Engaged and don't know where to start!

[Looby Loo]

Hello all! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas

So my DBF popped the big question a week before Christmas and now that the festivities have finished and it's all sunk in, I can now start planning our wedding.

We'd love a beach wedding - St Petes Beach or AMI - but if I am totally honest I just don't know where to start!

The definites

Both families are on board about having a destination wedding
We think that there will be about 25 people (plus us) that will make the journey
We will need a wedding planner - just because it's abroad and we can only afford one reccie so we need someone local that knows their stuff
Short of a lottery win, we need to stick to a budget
Not a religious ceremony
We both like the idea of a casual reception (BBQ or a nice but casual restaurant for after the wedding)

Still flexible on

Date - Thinking end of April 2015 or end of September 2015
Location - St Petes Beach, Anna Marie Island or Passe-O-Grille

If anyone has any suggestions on wedding planners, locations, vendors - we'd love to hear them

I hope it's okay that I post this here - if it's against the boards rules, sorry!

Thanks so much in advance

 

[Kath2003]

Congratulations!

No real advice since we got married in the UK, but I do know that you will need a license three days before, which you both have to be present to obtain.
Planning a wedding is hideous, so it might be best to look for a package with a specific hotel or venue they can sort a lot out for you? I'd also be prepared to gamble on a lot of stuff - e.g. you will be able to email photos of what you'd like to florists, but you'll have to take your chances on the flowers you actually get.

I'd also consider what you plan to do with the rest of your party once the wedding is over - will you go on your own honeymoon? If so, how will you make sure guests know this?

Your budget will limit your options enormously.

 

[brer rabbit 28]

Congratulations to you both!

We got married in Orlando at Downtown Disney on Fultons. It was the best decision ever!

I would echo going for a hotel package if you plan on a beach wedding. But, if you decide on Orlando then I recommend Destination Occasions. Carrie is fabulous to work with and can organise everything you need.

Getting married in Florida is a wonderful experience but you do need a good planner. Take a trip over to the wedding board for some ideas. If I can help at all then just pm me.

 

[Laurafoster]

Firstly congratulations

I agree with what others have said, look for a package directly with a hotel. If you book with a hotel most will have a wedding planner available for you.

A wedding planner will be able to help you with every detail, mine was a star at emailing me photos of every tiny detail. She also took care of my marriage licence for me as I wanted it done before I arrived (costs more but I was restricted on time as courthouses were shut at weekends).

Florida marriage licences don't need to be collected any set amount of time in advance, they can be collected from the courthouse the day before.

 

[~Piglet~]

Congratulations

We also married in Florida, we wanted an outdoor, laid back wedding and decided on Leu Gardens as an alternative to a beach wedding as my sister had previously married on a beach.

We used Elegant Weddings of Orlando, which is run by a British lady called Helen - they also have a fb page, search 'elegant weddings of orlando'

After the ceremony we had our wedding meal at the Crystal Palace ~ we had to change clothes first ~ as I wanted to have MK as part our Wedding Day too

 

[clareyfairymouse]

Congratulations!!!

 

[penlanspice]

I would probably do a package with a hotel as they will take care of everything for you and there wont be an extra fee like of you look for a wedding planner. These people do this job everyday of the year so they should make it easy for you.

If you want outside vendors go over to the wedding board and you will pick up peoples recommendations and see a ton of photos.

We got married at disney and our wedding planner was fantastic, but we planned within an inch of our lives. lol.

 

[Looby Loo]

Thanks for all your best wishes and recommendations

I will definitely look at hotels for wedding packages - would this still mean a beach wedding though? will we need to have the entire wedding party staying there? (given the cost of getting out there, we don't want to restrict people's hotel preferences - in fact people are already discussing villas etc) would we need to book the reception with them too?

Our guests have already discussed the fact that this would either form a base for their holiday for 2015 or use it as a platform to fly onwards after the wedding - New York and the West Coast seem to be popular destination choices so far.

Given that we aren't having a Disney Wedding (the other half is a lot less of a Disney nut than I am - but there is plenty of time for him to see the light ) Am I still okay to post questions on the wedding board?

Thanks everyone again .... I knew you guys would be a fountain of knowledge

 

[penlanspice]

Don't worry about posting on the wedding board, if someone can help you they will, their a friendly bunch.
We have friends that live in Sarasota and they had a beach wedding as part of a hotel package, as they live out there it was a large wedding so obviously most didn't stay at the hotel, the hotel will probably be grateful for the business.
Do a search on hotels in the areas you are looking at and send them an email, they will probably have a wedding co-ordinator reply.

 

[penlanspice]

This can give you an idea of what you can have, this place is obviously expensive but just goes to show you can have anything you want -

http://www.loewshotels.com/en/Don-CeSar-Hotel/weddings/wedding-packages

http://www.grandplazaflorida.com/weddings

 

[tinkandonaldfans]

We got married 2 years ago via disney weddings and couldn't have been happier! You can go disney crazy but can steer away from it if both aren't crazy! We had a budget and stuck to their package as much as possible! You get a lot included for an escape package which is more than any hotel package we looked at. You had a planner and they were there with you on the day It's a consideration if nothing else