This beach wedding in Pensacola was one of my most pleasant memories. Yes today I am reminiscing by taking a stroll down memory lane. The bride and groom had met on a dating site. And you would be surprised on Hal many brides and grooms meet on Internet to dating sites, about 35%. That’s a high number. Anyway the bride and groom dated for several months. Both had been in previous relationships and wanted to take things slow. I couldn’t agree with the more. Take your time and make sure the person that you’re selecting this the right person for you. Don’t rush into anything. While they were dating they discovered they both drove the same motorcycle. The same make the same model. Now tell me what are the chances of that? Their personalities were very similar which makes for a strong marriage. Opposites may attract but people with similar personalities definitely leads to a happier marriage. I loved the headpiece the bride wore for the ceremony. It was just the two of them and so romantic. No stress at all. And it was this time of year in the fall when we had the ceremony. The beach was practically empty. The only people out there were some surfers and that was it. We could look up and down the beach and not see a single person. Talk about romantic! If that doesn’t make you feel like you’re on an island nothing will. And of course Pensacola Beach is located on Santa Rosa island, one of the barrier islands of Florida. I remember leading are happy couple on the beach together with love in their eyes and a beach wedding memory to cherish always.

Some of you may feel that a Halloween Beach wedding would be Gothic and dark. On the contrary, they can be filled with light and fall colors. Some brides and grooms we have done ceremonies for chose yellows, orange, and burlap for their wedding colors. These beautiful colors look great on the sand and Gulf of Mexico. During this beautiful time this year you can make many choices for decorations to complement your wedding. Even a lively red can look breathtaking up against the backdrop of the beach. Or you can go the Halloween decor with bats and cobwebs. I can see a wedding arch decorated with that right now. It really depends on how you see your wedding and the way you wanted to look. Make sure to be happy with your choices regardless of what others may think. It’s not their wedding, it’s your wedding! So don’t lose sight of your dream. By coming down this time of year, around Halloween you’ll enjoy some of the sounds and sights of the area including entertainment just for Halloween. The great thing about being on the beach for any wedding anytime of year is the beauty of nature. Fall really is a beautiful time to be down here and enjoying what we have been so blessed with. You’ll really love it in October and November on one of the prettiest beaches in the entire world.  So put your suitcases in your car or truck and come down here and explore this area and maybe get married on the beach. You’ll be glad you did.

What beach wedding is complete without a beautiful bouquet for the bride?  Over the years I’ve seen bouquets go from strictly fresh flowers to many different types of items used to make beautiful arrangements for the bride to carry.  One bride had her grandmother make her bouquet out of buttons.  It was a St. Patrick’s Day wedding on the beach.  Her grandmother was very creative and came up with the idea of the buttons, mostly green.  I’ve also seen flowers made out of wood which were very beautiful.  One of my favorites was made out of burlap, burlap for beach wedding.  I loved it.  Recently I saw bride who had a bouquet made with pages from a newspaper.  They had rolled the pages into little shapes that were used to make petals for flowers.  So in this day and age brides are getting more creative and really putting a piece of themselves into their bouquets and telling me of their designs they wish to have created.  I love to see brides putting their own stamp on their bouquets.  It really says a lot about the woman who chooses to go a different route from fresh flowers.  Once again this year silk flowers are very popular and I even saw a bouquet made out of yarn flowers.  It really is amazing all these beautiful examples of the creative spirit in wedding flowers.  So for all you prospective brides out there I want you to do what makes you happy on your wedding day.  Make sure to keep your ideas yours and not someone else’s.  You’ll be a lot happier doing what you want to do in and making your date the best it can be.

