Florida Weddings

This drop dead gorgeous wedding is just one of the millions of reasons why we love our jobs here at SMP. Where else can you start off your Monday morning with so many layers of pretty? It’s this kind of pretty that gets us up in the morning and keeps us swooning all.day.long. And this Rosemary Beach wedding has us especially giddy today thanks to all the unbelievably beautiful details starting with the bride’s fabulous dress. And it just keeps getting better! Lauren Kinsey Photography snapped up all the goodness and there’s so much more to see right here!

Click here for the FULL wedding!

From the Bride… Our love story began back in March 2010 when we met at two of our good friends’ engagement party. A few weeks later, I went on the best date of my life with the most amazing man. I actually came home the night of our first date and wrote in my journal that I was going to marry him. I just knew it!  A year later Jason asked me to be his wife, and of course I said YES. I couldn’t wait to get started planning our wedding. Jason and I took a trip with my parents down to Florida and fell in love with Rosemary Beach. We knew this is where we wanted to get married. The beautiful beaches, the quaint town with shops and restaurants, an all-white town hall to say our vows and the green to have the reception at. My dream has always been to have a long weekend of celebrations with family and friends, and this was the perfect place to have it. Once we found the venue, everything started falling into place. My mom and I spent many hours on every detail of the wedding. We both have design backgrounds, so this was such a fun experience to have together. 

One of the best days was the day I found my dress. My mom and I were just out running errands for the wedding, and I had no intentions of looking for a dress, but we ended up driving past a bridal store so we decided to stop in and just browse. When I walked in, I saw the most amazing dress displayed inside the store. I had to try it on. Immediately once I put the dress on, I knew this was it. It was in that moment when I first saw myself in the dress that everything became very real. I felt like a beautiful bride, and I couldn’t wait to walk down the aisle to Jason. A couple weeks after I found my dress I was going through old boxes and found a page I had torn out of a magazine back in middle school. It was an Estee Lauder ad with Elizabeth Hurley in a wedding dress that was identical to my dress. I couldn’t believe that 17 years later I picked the same dress! My mom surprised me and had my favorite scripture verse embroidered on a piece of her wedding dress, and we had it sewn into my dress. She also recreated her veil for me to wear.

Everything about the wedding day was perfect. Jason and I added so many little touches that had significance to us. We had our guests sign rocks as our guest book because we wanted something we could display in our house for forever, and we also had cocktail napkins made with song lyrics on them that were meaningful to us. My favorite part of the wedding was when the church doors opened. Amazing Grace was playing, and I started walking toward Jason. 

Wedding Photography: Lauren Kinsey Photography / Wedding Venue: Rosemary Beach Town Hall in Rosemary Beach, Florida / Event Design: Christina Gillon + Kim Nicolalde of Fete Weddings & Events / Floral Design + Lighting: Christina Springfield of Events by Nouveau Flowers / Catering: Kim Pitchford of Dine by Design Catering / Wedding Cake: Confections on the Coast / Band: Second Coming Band / Wedding Dress: Vera Wang / Hair + Makeup: Renee Armour of Two Fishes Artistry / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: J.Crew

I can not be the only person who tears up every single time I see a wedding film. I refuse to believe it. So today, I am dedicating this amazing, emotion-evoking, beautiful Same Day Edit from Bride Film to all of you who are just as sweet and sappy as I am – to every one of you who sheds a little tear, even without knowing the couple. Because this couple put together a wedding so pretty, and so personal, that you will shed a little tear when you see how much they love each other. And when you need a little more, click here for our SMP Cinematography page.

From Bride Film … Jenn and Blake are one of our favorite couples!  Great people, new friends, and beach lovers.  I remember Jenn’s first email with remarkable accuracy, “Do y’all do beach weddings?”  And from that point we began charting what seemed like a storybook beach wedding.  After several revisions, we locked down the script (along with the help of several awesome vendors and an “on-the-ball” bride (J-Pop)).  It was awesome!

