have people familiar with the city during the planning process.
Alex was the best groom a girl could ask for and was helpful and involved in every decision. He even thought up a very special and unique idea for our table numbers. During our first year of dating (about a year before we got engaged), we traveled to Germany and Poland together. We both adore traveling, and Alex came up with the idea of taking a “proposal photo” in every city we visited together as a fun memory from our travels. I collected various white frames to hold the photos, and we named each table after the city in the photo. Some of the cities were: Nashville, Gainesville, Krakow, Berlin, Seaside, and Vail. It was actually hard to narrow it down to 11 photos because we had so many more from our travels!
I have always dreamed of planning my wedding day, and knew I wanted to be highly involved in the design and decision-making, so we hired a day-of coordinator at our venue to run the show and make sure everything went smoothly. We were really happy with this decision because while we still felt in charge of the look of our wedding, we didn’t have to worry about a thing on the big day! Since we were on a budget, I did a lot of DIY projects for decorations and recruited my wonderful friends and bridesmaids for help! We made sure that all of our details were the same color scheme and style to stay cohesive. We worked really hard to choose vendors that we felt were talented and fit our style, but were affordable because we had to stay on our budget. One way we saved money was by working with the florist to come up with creative options to reuse flowers from the ceremony to the reception. I also found lanterns that I filled and surrounded with candles for some of the table centerpieces. Another way we saved money was by purchasing all of our invitations online, rather than at a stationery shop. We also found our band at a bar in Jacksonville Beach on my birthday. By not hiring a “wedding band” we saved thousands of dollars and had an incredible band that our guests loved.
Finding the looks for ourselves and the wedding party was a cinch! We knew we wanted the groomsmen to wear navy blue and the bridesmaids to wear seersucker dresses in the classic seersucker blue color. I found two lines of bridesmaid dresses that could be made in seersucker and chose the one my bridesmaids liked best. I let them choose the neckline and skirt of the dresses so they’d feel comfortable. We then found a perfectly matching seersucker pattern at The Tie Bar and bought all the bow ties, pocket squares, and ties for our dads and grandfather. Alex also found complementary-colored argyle socks for his groomsmen, while I had my bridesmaids accessorize with pearls to look similar to me.
Wedding Photography: Adam Szarmack of Szarmack Photography / Wedding Venue: The Ribault Club in Fort George Island, Florida / Floral Design: Lynette Self of Rose of Sharon / Wedding Day Coordination: Lorna Meehan + Chrissy Sladek of The Ribault Club / Officiant: Rev. Gabe Goodman / Wedding Cinematography: Pure Life Videos / Catering: Rachel Deremer of The Perfect Pear Catering Co. / Wedding Cake: Angie Roberts of Angie’s Cakes / Groom’s Cake: Mindy Stover of Stover’s Custom Cakes / Ceremony Music: Jordan Mixson + Brittany Maroney / Reception Music: Cloud Nine / Mr. and Mr. Signs, “Eat Cake and Be Married” Bunting, Moss Monogram, Programs, Cocktail & Bathroom Napkin Embossing, Thank You Photo + Outside Table Decor: DIY / Dance Floor + Cake Stand: Beachview Event Rentals & Design / Lighting: Wayne McCoy / Transportation: Tommy Entenza / Wedding Dress: Christos via CC’s Boutique / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: LulaKate via Bella Bridesmaid / Groomsmen’s Tuxedos: Black Tie Formals / Men’s Ties, Bow Ties + Pocket Squares: The Tie Bar