This pastel-infused coastal Florida wedding is truly so beautiful, I’m really not sure where to begin. From the soft pastel Bridesmaids dresses, to the charming watercolored stationery from A&P Design, to the three (yes, three!) gorgeous cakes, there’s really too much pretty in this gallery from Best Photography to describe in a few short lines. But don’t just take my word for it — click here to see it all!
From Best Photography… Southern inspiration paired with a gorgeous couple and whimsical details is nothing short of a perfect combination. Christine and Nils are some of the sweetest, selfless people you will ever meet. Not to mention, ridiculously photogenic. These two are practically supermodels. They poured their time and hearts into their wedding, and that fact is easy to see. With so many romantic details, and the gorgeous West Florida sunlight to set the tone, we are swooning… Between all of the incredible vendors and people that came together to make this elegant affair happen, we couldn’t have imagined anything more beautiful! It was perfect…
From the Bride… Nils and I were both terribly shy teenagers when a mutual friend in high school introduced us. We were too nervous to speak in person so we spent hours chatting on instant messenger (embarrassing screen names and all). It didn’t take long before we became best friends and high school sweethearts. By the time graduation came around, we had our hearts set on two different out-of-state universities. Nils and I went our separate ways, learned, loved and started making our own lives; he calls these the “lost years.” It wasn’t until three years later that I opened my inbox to find a surprising message from the same boy I fell so hard for in halls of our high school.
Nils proposed by recreating our first real date in high school, the first one where Nils got a truck and our parents didn’t have to drive. He recreated a picnic near a local Tampa bridge and even remembered the brand of sweet tea that we had so many years ago! We moved to Gainesville, FL where Nils began graduate school and dove right into wedding planning. We knew we wanted to get married in our hometown Tampa and I always dreamed of getting married in October, just like my parents and my grandparents. Our wedding took place on the same day my grandparents were married 70 years before.
Nils and I may be natives of the sunshine state but that doesn’t stop us from loving the south. Our collegiate tie to Georgia and Alabama keeps southern hospitality running through our veins and there was no doubt that we wanted to bring this same comfort to our wedding. With the help of our coordinator Kyela Faett and Anna Lucia Events, our vision for a beautiful southern affair came true.
We started with simply beautiful letterpress from A&P Designs complete with a monogram and cute map of Tampa Bay. The map included the Gasparilla pirate ship, locations of some of our favorite spots and even our two pups! We had a copy of the map blown up and have it hanging in our home.
I spent hours on blogs and Pinterest but had a hard time coming up with a distinct theme. Nils and I knew we adored the huge oaks trees at our venue so we kept the greenery flowing throughout our ceremony and into the crisp white tent for our reception. Botanica International Designs created the most beautiful garland and mint julep centerpieces. For décor I drew inspiration from table numbers we found at Rifle Paper Company and had a marvelous time mixing wreath and ribbon images to create our DIY paper products like the menus, program, escort and place cards. When it came to picking a color for my bridesmaids, I couldn’t get the Dusty Shale color from J.Crew out of my mind. I knew it would be a perfect compliment to the oak trees and even my strawberry blonde bridesmaids. Our happy day wouldn’t have been complete without the amazing music of Deleon Entertainment and their rendition of Come Thou Fount that will always remind me of walking down the aisle with my daddy.
Our favorite detail of our wedding was the DIY personalized escorts cards that welcomed every guest individually. This was such a small detail but made every one of our guests feel special and loved. Unique details like these were the reason we decided to have a wedding with fewer than one hundred guests. The wedding may have been a celebration for Nils and I, but we would be nowhere without the love and support of our loved ones and we made sure all of our wedding guests knew how special they were to us. We even managed to squeeze in a few rivalry college football digs on the escort cards that made everyone laugh.
We couldn’t resist adding foods like mini ham biscuits and shrimp and grits to our cocktail menu and completed the night eating sweet peach cobbler on wooden rocking chairs. Our cakes were made by the amazing husband and wife team at Hands on Sweets and were the perfect focal point for our tent reception. How did we end up with three cakes? It was completely impossible to choose just one flavor and design! We could not have been happier with our pink champagne with eucalyptus garland and that beautiful sugar magnolia.
Photography: Best Photography | Event Planning: Signature Event Rentals | Event Planning And Design: LUCIA|PAUL DESIGN | Floral Design: Botanica Specialty Rentals | Cake: Hands On Sweets | Stationery: A&P Designs | Hair And Makeup: Femme Akoi | Band: DeLeon Band | Officiant: Rev. Lee Crane | Transportation: Network Limousines | Venue: Tampa Yacht And Country Club | Linens : Over The Top Linens | Photo Booth: Photogenica Photo Booth Co.