[iframe http://player.vimeo.com/video/29205405 601 338]

My all time favorite part of this heartfelt video? The vows. I love how quickly the groom got his out. He was so excited to be married to his love, he just couldn’t help but blurt them out as fast as he could. And that bride’s southern accent is sweet as honey. These two are definitely too cute for words.

Cinematography: Bride Film, intro footage from Flip Cameras shot by bridesmaid / Photography: Amanda Suanne / Event Coordinator:  It’s a Shore Thing Event / Event Design & Florals: Events by Nouveau / Pastry Chef: Confections on the Coast / Catering: Townsend Catering / Hair:  Dominique Romair / Makeup:  The Perfect Makeup by Yvette Nation / Ceremony Musician: West Steiner of B-Boy Productions / Band: No Idea Band

I can’t think of a more fabulous idea for a bachelorette weekend than a little get away to the beach with your best girlfriends. Honestly I was sold at beach + friends but then I spotted yummy refreshments, steamy beach reads and a little game of cards and it got that. much. better. Sit back and prepare to be inspired with awesome images by Austin Gros and lovely styling by Michael MacKenzie. This shoot just goes to show you that thinking outside of the bachelorette party box can prove very fruitful. See the whole “girls weekend out” here!

Click here to see the entire gallery of images!

From Austin Gros… This is a shoot I did a few weeks ago in Rosemary Beach, FL. The idea was sort of a “Bachelorette Beach Weekend” – a small, simple bachelorette party weekend getaway to the beach.

Photography: Austin Gros / Styling: Michael MacKenzie

Sit down, relax and take a moment to enjoy this calming Florida destination wedding on Rosemary Beach from VUE Photography.  It’s hard to feel stressed out with a soothing ocean setting and a gorgeous, vibrant couple in front of you.  Not to mention the luscious flowers and precious details!  This wedding brings laid-back, seaside romance to a whole new level!  The meditation session isn’t over yet!  There is more in the full gallery!

Click here for more inspiration in the full wedding gallery!

Kate and Will, a couple from Dallas, TX, decided to have a Rosemary Beach Wedding after Kate grew up vacationing in the area.  Their September 25, 2010 wedding took place in the sugary white sand all to the sounds of a gospel choir which the bride had as a surprise for the groom.  The newly married couple exited as the choir sang “Higher and Higher.”

The couple’s carefree and full of life personalities shinned through not only through out their day but also in their images!  It’s A Shore Thing and Events by Nouveau Flowers brought their classic and natural, breathtaking vision to light with their use of browns and different shades of green.  Another surprise Kate had for Will, was a groom’s cake with a block of swiss cheese…all in honor or his nickname, “cheese monster”.  The cake turned out beyond precious…Rhonda from Confections on the Coast never ceases to amaze us!

As you can tell, the couple was full of surprises!!  One of the cutest surprises ended up being turned around on each other!  Kate and Will love the Avett Brothers, so Kate and some of the groomsmen wanted to surprise Will by singing “January Wedding.”  Well, Will wanted to surprise Kate, and got on stage with the groomsmen and sang the same song!  They obviously were meant to be!!  Towards the end of the night, the couple snuck off to exchange gifts by candlelight with a glass of wine as the guests danced as the band Meet the Press played classic favorites.  The couple ended the night with guests tossing Rosemary seeds as they made their get-away.

Wedding Photography: VUE photography / Wedding Coordinator: It’s A Shore Thing / Florist: Events by Nouveau Flower / Catering: Townsend Catering / Wedding Cake: Confections on the Coast / Band: Meet the Press / Hair and Make-up: Solace Day Spa and Salon- AVEDA

Thank you so very much to Laurin and Kenny for letting us share in their celebration. If your wedding is any indication of what’s in store…you are in for a lifetime of beauty. And to Meg Baisden for sharing the STUNNING photographs. You captured their story to perfection!

Last words from Laurin, the lovely bride…

Our wedding turned out to be exactly the kind of day we hoped for. We had great weather all weekend and all of our wonderful family and friends to celebrate with.  Even after all the planning and thought that goes into a wedding, it’s so exciting and unbelievable to see everything come together!

