Josie This post is dedicated to sharing all of the details from my destination wedding in the Florida Keys! I know firsthand just how stressful and overwhelming it is to plan a wedding. When I started planning my wedding, I literally didn’t even have the slightest clue about where to begin. So if you find yourself completely confused about vendors and wedding day timelines, I promise you’re not alone. I’m going to share with you everything from my wedding day to hopefully give you some insight and make your wedding planning a little bit easier. So let’s get into it.
Venue
Okay first up: the venue. I would probably rank picking the venue as the most important part and the first step in the wedding planning process. Once you find a venue you love and book it, then you also solidify your wedding date! After you have your venue and have seen the space where you’re going to get married, then it makes the rest of the planning process smoother because you can actually envision everything now.
Marc and I fell in love with the first venue we toured. We had a couple of other tours set up, but cancelled them immediately because we knew right away that Largo Resort was our spot. Located on the bayside of Key Largo and surrounded by vibrant greenery, palm trees, and water, Largo Resort was perfect for us.
One of the biggest factors for us was that we wanted a venue space where we could host all of our events (rehearsal, ceremony, reception). We wanted everything to be centrally located so that our guests wouldn’t have to travel to multiple locations and we didn’t want to worry about having to set up transportation. Largo Resort has the perfect set up to host every wedding event.
But the thing we loved most about Largo Resort was that we had the entire property to ourselves! Most of our family was able to stay on-site in private bungalows. For the whole weekend, it was just us, our families, and our closest friends. We didn’t have to worry about strict timelines, or strangers onlooking from the distance. It was private and intimate and the absolute best time ever! I love Largo Resort so much and here are 5 Reasons Why Largo Resort is the Best Destination Wedding Venue in the Florida Keys.
Vendors
After choosing your venue and your wedding date, the next step is to choose all of your vendors! Your vendors are the ones that make your wedding day happen. There are vendors for literally anything you can possibly think of. Which can also make it feel overwhelming when choosing them!
Again, I had no idea how to plan a wedding. So we were very happy when we found Florida Keys Wedding Center, a wedding planning company based in the Florida Keys that offers all-inclusive wedding packages. The Florida Keys Wedding Center team are the experts in planning a destination wedding in the Florida Keys and they offer very affordable pricing. They have several signature wedding package options and will work with you to tailor each package to your specific needs. We chose the Alligator Reef Package. Here is a breakdown of what that included for us:
Rentals
- Chairs for the ceremony and reception
- Welcome table with card box and water station
- Reception tables
- Table décor and centerpieces (table numbers, candles, palms)
- Table linens, dinner napkins, charger plates, dinner plates, dessert plates, silverware, drinkware, champagne flutes
- Largo Resort does not allow glass! Everything has to be acrylic.
Food/Catering
- 3 passed appetizers
- We chose a tropical fruit display, conch fritters, and coconut shrimp.
- 3 dinner stations
- We chose seafood paella, prime rib, and mac and cheese bar.
- Wedding cake
- We chose to do a simple 6-inch cake just to have something for the traditional cake cutting.
- Assorted dessert table
- We chose to have mini cupcakes, mini key lime tarts, assorted dessert shooters, and brownies.
Florals
- Bridal bouquet
- Groom’s boutonnière
- Bridesmaids bouquets
- Aisle décor
- Floral arrangements for the ceremony arch
- Pro tip: After the ceremony and pictures, the arch arrangements were also used to decorate our sweetheart table at the reception. The bridesmaids bouquets could’ve also been used as centerpieces for the reception tables.
Bar Service
- Bartender
- Fruit for drinks: lime, lemons, oranges, cherries, and olives
- Juices for mixers: cranberry, pineapple, grapefruit, and orange
- Sodas: club soda, tonic water, ginger ale, coke, sprite, diet coke
- Ice
- Largo Resort is BYOB so we supplied all of the alcohol to stock the bar
- Pro tip: When purchasing wine, go to Publix and stock up on their BOGO bottles!
We had an outside vendor, Coco Reserve, deliver customized fresh coconut cups to serve our signature cocktails in! I designed the logo and also DIY’ed our signature cocktail signs and seating arrangement tags. I had each guest’s name and table number attached to a straw in their coconut cup. The coconut cups were a huge hit!
