So remember awhile back we hosted a designers challenge?  One day, eight designers and a ton of unique ideas!  The challengers were given color swatches to work with and our web followers have sent in their votes.  And here are the winners (drumroll please.......)
 Yasha Becker with Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort created these two amazing cakes as reflections of the colors and architecture of our surrounding communities.  The smaller cake was pistachio and key lime layers.   It tasted just as great as it looked!  Congrats Yasha!  
 

Florals by the Sea- Our winner of the table design.  Sally and her team were assigned purple and green(or plum and apple as Sally informed me!).  The candles, the bamboo posts, the orchids were incredible. Congrats Florals by the Sea!   

Todd from Blue Mountain Beach Catering was the winner of our catering challenge.  He was assigned yellow and orange as his two colors to work with.  I'll never forget the look on his face when he opened up the packet with his assigned colors and asked to switch!  We were blown away by the lobster ravioli and for dessert, jello shots in martini glasses with chocolate dipped spoons.  

Be sure to check out all the contestants and winners in the upcoming issue of Gulf Coast Bride.  We can't wait to do it again next year!

I'm thrilled to announce our newest venture here at Marry Me At The Beach!  We looked and looked for do-gooder causes we could help out with and we stumbled across Princess Project, an organization which provides high school teens (who would otherwise not be able to afford it) with free prom gowns and accessories.  Last prom season was the first big event and helped approximately 95 young women find dresses and accessories.  Here's where we need you.....If you are a bride or in a bridal party and interested in donating gowns or a wedding professional interested in helping with this project, contact us at info@MarryMeAtTheBeach.com.  The theme of the project is Pass It On.  So fab-we just can't wait to get started!

Day 4 got off to an interesting start.  The alarm was buzzing at the regular God-awful hour of 4:45 a.m. and it was pouring down rain.  From the email the previous day, we were notified that the class was still on "rain or shine".  "Dang" I thought!  Off we went to class and once there, started our crunches and the wind picked up and pushed the rain [what felt like] horizontally through the pavilion.  At that point, we made a decision to end class.  My friend and I opted to go back home and go to bed instead of joining the group for coffee (sleep just sounded sooo good after this week).  I felt guilty when I re-woke at 7:45 a.m. and didn't have a workout completed so I'm dedicated to commit to a more regular exercise regime.  Thanks Destin Boot Camp for an amazing week and, better yet, thanks for transforming my exercise mentality!

Have I told you how hard it is to get up at 4:45 a.m.?  Well, today was no different.  After going to sleep at a reasonable hour, I still found it strange that there are people in this world that choose to get up this early. 

So we get to class today and immediately Misty tells us to start doing "simple crunches".  We have requested that she rename this as they are not simple in the least.  After two days of crunching, my first crunch today sent what felt like fire shooting through my abs.  But, wait, this was just the beginning!  Mega ab workout (so, I have to ask, have you heard of the bicycle exercise for abs?  It's the absolute worst feeling but apparently has the best results), followed by more squats and get ready for this.....suicides on the beach!  I felt like I was in high school basketball practice again.  Oh, we dreaded suicides and today I realized I have not changed my mind about them.  After suicides (I couldn't believe I was still standing at this point), we did tandem running where our partner ran in front of us, and through a harness contraption we pulled back to give them resistance while we ran behind them.  Man oh man!  Is this what the Navy Seal dudes and dudettes go through?!  Because they can keep it!  Throw in a few hand weight workouts and that was the summary of our workout. 

Now I have talked about this workout like it's challenging and haven't spoken to the rewards.  Tomorrow is my last day of class and I was already thinking about how I can't change this routine that I have gotten into.  I've worked too hard and I'm excited about my body transformation that I'm considering continuing my workouts with Misty.  I'm going to request she hold a special bridal boot camp- who's in??!!

Another tough but rewarding day with Destin Boot Camp this morning.  I was really struggling initially with the workout (um, who isn't? It was 5:30 a.m.!!)  To my surprise, I saw a handful of other people who were just as crazy as we were working out this early in the morning.  Good news, I'm one day closer to bikini booty!  Yep, more lunges, squats, pushups, crunches (ouch, still recovering).  Sorry, no photos today, I wasn't feeling that cute.  More updates tomorrow.  I've got to believe that this is the ultimate bridal workout! Now, if I could just find someone to marry me!