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An Ethereal Beach Wedding in Florida

An Ethereal Beach Wedding in Florida

Modernity meets romance by the Gulf of Mexico

Ethereal Beach Wedding in Florida | Real Wedding: Katie & Alex

In Naples, Florida, amidst the gentle embrace of the Gulf of Mexico, Katie and Alex embarked on a modern love story that combined sleek elegance with organic allure. Their wedding was an ode to contemporary romance, beautifully expressed through vibrant anthurium flowers – a striking emblem of the bold and tender duality of their love. The evening ceremony, set against a stunning natural backdrop, took place on a lush lawn beachside, where swaying palm trees bore witness to their vows. Oysters and ceviche delighted the senses, while an anthurium bouquet adorned each table, a testament to the couple's contemporary vision for their special day. Captured beautifully by THE WED member Austin Trenholm, relive the enchanting celebration where modernity met romance amidst the serene beauty of Florida's coastal beauty.

Our Love Story

^{The Day We Met}

We met on a dating app in our early twenties, and our first date was at an Ethiopian restaurant in Chicago. My roommate at the time also matched with a guy in the same neighborhood as Alex so we decided to suggest the same restaurant so we could Uber together. My friend and I planned to meet each other post-date across the street from the restaurant around 8:00 PM, and I didn’t check the time on my date with Alex until eight o’clock exactly. The waiter came by and offered us another beer, to which I instead abruptly asked for the check without explanation. Luckily, Alex gave me another chance, and eight years later, that roommate told the story in her reception speech at our wedding.

^{The Proposal}

We took an overnight trip to Chicago where Alex proposed in our hotel suite before we shared a glass of champagne and headed to an omakase dinner, which was a special experience in and of itself. The next morning, we had brunch at a Rick Bayless restaurant before sharing the news with family and friends!

^{The Engagement Ring}

I was initially ambivalent about many ring styles until I came across an image online of a cluster ring with four stones across, the middle two larger stones leaning towards each. Initially I saved it as an inspiration photo until I thought to myself: why not get exactly that? The jeweler, Black Finch Jewellery, is based in Melbourne, Australia, and so through a virtual process, I chose diamonds of different cuts, colors, and sizes – an arrangement that felt harmonious to my eye. My wedding band was also made by Black Finch and is a simple gold wave floating over the stones of my engagement ring.

Our Wedding

^{The Vision}

The first thing I envisioned was anthurium florals, which then set the stage for the overall look being a combination of both sleek and organic. From there, I gravitated towards a primary color palette with different tones and saturations. As the vision grew, I made some choices that felt more modern, like all-anthurium bouquet, and then others that were more whimsical like our winding ceremony aisle that led to an otherworldly ceremony altar. The best part was seeing our vision come to life and then captured by vendors who further elevated everything with their own unique perspective and craft.

^{Our Team of Vendors}

It was important to us to choose vendors that were not only talented, but also came highly recommended by our wedding planner, Stephanie Antoniou. Much of our decision making started with asking our vendors, “what would you recommend?” which turned out to be a great habit on our part! In short, we were lucky to work with such experienced professionals who were also genuine people we could trust.

^{The Budget}

We started working with Stephanie two years before our wedding and gave her a budget in our first call. Through the process she helped us narrow down all our vendors (including our venue!), keeping us on track to meet that target. It also helps that Southwest Florida has a very strong local wedding industry, so we had almost zero travel-related vendor expenses.

^{The Venue}

We chose to get married in Naples, Florida because having a ceremony with a stunning natural backdrop was very important to us (also my parents retired there in recent years, so we were regular visitors!). Being so, we only considered venues directly on the Gulf of Mexico, and ultimately chose La Playa Beach and Golf resort because it had the relaxed and personal atmosphere we wanted for ourselves and guests.