Florida Keys Wedding Center provides a package coordinator who is on-site on your wedding day to manage everything included within your package. They come in and set up and break down everything! The package coordinator works only with the direct vendors specified in your package. In addition to this, Largo Resort requires you to also have a day-of coordinator. And trust me, you would definitely need a wedding day coordinator regardless! So let’s get into it.
Wedding Coordinator
If you want a laidback, stress-free wedding experience, then you absolutely need a good wedding coordinator. A wedding coordinator is the person who is going to make or break your wedding day. They are in charge of managing the full timeline of wedding day events, managing all of the outside vendors, making sure everything is set up properly, and making sure everybody is where they need to be when they need to be there. If an issue arises, they take care of it so you don’t have to freak out. They are there to make sure everything runs smoothly so that your wedding day is perfect.
If I could recommend only one thing to you, it would hands-down be Lyndsey Mae with LMae Events. Lyndsey Mae was our month-of/day-of coordinator. She truly knows everything there is to know about planning a destination wedding in the Florida Keys and will make sure your wedding day dreams come true.
During the wedding planning process, Lyndsey Mae always made herself available for a phone call or to respond to a text. She had an answer to every question and knew how to bring to life any idea I expressed to her. She made sure that I felt completely relaxed and stress-free on my wedding day. If anything went wrong, I didn’t know about it because Lyndsey Mae had it handled. She took care of everything and I trusted her completely. She made sure that I didn’t have to think about anything on my wedding day other than just showing up and being the bride.
Photography & Videography
Obviously we wanted to capture every little detail to remember our wedding day forever! You want to make sure that you find a photographer who’s style fits your vibe. I love a bright and colorful style, especially for a tropical wedding. I could not be more obsessed with Mermaid and Me Photo. As you can see throughout this post, her work is amazing. Katie took our engagement photos and I knew immediately I had to have her for our wedding day too.
If you can manage within your budget to also have a videographer, do it! I know I would have regretted it so much if I chose not to have one. JTC Films is so incredibly talented at what he does!
Hair and Makeup
Lyndsey Mae had recommended Michelle & Alta from Ciao Bella Salon for all our hair and makeup needs, and they were truly a dream team! They set up camp in the Grand Lodge at Largo Resort, which is the perfect getting ready space. In case you’re not already aware… getting ready for a wedding is a whole day affair for the girls.
My girls and I stayed in our pajamas all day while everyone around us hustled and bustled to get everything set up and in place. We catered Publix platters to snack on throughout the day and had plenty of mimosas.
Bridal Details
Wedding Dress
I made a bridal appointment at Boca Bridal South and went in with an open mind. After trying on many different styles of dresses, I kept thinking about one dress in particular. I just loved the unique neckline, the open back, and the train. My dress was Essense of Australia D3458 in the light ivory color. The fabric combines lace and soft crepe with details of floral lace and sparkling sequins. One of my favorite details are the buttons on the back trailing all the way down the dress to the end of the train.
Rings
One of my husband’s best friends (& groomsman!) owns a family-business jewelry store in Tennessee, White’s Jewelers. He helped my husband to customize my engagement ring to create my dream ring: an emerald diamond with a dainty marquise band. My wedding band is also dainty with round diamonds, and my husband chose a solid gold wedding band for his.
Bridesmaids Dresses
All of my bridesmaids wore the Jasmine Halter Maxi Dress in the rose gold color from Show Me Your Mumu Weddings collection. This dressed looked so good on everyone and I love how the pictures turned out with everyone matching. Fun fact: nobody wore shoes! We all embraced the beachy barefoot vibe.
My Guy + His Guys
I know y’all are probably thinking by now where the heck is the groom?! I promise he was there too! My husband and his groomsmen all wore Tommy Hilfiger Modern-Fit Flex TH Stretch Chambray Suit in the color blue. My husband wore the matching blue pants, while his groomsmen wore the matching tan pants. I got them all the Paradise Found Green Tie from Mumu Weddings to coordinate with my bridesmaids’ dresses.
I can’t not share a picture of my wonderful parents! My daddy got his suit from Dillard’s and my mama wore Lilly Pulitzer Viv Maxi dress.
So to sum it all up, I will never not be obsessed with my wedding day! It was truly perfection. If you’re thinking about planning a destination wedding in the Florida Keys, I promise you won’t regret it!