Coming up next…5 favorites from our Look Book inspiration board contest!

I knew you guys would adore this wedding as much as I do! It’s easy love…with perfect details tucked in every corner and a bride and groom that are madly in love. Photographed by Meg and Charles at Meg Baisden Photography, the wedding is pure gorgeousness!

From the beautiful bride, Laurin…

I love getting crafty, so anything I thought I could do myself I tried.  (Not everything made it off my kitchen table, some things I tried only a mother would love!)  The style was a little vintage, a lot eclectic, and a tiny bit preppy.  The invitations were stamped with old stamps I collected from Ebay and I did the calligraphy.  We had so much fun picking stamps for each guest’s invitation that felt special to that person.  (So many states, professions, hobbies, causes, music to choose from!) My mom and my godmother hand postmarked all the invitations from Rosemary Beach’s adorable and tiny post office.

For the flower and table arrangements, we took full advantage of Kenny’s mother’s favorite pastime- antique shopping.  She loves to scour flea markets, estate sales, antique shops and Goodwill for old pieces of silver, glass containers, French jelly jars, and old linens.  They were perfect and it was fun to use things that were part of our family.  Our floral designer, Christina from Nouveau Flowers, is pure magic.  I also made the flower girl basket.

For favors,  we had a galvanized bucket full of pashminas for the female guests- which were very useful once the sun went down.  My mom and I sewed on small personalized clothing labels that had our names and our wedding date.

More in a bit!

My very favorite weddings are those where the beauty and the elegance behind the day just seems natural. Nothing is overly fussy or designed, details are thoughtful and yet simple. I love to see the warmth coming from the bride and groom, the joy coming from the bridesmaids. Most of all, I love weddings that completely reflect the couple and their families…

The wedding was held this past April in Rosemary Beach, Florida and was photographed by the forever talented duo at Meg Baisden Photography. There is so much to love about this wedding, so many touches that the bride infused that I am sure left the guests feeling as if they had just experienced something truly special.

Together with It’s a Shore Thing Wedding Planning, one of our FAB Little Black Book members, Laurin (the beautiful bride) put her heart and soul into designing a wedding that reflected their personality and style…and it showed in every last detail.

So much more to come!

This is one of those weddings where you can literally feel the love. Sounds cliche. And a bit cheesy…but so so true. For a girl that looks at weddings day in and day out, it takes a lot for me to get the butterflies. But this one did me in…it’s so beautiful and yet so warm and intimate.

The photographs were captured by Meg and Charles Baisden, who if you don’t already know, you really must add to your all time favorites list. Their work is stunning. It’s approachable, it’s timeless, it’s simply beautiful.

We have so much more coming from this wedding in just a bit!

Today’s wedding is magic. There really is no other way to say it. It’s positively beautiful, filled with charming DIY touches that would make any bride swoon, a style that is as elegant as it is real, a bride and groom that are literally glowing. Photographed by the forever talented Meg Baisden, this wedding is one that you will fall completely and madly in love with…

From the absolutely lovely bride, Laurin…

Kenny and I began dating in high school when we were 16.  We dated throughout college and got engaged during Kenny’s third year of medical school.  Given our history, it seemed like an obvious to get married in our hometown.  After talking about it, we opted to do something we had never talked about – a destination wedding!  We felt like it would be a smaller, more relaxed affair – something that was important to us.

We decided upon Rosemary Beach, a beautiful and tiny beach town in Florida with European inspired architecture.  It has the most charming main street- all kinds of quaint, little shops and restaurants.  We also chose it because it’s close to a beach we have visited on family vacations.  (Little did we know when planning our wedding, we would be moving to Florida a month after we would be married there!)  Rosemary Beach lent the perfect atmosphere for the kind of wedding we wanted – chic, yet relaxed, sophisticated, yet inviting.  It was important that the wedding felt like “us.”