Islamorada Beach Destination Wedding in Florida Keys
Allie reached out to me to photograph her and Nate’s Islamorada, Florida Keys wedding because she liked the honesty of my photos. Or maybe… it was because I adore tarot readings! Either way, we hit it off right away! I loved getting to know her and Nate’s story through the questionnaire I send to all of my couples.
Nate proposed to Allie in an incredible way! The idea for the proposal was basically replaying their first date. He works for Purdue Football, so on their first date he took her to Ross-Ade Football Stadium and then they went to dinner at East End Grille in downtown Lafayette. On the drive to that same dinner spot, where he made reservations for their proposal dinner, Nate detoured off to the football stadium, took Allie inside, and once they went down the ramp and started toward the field, he had their song "Joy of My Life" by Chris Stapleton playing as he led her out the the 50yd line. In the middle of the field he got down on one knee and proposed as the video board lit up with "Allie, Will You Marry Me?" When she said yes, the video board switched over to "She Committed" and the sirens went off and lights flashed all over the stadium. After the proposal, they celebrated with friends and popped champagne and then went to dinner at their first-date restaurant to continue the celebration.
Knowing the history of their proposal, made me realize how incredibly in love and sentimental they are as a couple. I knew their wedding would be intimate and close-knit.
Florida is a large state, pretty much a country - so living in St. Augustine and being asked to document a wedding in the Florida Keys is like a destination wedding to me. I treated it as a chance for a quick getaway as well. Any time I can bring my family along on a work trip, it’s a treat! The boss agrees :-P
Allie and Nate’s wedding was on a Friday, my family and I got there on Thursday. We went snorkeling in the ocean, which was a new experience for two of my kids. We fed tarpon on the dock, went to the world-famous Florida Sportsman store, had island style dinner on the dock and stayed in a house boat the whole time! We even brought our pet skinny pig along, which was an adventure in itself.
The wedding was a blast to document! A + N got married at the Islamorada Fish Company accompanied by their immediate families and close friends PLUS multiple photo-bombing iguanas!
I whisked them away for couples portraits at a nearby “beach” because there weren’t too many spots at the ceremony location. Fun fact: there aren’t really any sandy beaches in Islamorada, so you can see where we ended up is mostly rock and gravel, but the teal of the water and the pinks of the sunset totally made up for it.
The reception was fantastic, everyone danced around the couple with giant glow tubes and we all jammed out to lively music played by the DJ. Even I managed to sneak in a salsa dance at the very end with one of the cousins. There may even be video proof of this… I am a sucker for Latin dancing, what can I say!
The next day, I had fun scouting for a spot to do A + N’s trash the dress session and we ended up driving an hour down to Marathon Key, specifically Bahia Honda State Park. We had a ball trashing the couple’s wedding clothes and soaking in the colorful sunset ad the teal waters!
What a weekend to remember! Enjoy the photos :)
