Christine and Justin


Pro pics have been added to my bio! If you use an image please credit Impressions Photography or me...thanks for looking!
 
Both our ceremony and reception was at the South Seas Island Resort on Captiva Island in Florida. We live in Michigan but we love Florida and vacation there often. We wanted a smaller destination wedding near the beach and thought Captiva Island was a perfect location.
 
If the thought of a destination wedding has ever crossed your mind...do it!!! The wedding day goes by so fast; I feel so blessed that we had a few extra days to spend with our loved ones!
 
Our wedding day could not have gone better. I have heard so much about how something is bound to go wrong that I was waiting for it...but besides a bit of wind, it was perfect! We had beautiful warm weather, everyone looked wonderful and we had a great time. The food, music and flowers were all unbelievable! It was the best day of my life. I would do anything to get to do it again!
 



Christine and Justin
Our Wedding Day
Our Reception
Vendor Info
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Our Wedding Day
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Looking a bit nervous in this picture!






















Me with my mom:)


Love this picture with my dad...


Me with my Maitron of Honor


My absolutely stunning girls.


I love how the bouquets all turned out...






My handsome hubby:)






The boys!






Our Ceremony




This couple is actually married!








Justin with his brother, the best man












The wind made for some pretty pictures, but I thought it was going to rip the veil right off of my head!






We originally had an arch with flowers but it was too windy to use it...I actually think the pictures are prettier without it!










Woo Hoo we're married!




Excuse the hair the wind was still a bit crazy!


The bridesmaid dresses were an exact match to the water...

















I love how the pelican decided to pose for our shot!


















Our beach shots...unfortunately it got cloudy right after our ceremony so there was no sunset, but I still think they turned out beautiful.
















I think he was nibbling on my shoulder here which is why I started laughing
 
 
 
 
Our Reception
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The beautiful view looking out the french doors onto the lawn from our Ceremony...


















The ribbon on our cake matched the bridesmaid dresses perfectly.






My beautiful mom giving a wonderful speech to welcome everyone...






Getting all choked up...one of many times:)
















Aw looking very in love with my hubby here!






With our wonderful parents. They are such wonderful examples for us to look up to!
 
 
 
 
Vendor Information
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Ceremony Location - South Seas Island Resort (King's Crown Lawn)
A+
 
I could not have been happier with the way everything turned out! The resort was just gorgeous. Everyone had a great time before the wedding hanging out at the beach and the pools. We had a few volleyball tournaments going throughout the weekend! All guests rooms have been newly renovated. They are beautifully decorated with big flat screen TV's (all the guys made sure to comment on that!) We had reserved trolleys running back and forth to take guests to our rehearsal dinner which was located just outside of the resort. They also picked up guests for the wedding. Our ceremony location was just beautiful. They also have a beautiful private beach if you were to choose to have your wedding ceremony on the sand!
 
Officiant - Dr. Dan Lamey
A+
 
Dr. Lamey worked with us to really personalize our ceremony. He was a Catholic priest who left the priesthood as he fell in love and got married. He still acts as a minister. The entire ceremony was about 20 minutes, with 2 readers and still had religious aspects to it.
 
Reception Location - South Seas Island Resort (King's Crown Ballroom)
A+
 
The reception site was really set up as 2 rooms...our dining room and just connected off of it through french doors was the dance floor, bar and cocktail tables. There were also french doors that opened up to the outside patio which provided a great view of the ceremony lawn and ocean! Normally I think all wedding food tastes the same...just kind of like blah banquet hall food...ours was unbelievably good! All I heard were raves about the appetizers and dinner. It really is a truly beautiful room for a wedding reception.
 
Cake Creator - Sweet Tiers (located in Naples)
A+
 
Daniella made the blue ribbon on the cake to match the girls' dresses perfectly. 2 layers of the cake were chocolate with a raspberry mousse filling, and 1 layer was yellow cake with a strawberry custard filling. Once again...rave reviews and people wanted seconds so that they could taste the layer they didn't get to try!
 
Florist - Floral Artistry (located on Sanibel Island)
A
 
The flowers were beautiful...everything tied in together so nicely. Ann at Floral Artistry realy took the time to talk with me and email back and forth regarding all my different ideas. I think they captured what I was looking for perfectly. The only reason I'm not giving them an A+ is that I had asked for my bouquet to be fully wrapped and I did have some stems showing...not a huge deal though!
 
Photographer - Impressions Photography
A++
 
I am in love with our pictures! I can not rave enough about Impressions:) I have no idea how I will narrow it down when choosing! Audrey was our photographer...she was so sweet and did the best job! The pictures are exactly how I wanted them. I emailed her before the wedding with a big list of shots that I wanted, and also sent pictures that I liked and disliked from other photographers so she knew our preferences. She never made me feel like I was bothering her with my constant emails! I never felt like I was being trailed around by her at any point in the day and she did a great job of keeping me informed of how much time she had left with us and asking me if I wanted any shots that we missed. I highly recommend Audrey at Impressions!
 
Videographer - Dynamic Video Images
We used Mark with DVI. After talking with him he knew exactly what I envisioned, plus their sample dvd was awesome! I'm very excited to see the final video...review to follow.
 
Disc Jockey - Danny Morgan Entertainment
A+ Mark Simms
 
Mark played from 10 pm til the end of the wedding at 11:45. He was just great...I highly recommend him. Danny Morgan Entertainment recommended him and I couldn't be happier. He was so into the wedding he was taking pictures with his own camera! I forwarded him a play list, as well as a do not play list and he played everything perfectly. He even came to check with me when someone requested a song not on my list. Great DJ...not cheesy at all...everyone thought he was great! Really kept everyone dancing!
 