This Pensacola Beach wedding was at the Marriott Springhill suites. Our bride and groom were ready and the bride was going to have her stepfather and her father walk her down the aisle. Everyone had sunglasses on the chairs for a group shot at the end of the ceremony. Many people wore their sunglasses during the ceremony. They were very colorful. The bride had on a full length gown that was similar to a mermaid. When she walked down to us for her beach wedding she’d looked beautiful. The groom wore khaki shorts and a white button down shirt. His boutonniere was a baseball with greenery. Very cute. This couple had decided to write their own vows, which some couples do.  Their words were sweet with a hint of laughter and love.  Our happy couple asked me to recite a reading for them. Everything went great including their sand ceremony. As we approached the end of the ceremony and the bride and groom were about to kiss I noticed on the groom’s boutonniere there was a corsage pin sticking straight out. The bride would have been pinned on it! I reached over and grabbed the wayward pin so there would be no accidents. The kiss went off without incident. Another point of the wedding I really liked was her selection of colors which included turquoise and the bridesmaid had dyed her hair turquoise. She looked adorable. It was a wonderful day with happy families and friends. They went to flounders for dinner afterwards. I put their picture on my face book page.

Our couple decided to have an Orange Beach Alabama wedding at the Island House Hotel. It was just two of them and so romantic. The could not have picked a better place to have their ceremony. The Island House Hotel is truly a gem of a hotel. Very clean and on a beautiful beach. Our couple met us in the lobby and we all walked out to the beach together. I went ahead and waited for them on the beach while the photographer took pictures of them walking down to is. Our bride was wearing a cream colored short dress with lace on the front, which almost look like crochet. It was beautiful. The groom also looked quite nice with a linen vest with matching slacks for their beach wedding. After the ceremony we placed them in several different poses and the photographer had them walk down the beach. There were not a lot of people on that beach so when they walked up to a group of people everyone broke out in applause. How sweet! Our blushing bride smiled and of course the groom was beaming. When they came back the bride had a large plaid scarf she wanted to use in pictures. We wrap the scarf around them and shot some great pictures they were going to be using on Christmas cards. I loved it how clever. We took several shots also of them sitting on the scarf so they would have a wide variety of pictures to choose from for their Christmas card. I would highly encourage everyone to try this themselves when they’re down here. It really made for beautiful pictures. Wedding props you can bring will enhance your ceremony in the sand. Call us and we can help you with suggestions you might like. You will like it.

When you’ve decided to have a beach wedding in Pensacola there are some things to think about and one of them is do you want to have children at your wedding? Of course there’s a reason you’re thinking this and the reason would be that one of your guests you’re thinking of inviting has a child or children who will not behave. It is something to think about. If the children cause any damage to anything their parents are held responsible. Some of you ask what could a child possibly damage? The wedding decorations your wedding planner has provided. Your reception decor, food, wedding cake, etc. Now you see there is a lot that it unruly child can demolish. And what’s worse is the parent who lets it happen and does nothing. Here comes the big question to your beach wedding dilemma, How are you going to handle this? One answer would be to not invite your friend. Of course this could also lead to an end of a friendship. Or you could say on your invitations adults only. Now some of your friends may have children that are well behaved and they will fill slighted. Or you could bite the bullet and have the discussion with your friend with the unruly children or child and tell them that they are welcome to come to your wedding but they cannot bring their child or children. It’s a difficult call. I’ve heard of brides who didn’t invite their friend and when the friend found out later that bride said, Oh you didn’t get your invitation, I sent it out. Yes sometimes a little white lie can save the day. Whenever choice you make your secret is safe with me.

So you say you’re getting married on the beach in Gulf Shores Alabama.  I could agree with you more.  With a lot to do and easy commute it really is a great area to have a beach wedding and honeymoon all in one place.  So what about a dress?  Recently I had a wedding and the bride wore a short white lace dress.  I really love the shorter dresses on the beach.  Some of you prospective brides are probably saying why?  How out because they’re more comfortable than a long dress?  Don’t get me wrong I like long dresses on the beach too but you really got to consider what is going make you happy and more comfortable and for about half of the brides I married this year they went with shorter dresses.  Yes that’s right about half went with shorter dresses!  No matter what type of dress you’re going to wear make sure it’s what you want for your ceremony.  Considering you’re on a beach and it’s going to be very warm it has proved to be a smart way to go for many brides.  I also watched brides struggle in long dresses that were either too tight or too restrictive in movement.  That’s why I tell everyone to consider loose and flowing dresses for the beach.  If you’re thinking about going with a mermaid or a form fitted dress you may want to reconsider because you will be having problems getting through the sand.  Those types of dresses do have their place but it is in a controlled environment.  One young lady had so much trouble walking in her dress her father had to pick her up and lower her to the sand because her dress would not allow her to make that last step.  So please think about dressing comfortably.  I have your best interest at heart.

