We have such a gorgeous Florida beach wedding for you today–chocked full of inspiration! Are you planning a beach-themed wedding? Look no further. Yasmin and Blake make a stunning couple and their wedding has so many lovely ideas to get your inspiration on. From a vibrant color scheme and a starfish motif, to dressed-up pets, gorgeous tablescapes, fire-breathing entertainers and more … enjoy this beautiful beach wedding!

Wedding Style: Beach
Colors: Purple, Kiwi Green and Ivory
Ceremony & Reception: Hilton on Singer Island, Florida
Wedding Decor: Celebrations by Kathy
Photographer: Palm Beach Photography
Thank You Cards: MagnetStreet Weddings

Highlights of the day: Seeing the rainbow before the ceremony.

Advice you’re glad you took: Renting Photo Booth

Advice you’d like to give: Create timelines for your photographer, DJ and Hotel Coordinator – this will save you headaches.

Best part of the whole wedding day: Marrying my wonderful husband

Vendor Shout Outs:

Palm Beach Photography
Tonya Laker gives her 110% attention to her clients. She’s prompt, creative and a hard worker.  I had so much fun with her–especially with the props we used. I absolutely love and adore her!

Hilton Hotel {coordinator/caterer}
Nickole D’Angelo made my life easier. She is one of the best coordinators I have dealt with. She was attentive to all my needs and I highly recommend her. The food at Hilton was scrumptious and I have no complaints.

Celebrations by Kathy Wedding Decor
Kathy did an amazing job with my decor. She was on time and attentive to all my requests.

MagnetStreet Weddings
I love MagnetStreet Design! The personalization tool is user friendly and the colors were vivid and beautiful.

*Thanks Yasmin and Blake–for sharing your special day with us! We wish you the best of everything!*

xo

We are simply in love with Chad and Vicki’s elegant beach wedding in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Drawing us in are the turquoise waters, white sand and this beautiful couple–so clearly in love. Natural romance abounds in this tropical destination and Chad and Vicki’s beach wedding is full of love, family and significance … the icing on their wedding cake. Enjoy as our lovely bride guides us through their day…

Wedding Style: Beach Formal
Colors: Aqua and shades of Purple
Ceremony & Reception: Melia Caribe Tropical in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Photographer: Brian Khang Photographer
Save the Date & Thank You: MagnetStreet Weddings

Highlights of the day:

A surprise love letter from my husband, seeing how beautiful the bouquets turned out, being surrounded by 60 of our closest friends and family, marrying my best friend.

Some of my favorite details:

Our fan programs … the groomsmens’ striped socks … my “something blue” anklet … wearing the same earrings my mom and sister wore on their wedding day … my camouflage garter (my husband is a big hunter) … our “In lieu of a party favor” cards (we used one of our engagement photos and explained that we were donating to the cancer organization that helped my husband when he was sick) … our engraveable guest book … and our wedding cake that had real shells on it.

Advice you’re glad you took:

Using lots of hairspray – it was REALLY windy but my hair stayed in place all day … Not wearing extremely tall heels (mine were 2.75 inches and I kept them on all night) … Strolling hors d’oeuvres versus self serve (so much more elegant).

Advice you’d like to give:

For destination weddings, try to go to the resort at least 6 months prior to the wedding to see the venues, meet the wedding planner and get a vision. We did this and it helped tremendously.

Best part of the whole wedding day: Dancing all night with my husband, friends and family.

{Chad & Vicki personalized “Love Airways” Save the Date Card and “Black Fade” Thank You Card}

Thank you Chad and Vicki–for sharing your day and the topical prettiness of your lovely, lovely wedding! You can see more from this beach destination wedding via photographer, Brian Khang.

We have a very lovely wedding with a very gorgeous couple from across the pond today. Irene and Aaron got married in the United Kingdom and their ceremony and reception were held in a romantic wine vault that dates back to the 14th century! And if that isn’t rich enough in history for you–Irene and Aaron had their pictures taken outside of Rochester Cathedral and Castle–England’s second oldest cathedral–founded in 604 AD. So cool. But, here’s beautiful Irene to tell us more about their day and their relationship.

