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Planners: Celebrations – Celia
Officiant: Rohan Forrester
Cake Maker: Tanya Foster, Gelato – Gelato Co
Ring Designer: Balaclava Jewellers
Hair and Makeup: Christine Valerie – Makeup
Dress Boutique: A small boutique in Tampa – Truly Forever Bridal
Grooms Suit: Hugo Boss
Photographer/Live Stream: Wild Love Artists
Flowers and Decor
Celebrations planned and made all the flower arrangements and I could not have been happier with how it looked. My bridesmaids and I carried long stem, white, open cut calla lilies. The center pieces included tropical greenery such as Monsteras, Palm Leaves, Ferns, Aspidistra, and had pops of white florals with Dendrobium Orchids and Calla Lilies. The columns at the ceremony included the same tropical greenery and white blooms and the aisle was highlighted by a tropical greenery garland on either side of the walkway.
What made you choose your wedding venue
Paul has wanted to get married at his family beach house forever. It was really important to Paul for us to get married there. He spent so much time at Cayman Kai growing up and has so many family memories there that he could not imagine getting married anywhere else. It was A LOT of work to get the space ready to accommodate the guest count, but it was so perfect we wouldn’t have wanted it anywhere else.
How did you meet
We met at the University of Tampa in an economics class. We had known of each other from previous classes, but really started talking to each other at a classmate’s party after finals week. At this party, Paul found out that I was single from a mutual friend and came over instantly to ask me to go on a date with him. A week later we went to dinner, and we’ve talked every day since.
How did Paul pop the question
It was the most beautiful proposal I could have hoped for. Paul already had the ring and was planning to propose in a completely different way and a completely different time. But one morning the two of us were sitting together, no makeup on, no cute outfit, but we felt so in love in that moment just being together, being ourselves that Paul stopped me from talking and said hang on, I’ll be right back. He ran and grabbed the ring and came back and proposed right then.
Favourite moments from wedding
Isabelle’s Favorite Moments:
• All-time favorite moment was our kiss after being pronounced husband and wife.
• The petal toss as we went back down the aisle was one of my favorite moments too.
• Our first dance with everyone
Paul’s Favorite Moments: “All of it”
Overall wedding experience
The overall experience was everything we hoped for and even more. I do want to recognize Prime Kitchen – Dylan Benoit who did an incredible job on our sit-down dinner. The food was absolutely amazing and working with Dylan was so wonderful. Paul and I loved every second we got to spend with him and his team.
Did you see each other before the wedding
We did see each other the morning of our wedding, but did not have a first look. Since we were both staying out at Cayman Kai after our rehearsal dinner, Paul and I planned to have a coffee date the morning of so that we could see each other before the wedding. We took this time to share love letters we had written to each other. This was a really special time because we wanted to do traditional vows during the ceremony, so our letters to each other were just for us to hear. I am still happy with my decision to not have a first look in my dress, all ready with hair and makeup, because we really wanted to see each other for the first time walking down the aisle. But that morning, getting to see each other one last time before getting married, and having the time to sit and relax and share how much we love each other before getting ready for the day will be a favorite memory for both of us.
Seating Chart
One of my favorite items at the wedding was our seating chart. Because Celebrations did such an amazing job with everything, this was the only fun little DIY project we did. My mom and I spent a lot of time creating the labels and picking out the little vases and that was a really fun planning part to share with my mom. Once my bridesmaids got in from the U.S., we had a wine night in our pj’s and got all of the labels on and all the table numbers sorted. I loved it because it was something different than a sign, but really, I love it so much because it’s such a fun memory to have with my bridesmaids.
Another thing that I loved about our wedding is that Paul and I really took the time to think about what we wanted to happen throughout the day, regardless of the traditions that usually happen during a wedding. We really thought about how we wanted to be surrounded by our loved ones during our first dance and not have it be a solo dance. I’m also glad that we decided we didn’t want to have a huge cake for our guests and chose to serve our favorite dessert; and the gelato trolley ended up being one of my favorite things about the wedding. I am really glad we consciously decided to go through the “normal” wedding things and really pick and choose and even alter what our wedding day would look like to make us feel the most like us during our wedding day.
Planners
Celebrations – One of the best experiences of my life. Cecilia and her team did such a great job planning this wedding, from choosing the flowers, to the rehearsal, to the day of, the whole process was as near stress free as it could be while planning a wedding. I loved the whole team because I had a lot of my own ideas for the look of the wedding and how I wanted people to feel at the event and Cecilia really listened and made everything I envisioned come to life. Since we had the wedding at a private residence, a lot of work went into making sure the space was not only beautiful, but functional for hosting so many people. It was our perfect wedding. We could not have had a better time with the planning process and then enjoying the actual wedding.
Unique Story
One of our favorite moments of the wedding was having a private cake cutting with our parents. This really gave us a quiet moment to spend a few minutes with both sets of parents and some alone time with each other after just being married. Paul’s Aunt Tanya made us the most beautiful lemon cake to share just between the few of us and then for the party’s dessert we had Gelato Co. cater with the gelato trolley and it really made the dessert portion of the wedding so much fun.
First Dance
Our first dance was That’s How Strong My Love Is – Otis Redding. We both loved our first dance because we had our DJ ask all the couples to join us on the dance floor. It was such a good moment because during our first dance as husband and wife we were surrounded by all of our closest family and friends and there was just so much love all around us, it was amazing.
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