If you’re having your wedding on Pensacola Beach this coming weekend and you love art then you are in for a treat. We will be having a Greater Gulf Coast Arts Festival going on in Pensacola Florida. This arts festival is held this year 2014 on November 7, 8 and 9 in Seville Square. What a great weekend to get married, have your honeymoon, and enjoy art from around the country. You will find every type of art here including photography, folk art, sculpture, painting, blown glass, metal work, furniture, jewelry, and the list goes on. There will also be refreshments and food. This is a family event that everyone can come in and join together. Should you get tired of walking the grounds there will be seeing for you to relax gravel cold drink and start all over again. There are also things for the children to do. You will have a beautiful view of the bay to enjoy while you’re here. The cost to get and is free. That really makes it quite a treat. Parking can be difficult so be prepared to walk or to pay to park in the more convenient locations. This is a rain or shine event so grab your sweetheart and come on down or looking forward to seeing you there.

I have had many many brides and have enjoyed every single wedding with great happiness for the bride and groom. In my entire career which has spanned 15 years I’ve only had two diva brides. These women were very self centered and did things to their guests which were unforgivable. One bride made all of her guests walk over 300 yards (900 feet) through sand to get to where she wanted her wedding to be set up. Then she made her guest wait for over an hour in the heat. I was so shocked that anyone would do that. The caterers also had to make the long trek booths and with equipment just like we did. One of them cut his foot open and had to go to the hospital to get stitched up. Which of course meant that by photographer and I are going to have to help the caterers after the ceremony. When the bride finally showed up the sun had already set and it was dark. There wasn’t a lot we could do to have sunset pictures but we make the best of it. After the ceremony and the photography’s we help the caterers the best we could and they appreciated it very much. When I got ready to say goodbye to the bride and groom the bride asked me if she could have more pictures by herself. We of course did our job and took a more pictures of her by herself. Then we left. Although I was disappointed at the diva I just let it go, went home and relaxed. By the way this is not a picture of the diva.  This is a happy couple we married in Gulf Shores Alabama near the Pink Pony.

I had this wedding on Pensacola Beach that I thought would be a very easy wedding. Originally I was told that there would be about 10 to 15 people. When I got there about 200 people on the property , which is a big difference from 10 to 15. When I asked about this I was informed that they all just showed up and which same kind of hard to believe at first. That was until I found out that the bridesmaids had invited everyone without telling the bride or groom. Needless to say the bride and groom not real happy about this as they wanted a small private wedding on the beach. And that’s a really great way to have a wedding without distractions. So we make the best of it and of course the people who were supposed to set up the decorations never showed up. That seems to be an occurring issue alot this year. Note to bride and groom, make sure the people that you asked to do something are dependable. So once again the photographer and I took the bull by the horns so to speak. We went out to where the wedding was to be held and saw the ramshackle job that someone had attempted to do. We of course fixed it not wanting my bride to come out in faint of fright that anyone would do that to her over wedding day. The wedding were off of the problem and the photographer and I reflected on the wedding on the way home.

I have these two friends who wanted to get married on Halloween. I had known that both for years and said why not, they seem very well matched. The day of the ceremony came and my photographer and I showed up at the hotel to get settled in and plan our day. Why we were there a bridesmaid notified us that the people who are going to decorate for the wedding did show up. Oh darn! So the photographer and I put up our books and our cameras and got busy decorating for wedding. All we had to work with was some white Christmas lights, a few pieces of glittery fabric, and some ribbon on a roll. We looked around and were able to find some scissors and tape. Wildlife photographer put ice in the bar and stacked up plates and cups I began decorating. First the started with what to do if the ceiling and walls. I’d taped up the Christmas lights along the walls and turned out the lights to give a nice soft glow to the whole place. Did I mention we’re in a small pool house beside the pool? Then I took the ribbon and curled it at the ends and taped it to the ceiling which was chronicled because there were pieces of ribbon hanging everywhere. Then I took some of the glittery fabric cut it to fit the tables and made table arrangements was some vases found under the bar and daisies I picked that were growing alongside the road. It worked.

We do a lot of elopements. A lot of people ask me, I’m gonna be in Orange Beach Alabama, where can I get something good to eat that will have something for everybody and be nice with a great price. There’s only a couple places I can recommend to you that I think you would really enjoy and one of them is Cosmos, named after the owners black lab. Yes this if the dog friendly restaurant and while some you might think this would be the place to go for intimate dinner after her ceremony, you couldn’t be more wrong. One thing I like about this place you can eat inside or outside. If you have a larger group you might wanna eat outside. If you have a smaller group you may want to consider inside. Or vice versa. It really depends on what you’re looking for. The food has everything from seafood to steaks to burgers to kids’ plates. I think that covers all the bases as foreseen your family and friends. It’s also really great for those of you could just came with two people. Celebrating that first meal together as husband and wife couldn’t be better than right here. The service is excellent and the food delicious. They have specials every day and of course something chocolate for chocolate lovers. Either way you can go wrong with this place because it’s very romantic.

