St. Augustine wedding

The Peck House on St. George Street in St. Augustine was the setting for the November 21st wedding of Michael and Susan. It was a very cold evening by Florida standards but the bridal couple seemed not to notice. Large propane heaters were brought in for the garden ceremony and reception and the DJ, Captain Kirk, a good friend of ours, kept everyone up and dancing which helped them keep warm. He is streaming the video of the wedding on his website www.heartbeatofflagler.com. You can't hear the ceremony very well unless you turn your sound all the way up because his microphone didn't reach but the guests could hear just fine. Rev. Ted can be very loud when he has to be. Michael and Susan love St. Augustine and go there every chance they get. There are many beautiful sites in St. Augustine for weddings. Next weekend we are going to do a wedding at The Oldest House in St. Augustine and in January at the Fountain of Youth. We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We were able to have the family together for the first time in many years so it was expeciallly wonderful for us. On Saturday we won first place for our '66 Mustang at the Volusia Regional Antique Car Show in Ormond Beach. It is a date we save every year for the parade on Friday and show on Saturday. Last year we did a wedding at the Daytona Raceway Thanksgiving weekend. We wish that lovely couple (they know who they are) a very happy first anniversary.

November

November has been a very busy month. After a long weekend with the granddaughter at Disney World and Universal Studios, we came home for the Novembe 2nd wedding of Marcus and Alyssa at the Sunset Harbor Yacht Club in Daytona Beach. Unfortunately it was a rainy day so the ceremony had to be held indoors. Alyssa was a really good sport about the changes and the wedding turned out beautifully. This couple had a memorial for the grandparents, and a sand ceremony with silvery white and pink sand. They wrote their own vows to each other and the warm and heartfelt sentiments expressed in their vows nearly brought me to tears. And I thought I had heard everything!

On November 8th Kezia and Sean were married at Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine. Their beach wedding was held under sunny skies, but it was a pleasantly warm day. Not to hot and not too windy. Kezia's colors were black and white with a touch of red. They also chose to have a memorial ceremony and a sand ceremony and had a medallion ceremony for Kezia's son who touched everyone's heart when he said he at last had a real daddy.

Later that same day Tim and Liz tied the knot at Princess Place in Palm Coast. Their colors were red and black with a touch of white. The bride wore a white gown embroidered in red with a red inset in the train. She got it at Agnes' Bridals right here in Palm Coast. They were married between two huge live oak trees under which we set the arch. They also had a memorial for their respective mothers and a sand ceremony with red and black sand. A medallion ceremony for their three sons was included. The ceremony finished off with a recessional of the "Throne Room" music from Star Wars, a beautiful piece of music.

Chapel in the Garden

Monday is an unusual day for a wedding, but since it was a holiday for some, Bill and Regina chose this Columbus Day for their wedding at the Chapel in the Garden. It is a lovely setting for a wedding. A short rain shower forced everyone indoors for a few minutes during the picture taking after the ceremony, but it stopped as quickly as it began and the photographs on the picturesque grounds continued. Pink and black were the colors of the day. The bridesmaid and maid of honor wore pink gowns and the two flower girls were in black with pink sashes. Regina was regal in her elegant gown with a cathedral train. A reception followed on site at the tavern in the garden. Regina and Bill had laminated photos of their relationship to date and had them floating in water in tall urns on the reception tables. We had never seen this done before and it was a very personal and interesting touch. They also had crystal bells on the tables for the guests to ring to have the couple kiss, but Bill and Regina needed little coaxing. Our good friend and colleague from the Volusia Wedding Professionals, Len Pepe, did the photography and was never still for a second the entire time.