Wedding Style: Blending British and Nigerian influences
Colours: Purple and White
Ceremony & Reception: a 14th century bar called The George Vaults.
Photographer: Mamun Humayun of m24instudio
Thank You Cards: MagnetStreet Weddings

Traveling alone, Aaron and I met in the Philippines in 2009. Since then we have traveled to many countries together and maintained a long distance relationship before getting married 14 August 2011. It was an intimate wedding of about 50 people. I’m British and my family is Nigerian so this had a lot of influence on the theme of the wedding, as most of my family wore native Nigerian clothing. However it also had a traditional English influence as it took place in Kent, UK.

The wedding took place in a bar called the George Vaults which has as a 14th-century vault in the basement. There was a very romantic atmosphere as it was small and intimate and lit up with candles. The ceremony and reception were in the same place. They just rearranged the tables and chairs.

The best part of the day …

was when we were announced husband and wife and I walked out of there with my new husband. Taking pictures was also a lovely experience. We were able to take pictures outside Rochester Cathedral and Castle as the venue is opposite those two sites. The reception was also a lot of fun as we love to dance.

Highlights of the day:

The speeches from my brother-in-law, father and my 11 year-old sister were all amazing. My little sister surprised everyone and did a toast for us. The ceremony itself was also very beautiful and went really well.

The venue took care of the catering and decorations and it was so much easier having the ceremony and reception in the same place. Most of my family came down from London so they didn’t know the area. It would have been a lot of hassle having the reception in a different location. I’m glad we didn’t have to worry about finding a separate caterer and decorator. It was very straightforward doing it that way.

Advice I wish I had taken:

Check and double-check bookings over and over to ensure people who say they were going to do something don’t let you down at the last minute. Relying on family and friends helps to cut costs but sometimes it can cause more stress than it’s worth.

Advice I would give:

Compromise as much as you are willing to–in order to keep family members happy–but once you have reached that point don’t budge, or you will end up having the type of wedding you never wanted. Keep it simple and don’t let people pressure you into doing what you don’t want. People are still shocked that we managed to have a small intimate wedding considering my Nigerian background. Weddings in Nigeria are usually like carnivals!

Don’t lose sight of what the day is really about and remember, it’s yours and your spouse’s day. You can’t please everyone, so just stick to what you want as a couple.

Also, ask for money instead of gifts. You can request contributions towards your honeymoon for example. It’s much better than getting random gifts that you may not need or may not go with anything in your house. We had to move to a new country so we didn’t want a lot of stuff.

Irene & Aaron personalized “Wall of Love” Thank You Cards.

Vendor Shout Outs:

Photographer: Mamun Humayun

Their prices were so reasonable and they also did a 1 hour video with all the highlights of the day and behind the scenes footage.

MagnetStreet Weddings

MagnetStreet has a good selection of designs for our thank you cards. We sent the original invitations via email. We used Smilebox so it was a selection of pictures of us on our various travels together and it was accompanied with our song – Stevie Wonder for your love. However, as we sent the invitations via email, we wanted to send real thank you cards with some nice photos as a keepsake. I was impressed with how easy the website was to use and the range of designs available to choose from.

Thank you Irene and Aaron for sharing your spectacular day! We wish you every bit of happiness as you *journey* through life together!

xo

One last trip to the beach for this Color Monday. We’re rounding out our 3-part beach series for Color Mondays.

Today we’re inspired by white sandy beaches. Here the color palette is all about white! Think of white fluffy clouds and white-washed docks, white sand and bleached seashells. White is a color when it appears on the beach!

To create this effect you must focus on the neutrals and only use color sparingly. Little hints of blue or teal are noticed mainly because everything else is a soft muted shade of sandy brown or creamy white. Think of a beach house with it’s pastel walls and white furniture. With these tones, one gets the feeling of endless summer and cool breezes–coming through sheer curtains. Sounds like a great wedding to go to!

Of course we have Beach Wedding Invitations that correspond to this palette. You might even be interested in a nautical theme if this idea appeals to you.

Now to apply this look to non-beach invitations. The feeling of peace and tranquility comes through with the colors. Just remember to treat white as a real color- not just the left over background, it makes a big difference!

Go beyond the original color to create the look that you want. The color CAN make your favorite design into the perfect invitation for your wedding.

What do you think? Are white and neutrals really a beach inspired combination? Are there any beach colors we missed in this series?