A Tip - Book your Wedding at the Beach!

Deciding to get married at the beach is an easy decision, but you might as, "what do I do then?"  We here at Sunset Beach Weddings believe that if you follow these simple steps, and you'll eliminate some stress during the process.

1. You're engaged!  You want to have a beach wedding!  First step, PICK YOUR DATE!

Choosing your date is the first step.  When you call wedding companies and beach rental companies, they'll ask you this.

2. Book a wedding company for your date!  

Take care to find a wedding company that fits your needs and makes you feel comfortable with your decision.  This can include your officiant, photographer, decoration, and direction.  Don't worry about location quite yet, most wedding companies will handle all the regions here in the panhandle of Florida.  If your package includes photography, look through their photographs on the company's website.  You'll want to see many examples of their work.  Not just a few of their best photos.

3. Choose a place to stay!  Pick the beach area you want to be in and your Lodging!

Do you want to stay on the beach?  In a beach house?  Condo?  Hotel?  Where do you think your guests will want to stay?  Most wedding companies will also give you a local vendor list that can help you find your lodging.  You can also use this list to suggest places to stay for your guests.  There are many many options for lodging here, so don't get overwhelmed and feel like you just have to have a certain place, keep looking, you'll find one that fits your budget and plans.  Ask for a discount, many will offer if they know you're ready to book and have other options as well.

4. Choose your Ceremony location!  

Depending on where you're staying, you'll want your ceremony as close as possible.  We will help you choose the location using our knowledge and experience.  But knowing your location will make this much easier.

5.  Decide if you're having a reception or dinner?

Do you want a reception?  do you want to go to dinner?  Have a party?  Many couples have receptions right where you're staying as well.  Rented a big beach house?  Have your reception right there!  Have your reception at a local restaurant.  Many options at this point, but they'll want to know what your date is!  The vendor list comes in very handy for making this decision as well.

6.  If hosting your own reception, do you want to cater or do-it-yourself?  

No wrong answer here for your wedding reception.  The valuable vendor list will give you lots of ideas for catering as well.

7.  Done - other than small details you've planned your wedding!  These decisions don't have to be made on the same day, follow these tips and you're planning will be much less stressful!

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Ken and Heather Delo

Sunset Beach Weddings

(850) 366-8054

sunsetbeachwed@gmail.com

www.sunsetbeachwed.com

www.delobeachweddings.smugmug.com

Like us on Facebook for more photos: www.facebook.com/sunsetbeachwed

Twitter: @sunsetbeachwed

Sunset Beach Weddings http://www.sunsetbeachwed.com - Destin, Panama City Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Okaloosa Island, Navarre Beach, Pensacola Beach, Perdido Key, wedding packages, wedding photography, beach wedding photography.

Sunset Beach Weddings Blog: The Ring "Bearer"

As a beach wedding photographer at Sunset Beach Weddings, I often have the privilege of being with the bride as she prepares for her ceremony.  Photos that capture her mom or Maid of Honor helping fix her hair or make-up are must have shots.  To combat the nervousness, I'll try to get the bride to tell me a story, how they met, how he proposed, something that will make her smile.  One story was so cute, I doubt I will ever forget it.  

The bride-to-be was packing the wedding clothes for the trip to Florida.  Her young son was watching, very excited that he was asked to be the ring bearer.  As she finished packing, he became very concerned that mom had not packed his clothes for the wedding.  When she assured him that his clothes were packed he told her, "But where is my bear costume?"  Confused she asked what he meant, well, wasn't he supposed to be the ring BEARer?

Instead of a bear costume, the bride bought a teddy bear dressed in a tux.  The ring BEARer carried this bear down the aisle.  Not to be left out, the flower BEARer also got her own teddy bear.  That was one BEARy special beach wedding in Destin!

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Ken and Heather Delo

Sunset Beach Weddings

(850) 366-8054

sunsetbeachwed@gmail.com

www.sunsetbeachwed.com

www.delobeachweddings.smugmug.com

 

Like us on Facebook for more photos: www.facebook.com/sunsetbeachwed

Twitter: @sunsetbeachwed

Sunset Beach Weddings http://www.sunsetbeachwed.com - Destin, Panama City Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Okaloosa Island, Navarre Beach, Pensacola Beach, Perdido Key, wedding packages, wedding photography, beach wedding photography.

The Ring Pillow

Here at Sunset Beach Weddings, we love to tell amusing stories about the weddings we perform and children are always good for a quick little tale.  This time, we were in Destin at the Pompano Street Beach Access.  A beautiful day on the beach and we were just starting the processional.  All of the wedding party were up on the boardwalk, each taking their turn coming down.  I, the Officiant, am on the beach at the ceremony site with the guests and groom.  The ring bearer, about age 4, walks down the boardwalk looking very poised.  He has his head held high and is doing everything asked of him perfectly.  Once he hits sand, he gets a little disconcerted.  

He's looking at the pillow, trying not to fidget as he walks.  Suddenly, he's very agitated and is flinging his right hand around, flapping it up and down with the pillow in his hand!  But oh no, the pillow wasn't in his hand, it was tied to his wrist and he'd had enough!  He did keep walking, and not many guests were the wiser, but I found it funny.  He was very good and did his job, but had to wipe his nose and didn't realize the pillow was tied to his hand.  Not to worry, the rings were safe with the best man and maid of honor, but he felt very important until his nose itched.  No harm done, but it was very hard to keep a straight face!