Musicians - Danny Morgan Entertainment
A
 
We had John McClane playing both the steel drums and switching to the guitar thoughout the ceremony which sounded awesome. During the cocktail hour he played steel drums and keyboard. Everyone said how great he was...we were taking pictures then so I didn't hear him. We had a trio band for dinner and dancing until 10. They did a great job. Once again, I chose from their song list and they followed it. My only complaint was that they didn't play my parents wedding song which I requested...but it could have been because people were slow to start dancing right after dinner and once everyone did get going they didn't want to slow it down too much...
 
Invitations - The American Wedding Album
A
 
I highly recommend this company if you don't want to spend a fortune on your invitations but you still want them to look nice. I used them for my tropical save the date magnets which were super cute. I also ordered 75 invitations to include outer envelopes, inner envelopes and tissue, 75 thank you notes with envelopes, 75 reply cards with pre-printed envelopes, and 75 reception cards for a grand total of $270! Processing and shipping was pretty fast...they arrived within a week of placing my order.
 
Tuxedos - Saciano's, Ft Myers Florida
A
 
No problems...all the tuxes fit pretty well which I was worried about since all the guys' did was call in their measurements from up in Michigan. Great service and everyone looked great!
 
My Dress - Maria's Bridal, Rochester Hills MI
A for the buying/shopping experience; D- for everything else.
 
Horrible! The shop was wonderful when they wanted my money...and terrible when there were problems. My dress came in and had to be taken in as normal alterations usually happen. However, the sash was too small by about 3 inches. Not sure how that happens. I asked for them to send it back...they said the designer would charge me $400 for a new one...so they would just fix it in store and turn it inside out and add more material. Obviously I was pretty upset at that suggestion! We called Marisa in New York and they told us to send it back and they would make me a new one...free. After that, I was treated rudely. I would have apts. for fittings and they would finally get to me about 45 minutes late. They do not have enough people working there to help their customers. Also, when they called to tell me my dress was in, I asked if my veil was in. They said "oh I'm sure it is". I went for my first fitting...no veil. She said she would check on it and get back to me. I hear nothing. Go to my second fitting, no veil. Apparantly they had originally ordered the wrong one, it came in and they weren't sure what happened. They either sent it back and forgot to order the correct one or sold it. My veil ended up getting in about 2 days before I left. Ok enough of my ranting!
 
Bridesmaid Dresses - Maria's Bridal, Rochester Hills MI
C
 
The dresses came in at the last minute so we were cutting it close. The girls all chose to get their alterations done there because they were free. Every girl while getting pinned told the seamstress that the dress had to be taken in more...she only took it in through the hip and then halfway down the thigh...leaving the bottom of the dress looking like a huge tent. The seamstress refused to pin it any tighter. Anyway, on the day of a wedding thank goodness we had a family friend there who sewed and brought her machine...she took in all 3 dresses.
 
Hair Stylist - Aimee Walls from Vincent 's Salon
A++
 
I have never been in a wedding where every single girl loved their hair! Aimee did that for us! Usually I end up forking over tons of money and than redoing my hair myself because it is either plastered to my head or looks nothing like what I asked for. The girls loved her and how they looked...my hair came out perfect. Everyone got exactly what they asked for which is awesome:)
 
Makeup Artist - Tracey from Vincent's Salon
A++
 
I had my make-up done, as well as one bridesmaid and both moms. I had the spray make-up as well as some false lashes on the corners of my eyes. Makeup lasted all day, looked natural and was exactly what I wanted.
 
Wedding Coordinator - Amanda Deminie
A++
 
Amanda works for South Seas. I could not have planned this wedding without her! She listened to my frantic emails for months and made sure everything ran smoothly. She stayed for the entire wedding and was on her hands and knees mopping up spilled drinks from the dance floor when people got too tipsy! By the end of the night everyone knew her by name and remarked at how great she is at her job! She is such a sweetheart and is so organized and patient. Amanda was wonderful at helping a destination bride plan a wonderful wedding!
 
Honeymoon Destination - Puerto Rico
A for Puerto Rico; B for our Hotel (Intercontinental in San Juan)
 
I highly recommend Puerto Rico if you are the type you can't just lay by a pool all day. We did so much while we were there...horseback riding on the beach, snorkeling, seeing other islands, restaurants and bars in Old San Juan. Great weather and beaches...super warm clear ocean water. Our hotel was nice...but after seeing others there are a couple more that I would have rather stayed at.
 
Travel Agent - Directional Strategies, Royal Oak MI
A-
 
I worked with Dave Smith and he is very nice and knows tons about so many different locations. The company specializes in destination weddings and honeymoons. I had been working with another travel agent who was a nightmare in getting back to me. We met with Dave and booked our trip the next day:) I wish he would have pushed a few other hotels on us as options...but overall good job.
 
Other Vendor - Rehearsal Dinner @ The Green Flash
A+
 
This is a perfect restaurant to host a Rehearsal Dinner on Captiva! We had the upstairs room all to ourselves and it fit 52 of us. From there, you have a pretty water view. The food is very reasonably priced and very good! The service was also wonderful. They let us make our own menus with a few selections for entrees so that the guests didn't have the run of the whole menu. I just let them know in advance which salads, entrees and desserts we would be choosing and everything was perfect from there!
 

 

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