When I think of Oktoberfest normally I don’t think of weddings. Instead I think of things like bratwurst beer and sauerkraut. Lederhosen is not normally something I would associate with a wedding. But there on Perdido Key, on the beach, I married a nice couple. They had originally met in Germany at an Oktoberfest there and wanted somehow two commemorate that in their ceremony. So dressed in their German finery by the Gulf of Mexico they said I did. The Perdido Key chamber of commerce was having an Oktoberfest going on so we parked there and walked across the street to the beach. After the ceremony we went back to the Oktoberfest at the chamber and enjoy the music for little bit. Then we all packed up and went down to the Florabama. They were also having an Oktoberfest and they had a better band. The bride and groom danced along with the crowd and afterwards we sampled some bratwurst and sauerkraut. I’ve really enjoyed the German potato salad, it was delicious. After enjoying our lunch together, I said Auf Wiedersehen, and what my merry way.

A great time to come to Navarre Florida to get married is during the sand sculpting contest. This event is held towards the end of September. Many groups from all across the United States come here to test their abilities against others in the sculpting of the sand. That this is not anything that kids do, these people are professionals. We’re talking the top soft sand sculptors who make these masterpieces. Many of these people go head to head in a 10 minute competition with the winner advancing to the championship rounds. The winner is based on the audience applause. One couple who was getting married here had the sand sculpted for them with their names and a wedding chapel with a bride and groom. It was really as something to behold. Other pieces of art included, a headless torso, guarding pumpkins, and horses racing a motorcycle. There was even someone who had read a book for so long that they turned into a cabbage. Now that’s creativity. So grab your sweetheart and I’ll meet you want the beach, get married, and go play and the sand. I’ll be the one making sand castles with a little bucket.

Do you love music? Are you gonna be getting married in Gulf Shores Alabama? If so you should think about coming down here during the hangout music festival. This is a three day festival with many national music acts that features pop, rock, country, rap, and just about everything else. It’s really a fun event and if the both of you love music than this would be the best time to come to get married, have a honeymoon, and jam out. There are different kinds of passes you can get for this festival including VIP which enables you to have table and chairs provided to you and be on the beach watching your favorite recording artists. The festival takes place around the middle of May. There will be thousands of people there to jam out with and dance with. This year there will be a water slide, places to George cell phones and other equipment, lots of great club wear, and great gulf coast seafood. It really is a great event for music lovers to enjoy. Hoping I see their marrying you on the beach.

Recently I had the honor and pleasure of performing a beach wedding on Pensacola Beach. When the bride called me she told me of an impending hospital stay to treat an illness. Her future husband and the bride had decided to go ahead and get married and then she would return to her hometown to go through this illness with the support of her family and friends. I admired her bravery and courage to be so open and talk about this illness. They got my smallest package, Island Getaway. Because of the special moment that I was privileged to be a part of I decided to buy her some pink petals and put them down for her to walk on. When we met a couple left the photographer with them and went down to the beach and put the petals out. The groom wall down to as and there are wonderful bride. When she came off the boardwalk she saw the petals and it made her gasp with happiness. She turned to me and smiled. I felt like I had made someone’s day with a simple gesture of kindness. I have felt blessed before and today was no exception. I will always remember that moment.

I get this question a lot. I guess you could say that is the biggest question of all. Elopements are really popular in this area due to the scenic beauty of the beach. We have done elopements in less than 6 hours notice. We understand when you’re ready to get married we can help you. One of my favorite elopements happened in Destin Florida. The groom called me the day before and asked me if I had availability. I’ve told reminded and asked how I could help him. He told me he had chartered a plane and they would be flying into Destin the next day. I gave him the address to the marriage license office and supplied him with the information that he would need in order to get married, driver’s license social security number, etc. He also last mean if I could line up a violinist, and I did. My photographer and I and the violinist showed up about the same time at their condominium. The groom told me where he wanted to have the ceremony and we all walked down to the beach and waited. It wasn’t long before they were walking down to its and the bride was so excited. The violinist began to play and we started the wedding. About 20 minutes later everything was done and they were back on the plane flying home to Atlanta. It was a very romantic moment and I’m glad I got to share them.