Elegant Blue + White Wedding at Ca’ d’Zan Mansion in Sarasota, FL

I wanted to use as many heirlooms and personal details as possible throughout our wedding weekend.  My rehearsal dress was custom made by a local designer only using fabric from my mother and grandmother’s wedding dresses, I carried my great-grandmother’s beaded clutch and handkerchief and wore her earrings.  We cut our cake with my parent’s wedding knife.  I wanted to make the invitation suite as personalized as possible, too.  To do so, I used Photoshop to create a custom watercolor effect on the liners and watched Youtube videos on how to heat emboss the return addresses.  We carried the personalization through to our welcome boxes that were filled with everything we love from Michigan, for the groom, and Florida, for the bride, a UF gator climbing on our wedding cake along with orange and blue glow sticks, representing how and where we met.  For me, the most important detail of the reception was lighting.  I wanted people to step into the tent and feel like they were in a dream.  Playing with three different table shapes and designs gave a nice mix while keeping the same color palette and flowers throughout gave a sense of cohesiveness.  Reflection from the eight foot tall mirrored table assignments, glass accents and the round mirror tops bounced light around the entire tent.  The look was perfectly timeless and airy. As for the groom (and the father-of-the-bride), the band was on the top of their priority list.  They wanted guests to have a great time which included them dancing the night away.  The band was so amazing, our guests were dancing before the salads were even served.  The groom surprised everyone when he jumped in with the band and rocked the guitar for a short set.  The day was filled with family, happiness and plenty of dancing.  It was more then we ever imagined.