For this beach wedding in Pensacola the groom had got a funny car for the drive back to the hotel. When my photographer in I first arrived at the location we were pleasantly surprised to see the groom his two sons riding in a modified glorified golf cart. It would hold six and less battery operated. That’s where we got this picture from. The groom and his two sons had on ties with the Tennessee Titans colors and logo. Of course the bride is an Auburn fan so the boutonnieres had blue in them. The sand ceremony they chose contained had orange and blue sand. The bride and groom mixed that. Then the children put some sand on top of it. I enjoyed watching this family bond together. The happiness they all felt could be seen in their faces and the words they said to each other. Everyone was all smiles. This wedding was a small one we at the bride and groom and their children. But I guess that was the beauty of it all was it was only immediate family. The weather was outstanding with temperatures in the mid seventies. I love the bride’s dress fit her perfect, a short lace dress. Since it was in October there’s not a lot of people on the beach so we had it to ourselves. Nice. At the end of the day the bride and groom drove off into the sunset in their funny car. And the sunset was beautiful that day. I hope you all think about coming down here and having the wedding of your dreams on Pensacola Beach.

Although we try some beach weddings will get rained out. I’ve only had four rained out but it does happen. We got rained out one time and it was a military wedding. The bride and groom were really devastated but there was nothing we could do. However one of the chaplains heard about what happened and he was at the military base in Pensacola. He told the bride and groom bacon half their ceremony in the small chapel at the Navy base. We were really lucky that day and somebody up there was definitely smiling on us. So we get to the chapel and we fix it up with the decorations that we found there. The bride and groom’s family were able to make it to the church on time. There were lots of friends dressed out in full military dress uniforms. We even had colored sand for the sand ceremony that the mother of the bride had provided with a big beautiful glass heart to put the sand in. The wedding when off perfectly even though we were doing a beach wedding it was still the perfect waiting for them. Afterwards as the bride and groom were leading the chapel all their military friends lined up and held their swords up for the bride and groom to walk through. It was like a sword tunnel. As the bride in Graham walked through the tunnel at the very end the last officer smacked the bride on the backside with his sword. We all burst out laughing as did the bride. So it just goes to show even though your wedding on the beach gets rained out we can still make it happen.

A pink duct tape beach wedding gown is a wonder to behold. Our bride was very creative and designed her a own pink dress by using duct tape. Her bouquet was also made with duct tape. The groom’s vest was made with pink camouflage duct tape. One of the most unique and different wedding ensembles I have ever seen. So if you’re looking for a Pensacola Beach wedding take a hint from this woman and do you own thing. She made the vest by taking a tank top and sticking the duct tape to it. How easy is that? The address was a little more difficult but turned out to fantastic. She looked absolutely stunning. By doing what makes you happy on your wedding day can guarantee a very lasting love. The bride and groom had both wrote personal vows to say to each other. When the groom said his vows he cried tears of joy and happiness. It was in very touching moment on the sand. The bride was in tears as she heard his loving words and his commitment to her for the rest of their lives together. I blinked back tears that welled up in my eyes from the amount of love these two had for each other. When the bride’s turn came to say her vows she’d let all of her love come out to her voice and dedicated herself to him. Everyone was very moved by the beautiful moment we had all shared in the sunset on that beach. Truly this couple were meant to be together. The groom told me he had waited 41 years to meet the right one. And he did meet the right one.