^{The Ceremony}

We had an evening ceremony on a lawn near the beach with palm trees rising in the background and the ocean in our sightline. Our ceremony was especially meaningful to us as we wrote the script ourselves with help from our officiant (and friend), and his wife, one of my bridesmaids, read a selected poem by Neil Gaiman. It felt like the perfect balance between heartfelt and light-hearted, which was exactly the tone we envisioned.

^{The Reception}

Our cocktail hour was held directly in the sand next to our ceremony site – myself and many of our guests kicked our shoes off as we watched the sunset and enjoyed drinks and hors d'oeuvres like oysters and ceviche. We then walked to our reception room which was a dream with an anthurium installation suspended over the dance floor. We enjoyed dinner, listened to great speeches from family and friends, danced to an amazing band, and finished out the night with a ramen bar!

^{The Special Touches}

Alex and I share a love of mezcal so one of our signature drinks was a mezcal margarita with a chili-salted rim. Towards the end of our ceremony, we also incorporated a mezcal “unity shot”. For our honeymoon, we went to Oaxaca, Mexico (home of mezcal), and on a mezcaleria tour, we learned we aren’t supposed to shoot it… now we know!

^{Our Favorite Moment}

Our favorite moment was facing each other at our ceremony, reciting our vows and hearing the words we so personally wrote and selected. The wind was strong, creating insulation of sound around us; we both described it later as feeling like we were standing there alone together, more relaxed than we could’ve imagined.

Our Style

^{The Bridal Looks}

I knew I wanted a clean, modern look with a subtle deviation from classic. I immediately felt at home in an almost sculptural-looking dress with an asymmetrical neckline and matching overskirt. I kept my accessories simple and minimal in order to accentuate the design of the dress itself, and for the reception, my overskirt was removed, revealing the same dress anew and dance-ready.

^{The Groom Looks}

Alex’s tuxedo was fitted by a trusted local clothier and tailor in Milwaukee who worked with him to find a modern and classic look. Alex elected to go on his own shoe hunting adventure, ordering himself a series of shoes (nothing fit!) until a pair of Christian Louboutin tuxedo shoes arrived at the last minute that fit like a glove. Historically not a red- bottom-shoe type of man, Alex leaned into his new heightened look and accessorized further with Belgian Malinois dog cuff links.

^{Our Bridesmaid’s Looks}

For bridesmaids’ dresses, I wanted their colors to complement the florals and ultimately landing on more desaturated palette of slate blue, baby blue, cinnamon red, and vintage blush pink. Since I love the mismatched dresses trend, I took it further by varying necklines, patterns, and textures. One special touch is that my sister’s dress was custom made by her mother-in-law!

^{Our Groomsmen’s Looks}

We saw this cool “distinctive groom” concept online and ran with that, albeit a subtler version; in a slight contrast to Alex’s black tuxedo, his groomsmen were in dark charcoal grey suits with ties instead of bowties. We felt this was also a nice bridge between our black-tie bride-and-groom looks and the rest of our semi-formal, beachside wedding.

Our Advice

^{For The Planning Process}

During planning, I spent so much energy on seemingly “minor” details, but in the end, it was all worth it to look around on our day and see all the pieces that were so thoughtfully chosen. That being said, making some simple or standard choices was necessary in order not to be completely overwhelmed by decision making. Not everything needs to be highly personalized or unique to have wedding that reflects you as a couple — only the things you deem important.

^{For On The Day}

I am so overly detail-oriented that I had to remind myself that day-of I needed to become hands-off and in the moment. Fortunately, I was surrounded by people that had it all covered; and therefore, Alex and I were able to fully focus on each other and the surreal experience of having everyone in our lives in one place. In short, trust your vendors and let go of the small things in order not to miss the big ones.

^{For Post-Wedding}

Our wedding now lives in stunning photographs and film, but we also found it important to protect how it lives in our memory, too. Alex and I intentionally try to focus on everything that was so incredible about our wedding day instead of the very few things here or there that were out of our control (i.e. me tripping on my dress walking down the aisle… whoops!). More so, we’re looking forward to reinvesting all that energy from wedding planning into other meaningful parts of our lives going forward.