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Ken and Heather Delo

Sunset Beach Weddings

(850) 366-8054

sunsetbeachwed@gmail.com

www.sunsetbeachwed.com

www.delobeachweddings.smugmug.com

 

Like us on Facebook for more photos: www.facebook.com/sunsetbeachwed

Twitter: @sunsetbeachwed

Google+: http://plus.google.com/118311304975017291450

Sunset Beach Weddings http://www.sunsetbeachwed.com - Destin, Panama City Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Okaloosa Island, Navarre Beach, Pensacola Beach, Perdido Key, wedding packages, wedding photography, beach wedding photography.

The Rodeo Photographer

Here at Sunset Beach Weddings, we run into all manner of interesting people while setting up our beach weddings.  We were in Destin, FL at the Shoreline Towers condos.   The wedding start time was in the morning and it was October of this year, so not many beach goers. 

As I finished up the photo session, I was chatting with a gentleman about the weather, beach, etc.  Very humbly, he mentioned that he was a photographer some years back and still enjoys it today as a hobby.   Come to find out, he was a rodeo photographer!   Can you imagine?  Well we talked gear, styles,  for a few minutes.  I wish I could have talked longer and seen his work.  He asked for our card and said he'd taken a few shots from up on the 8th floor.  Said he'd email them to us.

I loved meeting him and seeing his work, his shots were spot on!  In fact, we included them in the couple's photo package!

From the 8th floor

A Tip (On Wind)

TIP:

Beach weddings present some unique challenges that are often not considered.  One of these factors I warn every bride about is wind.  Whether you are getting married in Destin, Panama City Beach, or Pensacola, the beach is always windier than you may think.  When you are visiting the beach with your family, you are there to have fun enjoying sand and sun.  A sea breeze probably is welcome on a hot summer day.  During your beach ceremony however, you may need to take some precautions to ensure you have a stress free experience.

                

One aspect you need to consider in the wind is decoration.  Improperly erected arbors or arches are not only embarrassing if they blow over but may injure someone.  At Sunset Beach Weddings, we take extra precaution to secure all of our set-ups, so you have no worries.  Another consideration with wind is that candles will not stay lit on the beach.  The typical candle unity you see in church weddings is often substituted with a sand unity ceremony.

                

Perhaps the most important factor with wind is hair and wardrobe.  Veils are beautiful but if you choose to wear one, make sure that you have it secured.  With all hairstyles, I suggest you use extra hairspray and/or bobby pins.  As a wedding photographer, I’ve had many brides become frustrated with hair blowing in their face while we try to do photography.  I have recently started encouraging brides to pass this advice along to moms, aunts, sisters, or anyone who may be fussy about their hair.  

The last caution I offer about wind is in considering the length of your bridesmaids’ dresses.  Enough said?

This veil was worn for a few photos and then taken off, but imagine wearing a veil that long!

Little Pirate Dude!

So from time to time at Sunset Beach Weddings, we encounter funny, but harmless incidents on the beach.  Most of the time, they involve children.  This story happened in Panama City Beach at St Andrews State Park.   The park is a popular spot for families to go to the beach for the day.

I was officiating a small wedding straight down from the boardwalk just to the east of the Pier.  We were right at the water's edge.  We had made a Heart in the Sand for the couple with red rose petals in the heart.  The beach was almost deserted except for us and a few other people waiting to watch the sunset.

Our couple walk down to the heart together, and as I turn to face them, I see out of the corner of my eye a young pirate up near the dunes.  He looks shipwrecked!  He's meandering down the edge of the sea grass poking in the sand with a stick.  My attention goes back to our couple and the ceremony.  Vows continue as normal and as I turn around to pick up the sand unity jar, I see the young privateer watching the wedding from a distance.  Then after, as our couple celebrates their new marriage with a kiss, I see him clap, turn, and wander back the way he came.  Looking for his buried treasure no doubt!

The strangest thing, is that we never saw parents, and he seemed to be in character the entire time.  You'd never believe me, if I hadn't snapped off a photo with my phone after the ceremony.  It's a little grainy, but you can see the buccaneer just enough.  Was it my imagination?

Sunset Beach Weddings Little Pirate Dude!

Give Me My Shovel Back!

One of the most unpredictable aspects of any wedding is children.  As the photographer for Sunset Beach Weddings, I get the opportunity to see a lot of flower girls.  Each one is adorable as she makes her way down the aisle, dropping her petals before the bride’s entrance.  At least that is what is supposed to happen. 

Last April, at a beach wedding in Destin, Florida, I brought a container of rose petals intended to go in the flower girl’s basket.  As I delivered them to the bridal party, it was discovered the little girl’s basket had been forgotten.  A quick thinking uncle ran to the condo and brought back a beach pail with shovel.  How perfect for a beach wedding!  The rose petals were placed inside the pail and the processional started on time.

Right on cue, the little flower girl stepped off the boardwalk ready to make her way down the beach.  Instead of heading down the aisle however, she walked straight to me!  She held out her hand with the plastic sand shovel and said “Hold this.”  I took the shovel and stuck it in my back pocket.  The flower girl continued down the aisle dropping her petals as was intended.   The bride was walked down by her father, given away, and the ceremony started.  Right after the “I do’s”, I looked down to see the flower girl standing next to me.  At first I expected that she wanted me to take her picture, but what she said next I’ll never forget.  “Give me my shovel back!”

Ah my shovel! Sunset Beach Weddings

We're Bloggin'!

Our first blog!

Of all the beach weddings we've performed here on the Emerald Coast of Florida, we at Sunset Beach Weddings have laughed at quite a few little anecdotes.  Most involve kids in some way!  Check back here for some fun wedding humor!  We'll keep you updated!

Ken and Heather Delo

Sunset Beach Weddings

850-366-8054

sunsetbeachwed@gmail.com