Destination Wedding from Alaska

Hello again. It has been a very busy month. Next month looks a little quieter so far and the holidays are always a time to relax for us as people tend to not get married as much that time of year. We have a couple of weddings in December and one on New Year's Day which happens to be our anniversary.
Thursday we did a destination wedding for Amber and Mark who came from Anchorage Alaska to sunny warm Florida for their wedding. They went on cruise to the Bahamas with some of their family members and had their wedding before heading back to Alaska. Unfortunately, the weather turned really bad with thunder and lightening and torrential rain so the beach ceremony was moved indoors to the hotel conference room. Luckily they had had great weather the rest of their trip but we wish the rain had at least let up for the ceremony. This is only the second time I can ever remember having to move a ceremony indoors.
Be sure to ask us about doing your destination wedding. We have several time shares and can get very reasonable rates for bonus weeks. We can put together an affordable package for your wedding here in Flagler County. Just ask

Palm Coast Wedding

Last evening Laura and Jared were married on the grand lawn at the Ginn Resort in Palm Coast. It was a destination wedding with most of the guests we met coming from Massacusetts. one of the young men at our table came from the Phoenix, Arizona area. Flagler County, in which Palm Coast is located, is a great place for destination weddings. In addition to the Ginn resort, we have Hiltons, Holiday Inns and many other hotels. One new hotel opened recently and two more are in the process of being built. We are able to get special deals for couples arranging a block of rooms for their guests. We have beautiful, quiet beaches and botanical gardens, dining options from fast food to the finest dining anywhere at a much lower cost than most parts of the country. We are located right between St. Augustine and Daytona Beach so there is plenty to do to keep your guests busy, and being only a little more than an hour from Orlando gives an abundance of fun for you and your guests.
Laura wore a beautiful full length lace gown, simple in construction which was perfect for a lawn wedding. Her bridesmaids wore street length orange strapless dresses which would be perfect sundresses for any occasion, but also perfect for the setting of the wedding. The men were in khaki pants and white dress shirts, also suiting the setting to a "T". Their reception was a buffet in the Atlantic Ballroom with a band for entertainment, which I have to say is getting more unusual these days as most brides choose DJs, but it was a good choice for the elegant tone of the reception.
Just a word on receptions. It is not necessary to invite the officiant to the reception. We understand that it is an added expense to what may already be a tight budget and we are not at all offended when not invited to stay. We do, however, enjoy spending some more time with the couples we marry and we usually get to know them so well by the time we do the wedding, that we almost feel like part of the family. We have thoroughly enjoyed everything from back yard barbecues to elegant formal dinners. There is no perfect reception except the one that is perfect for you and your personality.

Simple Elegance

Erica and Joseph were married Saturday at the Jacksonville Golf and Country Club. They were married on the lawn overlooking the golf course. Joseph is in the Navy and the couple was disrupted twice this summer when hurricanes approached Key West where they are stationed. They still managed to plan their wedding despite all the upheaval. The only kink was when their chair covers were delivered to the wrong venue. I guess when they changed venues the rental company did not get the message, but they were intercepted on their way back to their headquarters and were re-directed to the correct place in time for the reception. It is a good idea to call all the vendors the week before the wedding to make sure everyone is on the same track. Erica and Joseph had a violinist play their ceremony music. It was a lovely touch.
They had fun during the ceremony as Rev. Ted worked to calm their nerves. Erica's mom was on the verge of tears over her "baby" getting married, but Ireminded her that she might have grandchildren in her future now and that is the best fun ever.

Matanzas Beach Wedding

Friday evening was the wedding of Peter and Tracy at the beach at Matanzas State Park. We played some caribbean steel drum music on our portable Bose system. It made for a very festive atmosphere. The bridesmaids wore pretty flowered sun dresses and the bride wore a traditional wedding gown. Tracy and Peter altered the traditional sand ceremony so that Tracy's three children could participate. Each of the five of them had a different color of sand and the resulting combined container was extraordiary. Tracy's older daughter was a junior bridesmaid and her younger daughter was the flower girl who took her duty very seriously. Her son was the ring bearer, but wisely did not actually carry the rings. Rings have been known to fall between the boards of the walkway or drop into the sand so it is never a good ideal to have the real rings carried by any child. If you are using a ring pillow, use cheap plastic rings to tie onto the pillow and keep the real ones with the best man, maid of honor, or the minister. The child can walk up to the couple and pretend to give them the rings, and everyone accepts this whether they think he has the real rings or not. I am sure Peter, Tracy and their children will have a very happy family life together.