With the weather just turning over to Spring, a beach wedding was just what I wanted to show. Bright colors, gorgeous sand couple shots and even a starfish tattoo all were captured by Cassie Leah Photography.
From the couple: Our wedding was October 22, 2011 on a beautiful day in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. We choose the option of doing a beach house wedding. In this event, we had to coordinate all the vendors and account for all expenses, because this was not an all inclusive venue. The benefit from this was that we had complete control over every detail and our entire bridal party, including our parents could stay here and not have to worry about traveling. The disadvantage was that we had to strategically plan everything imaginable and purchase or rent everything individually. All in all, the planning went well and on the day of our event, it was nearly flawless! The weather, the atmosphere and the day couldn’t have been more perfect. We were expecting about 100 guests from all over the states from Colorado and New Mexico to New York and New Jersey.
The ceremony took place on a beautiful grassy lawn with a white frame tent above and the ocean directly behind us. Weeks prior to our wedding, we helped the officiant with the wording of the entire ceremony to ensure it was written and spoken perfectly for us. I am of Jewish faith and my bride is Catholic with Native American Culture influences and we had each of our faiths involved. We choose to do rituals and traditions we each felt important during a marriage ceremony. We choose not to focus on anything directly “G_D”, but rather more spiritual and celebrating of a union. We found a traditional Jewish Tree of Life Ketubot, a wedding blessing, for an equal partner union, which was read during the ceremony. In the Native American wedding ceremony, a traditional wedding vase that is handmade was used to drink water from, celebrating our union. Because we personally selected the rituals and readings of our ceremony, in essence, we created our own ceremony.
Ginny- My favorite moment of the day was the ceremony. Listening to the songs we picked out and walking with my parents; it made me believe there was true love and I could feel the support. I was overwhelmed with emotions of joy and happiness when I saw Tez coming down the aisle. I know we had prepared for this day for a while, but nothing could have prepared me for the surge of energy I felt when I saw her! The ceremony that we had practiced the night before was now all surreal. While we were standing before one another, it was a sensory overload. I heard the officiant, but at the same time her words sounded muffled. I saw my family and friends, but when I looked at Tez, everything else seemed blurred and distant. It felt as though it lasted forever, but I did not dread it or wish it to hurry. It was truly the best moment of my life, not just of the day.”
Tez- My favorite moment of the day was walking down the aisle. Seeing my father cry as he gave me a hug as he saw me for the first time was overwhelming. I had to try to compose myself, keep from crying and to just keep walking. I kept reminding myself to just breathe, but then as I continued to walk, my heart stopped as I saw Ginny for the first time. This whole year of anticipation came down to this moment. Seeing her for the first time just gave me a feeling of great joy, happiness and love. I just thought to myself “she’s mine”. She couldn’t have looked more beautiful that day and at that moment nothing and no one else mattered but her and I.”
The teal and hot pink colors we chose really popped and looked great with our floral arrangements and centerpieces. We loved how the tables were set, making a beach wedding seem simple yet elegant. We had petit wine bottles custom designed with our names and carefully chosen words to represent our love and celebration, that we set at every table setting for our guests to take home.
I think if you breakdown what is important to decorate and stick with a simple pattern, design, or color scheme, it allows the guests to feel more comfortable and sets the atmosphere to direct attention to the couple and wedding party. If you throw in too many elements, the eye cannot focus on the importance of the day. Find a simple theme and color scheme that compliments one other and stick to it.
The reception began with Tez’s father playing a couple dedication songs on his guitar. It was so touching that almost everyone cried. The night continued as dinner came, lights dimmed, and guests danced the night away.
Beach Rental // Kuhn Flowers // DJ Shay // Dresses Davids Bridal // Cassie Leah Photography
And we are back!! YES!!! Woo-hoo!!! So excited!!!
Beautiful wedding!! Beautiful brides!! Beautiful traditions!! This is rad!!
Congratulations!!
Yea! glad to see a new post!
These are beautiful photos!!
And we are very, very happy you’re back!!! xox
Awesome!! So excited to have this beautiful wedding featured!
YAAAAAAAAAY! So glad to see this up again! And these ladies are GORGEOUS!
Sooooo glad to see that y’all are back, and very pleased to see a PVB wedding as I live just down the road from there!
Lovely photographs of two very radiant brides!
Beautiful wedding!! I really liked their colour scheme too!