Name:  Jennifer and Daniel

Date: March 21, 2009

Location:  Santa Rosa Beach Club

Florals:  Emerald Coast Flowers

Photography:  Amanda Suanne

Name:  Stephanie and Wesley

Date: November 8, 2008

Coordinator:  Jessica Miller, Serene Occassions

Floral Design:  Emerald Coast Floral

Cake:  Southern Style Desserts

Catering:  Blue Mountain Catering

Photography:  HBB Photography

Name:  Casey and Jordan

Wedding Date:  October 25, 2008

Ceremony/Reception:  Mimosa Mornings Beach House

Wedding Coordinator:  It's a Shore Thing

Florist:  Bella Flora

Taxi:  Paradise Taxi

Photography:  HBB Photography

Name: Christy and Clint

Date: October 17, 2008

Wedding: Seaside, FL

Reception: Santa Rosa Beach Club

Photography: HBB Photography

Cake: Confections on the Coast

How did you guys meet? We both live in Chicago and met at a street festival during the summer. I thought he was cute and started talking to him and he asked for my number...we went out about a week later and have been together since.

How did he propose? He proposed on Christmas Eve in 2007 at the dinner table in front of my family. It was a wonderful surprise!

 What was your favorite detail?  Wow that's tough. I loved everything about it...it was literally the perfect day. I guess I would say walking out of the chapel after we got married and everyone threw rose petals in the air as we walked by. It was really pretty...

Name: Bridget and Darren

Date: October 11, 2008

Photography: Goode Green Photography

Wedding Venue: Coleman Pavilion

Caterer: Criolla's

Cake: Fatty Patty's

Reception Site: Seaside Lyceum Lawn

Floral Design: Nouveau Flowers

Why is this area so special for the two of you? Being from Tennessee, I had heard of Seaside when I was younger and my family and friends often vacationed in the Florida Panhandle area. I would drive through the cute community to go shopping, but I had never stayed there until my 30th birthday celebration. Darren and I traveled to Seaside in May 2007 for the wedding of one of my best friends from childhood. We then went back later that year to celebrate Labor Day weekend there, and he fell in love with the area as well. During that trip, Darren found a sand dollar in the ocean and we carried that memory through our wedding elements.

Although Darren and I moved close to the beaches of Southern California last year, we decided the beaches of Seaside could not be compared to and it was an easier trip for most of our family and friends still on the East Coast. Seaside is a special place for us, and we wanted to share it. We love the gorgeous beach, the amazing sunsets, the laid-back atmosphere, the Seaside cottages, the food, the shopping, and the true Southern hospitality. It was so wonderful to be married in a place that symbolizes relaxation and fun for us!

What was your favorite element of your wedding? We can't pick just one...but some of our favorite elements are:
Our private moment, when we first saw each other at one of the beach pavilions, dressed and ready for the ceremony….it was awesome! Our first dance - a disco memory like no other! All of our wedding elements reflected the sand dollar (based on the one that Darren found during one of our visits to Seaside). We had a photo booth set up at the reception, and it was such a great twist on the traditional Guest Book. We love to look through the photo booth shots and comments still! We highly recommend it for every couple...the guests love it too (they get to take home a strip of the photos, and the other strip is put in your photo book). We also gave flashlights as favors to our guests. They were small but powerful flashlights (much needed for the dark nights in Seaside). We especially loved our: reception tables - instead of numbers, we named each table after a special place in our lives from both growing up and places we have shared together. We placed photos from those places and past memories (which included many of the guests) on the tables.

How did he propose? We were in East Tennessee, visiting my family for Thanksgiving 2007, and Darren gave me the best surprise of my life! It started off as a normal day back home….visit to the dentist, lunch at Littons, a stop at the nursing home to see my great-grandmother, and a stop at a friend's parent’s home to catch up. Darren was a trooper through it all, and we finally headed back to freshen up before church that night. We had been traveling with my parents all day, and as we walked away from them, Darren said “I’ve got something for you,” with a smile on his face. I asked if it was a book on Dollywood (we were going to the park in a couple of days and I figured we were going to plan out our theme park strategy!).

But it wasn’t a book on Dollywood….I later came out of the restroom, and Darren was standing there with his hands behind his back, holding something blue. He had the sweetest smile on his face, and I just looked at him in shock and let him speak. He started talking and crying, and I just tried to take it all in – I was so shocked it was happening (he hadn’t acted nervous at all!) and it was so beautiful – I wanted to soak up every second of it! He got down on one knee and asked me “Will you marry me?” I said “Yes! Yes, yes.” I didn’t want the moment to stop and I even commented that I wished someone had taped it so that I could play those moments over and over. He then got back down on his knee and proposed again….and again I answered “Yes, yes, yes!” We stood there hugging and just full of emotion.

The first dance- I grew up dancing and love (what I consider) the classic dance movies ("Dirty Dancing,” “Flashdance,” "Footloose,” "Saturday Night Fever"...). Darren did not grow up dancing, but was willing to try something new for our first dance. We talked about "Saturday Night Fever" and how John Travolta defined the disco era. We decided to give it a try! I knew Darren would be a great John Travolta, and I watched the movie over and over and taught Darren all of the moves from the first portion of the "You Should Be Dancing" dance. (We decided to do our own choreography starting where Travolta goes down to the floor...that was a little advanced for us!) I then added in a step that is Darren's signature step (I had first witnessed it at a NYC club...it's amazing..it's called the Flight Attendant), and then we added in some classic disco couple moves, and our dance was done. We didn't have much rehearsal time.....he would learn it during commercial breaks of "The Simpsons" at night after work, and then we had dance camp down in Seaside before the wedding. He did such a great job learning the dance and then performing it...I know Travolta would have been proud. Ha! Darren's family and friends were in shock, and it was just a great ice breaker to get people out on the dance floor and dancing.