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From the UK to Anna Maria Island. Andy and Michelle Robinson - 29th May 2009

When Michelle Robinson's mother Beryl, was diagnosed with cancer, their last family holiday together on Anna Maria Island, Florida, held so many precious memories. So when, Michelle and Andy were deciding on a wedding venue, Anna Maria Island, heralded as the No.1 Beach Wedding destination in Florida, was the only choice.

Anna Maria Island offered everything that they could have asked for. Most importantly, the wonderful memories and closeness to Michelle's mum, who lost her battle with cancer the previous year. But, also, the breathtaking backdrop of a romantic sunset beach wedding and the atmosphere of a stylish, yet, laid back and truly tropical day. The wonderful and unique special touches, and in particular, the help and support from all the people that Michelle worked with on the Island, really bought the couple's dream day alice. "Everyone we worked with was determinted to make our dreams come tuey" said Michelle.

Where to Start

Having holidayed on Anna Maria Island regularly since 2000, Michelle and Andy were aware of the annual Wedding Festival held every February. So, combining and short break in 2008, they attended the show. Unique in its own very special Anna Maria style, the well established network of wedding businesses work together to enable visitors to view potential ceremony and receptions venues all laid out as if a wedding were due to take place. Cake designers, wedding planners, caterers, bridal fashion designers, photographers, officiates and musicians, amongst others are placed around these 14 sites, so that they are on hand to meet with the visiting couples.

Hopping on and off the free Trolley bus between the sites, Michelle and Andy were able to meet with a number of potential wedding suppliers and once home, booked the venue (The Sandbar Restaurant), their officiate, florist, photographer and their entertainment, including Ken on the steel drums and Chuck, a musician and DJ for the evening.

"The Wedding Festival was invaluable to us, and it was a great opportunity to make that initial face to face contact with the people we wanted to work with. Our officiate, Rev Charlie Shook was amazing. His voice was so powerful and he had such presence. As soon as he opened his mouth to speak, we were overwhelmed and knew we just had to have him conduct our ceremony".

Planning from Afar

Most couples can be put off with the thought of managing a wedding from such a long distance. Anna Maria Island, have a number of well-established and fantastic wedding planners. But, if like Any and Michelle, you go it alone, as they discovered, every buisness on Anna Maria, is there to cater for your every need, no matter how strange it might seem.

"Every person we worked with was so accommodating. We were able to speak constantly through email and phone and because the island businesses really suport each other, they were able to help recommendothers to us us, so we could really build up our network of suppliers. Everyone we worked with also really listened to us and helped us immensley with our requests, no matter how strange!

I had many visions for what I wanted. One of those include collecting all our guests from their accommodation in a Siesta Key Trolley Bus, decorated with traditional wedding ribbons and playing and CD of steel drums as they made their way to the receiption. Beach Bums also decorated one of their two people Surrey bike for Andy and I to travel in, including white tulle, shells and a champagne bucket with champagne attached to the handlebars! Truly magical touches that made our day so unique and so special".

But the day was not without its potential hiccups! Michelle explained "Dara, our photographer was fabulous. She had a vision of taking photographs outside on the balcony before we left for the ceremony. And, in true wedding story style, we got locked out on the balcony, for a full twenty minutes before the Trolley bus came to pick us up after having dropped all our guests at the ceremony venue and the bus driver heard us shouting for help! It was a close call, to the bride having to climb down the drainpipe!"

The Ceremony and Reception

But after then, the Ceremony went forward without any problems. Michelle walked up the sandy aisle at 6.00pm on the arm of her proud Dad. She was dressed in a beautiful, floor length mermaid-tail ivory gown. Her sister Nicky, was her bridesmaid, dressed in a beautiful green dress, which complimented the theme of lilac and green; in recognition of Beryl's favourite colours. Nephews Callum7 and Hayden 4, were proud pageboys, dressed suitably for the beach in linen board shorts, which short sleeve shirts and silk waist coats.

Attended by 17 guests of family and friends who made the trip to join the couple, Michelle walked down the aisle to You and Me by Lifehouse, a song that their entertainer, Chuck, had made sure that he was pitch perfect for, having practised for months leading up to his important task. The traditional ceremony was complimented with beautiful readings form Nicky, Callum and Michelle's good friend Jenny, with Rev Shook acknowledging the important guests who couldn't be there.

After a few tears and cheers, Michelle and Andy became husband and wife and after a few beautiful beach photographs, Dara whisked the happy couple off for photographs around the island, including some dramatic pictures taken on the historic City Pier with the expanse of the Gulf behind them. Meanwhile, the guests made their way back to the Sandbar Restaurant Wedding Pavillion and enjoyed either non-alcoholic or champagne cocktails and canapes, including fresh crab fritters.

Michelle and Andy arrived back to greet their guests on the Beach Bums Surrey Bike and now relaxed and ready to enjoy the party, tucked into a delicious wedding buffet which included fresh seafood and an array of delicious salads, rice and potatoes followed by a presentation dessert tree with fresh fruit such as pineapple, strawberries, marshmallows and a chocolate fountain.

The party continued well into the night with Chuck, the DJ, providing the entertainment. Chuck played a mixture of live vocals on guitar and CD's with many songs chosen by Michelle and Andy. One such song was the all-important first dance. Andy and Michelle chose Can't Take My Eyes off of You, by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

The Fantastic Anna Maria Island Wedding Team!

Andy and Michelle believe that the Isladners really helped capture their most intricate aspirations, from detail of decor, to advice and recommendation, and the extra help and support that enabled them to achieve an Anna Maria Island Wedding experience that surpassed all their expectations.

"Everyone gave up so much of their time to help us. We truly believe that we would never have had the level of not only service, but also true care that we received from everyone. For example, Patti (our wedding co-ordinator from the Sandbar) and Silvia our florist, painstakingly, interlaced starfish, sand dollars and flowers through every slat on the stairs at the Pavillion for those extra finishing touches. Everyone really wanted to make our wedding dream a reality and they asbolutely did. Thank you!"

The total cost of Andy and Michelle's Wedding, was £7,400. Flights and accommodation cost an additional £2,800.

Take a look at the Gallery from Andy and Michelle's Wedding

Suppliers to Andy and Michelle's Wedding

• Venue: The Sandbar Restaurant. Contact their Wedding Co-Ordinator Patti McKee
• The Surrey Bike was supplied and decorated by Beach Bums. Contact Lauren on tel: +1 941 778 3316
• The Siesta Trolley Bus was supplied by the Siesta Island Trolley Systems. Contact Julie
• Flowers were provided by Silvia's Florist
• Photographer was Dara Caudill of Island Photography
• Check out the Anna Maria Island Wedding Directory for more information

Festival Attendees Marry on the Beach - 18th Setpember 2009

Carrie Cerini and Eric Harter, of Bradenton, took their vows at the Sandbar restauranton 18th September 2009 in a wedding that they planned with some help from this year's wedding festival.

The couple that has been together for more than four years and own a house in Bradenton, attended the festival last February and really enjoyed it, according to Cerini. "I thought it was excellent and it was run perfectly," she said. "We loved riding the limousines to all the locations. It was a fun day."

Read more about their special day in The Anna Maria Island Sun Newspaper

Paige and Matt Hart's Romantic Florida Beach Wedding - 14th June 2009

Paige and Matt Hart live in Sarasota, Florida about 45 minutes south of Anna Maria Island. They got married on Anna Maria Island on 14th June 2009, in a romantic and stylish beach ceremony. We spoke to Paige about their special day, which included some wonderful special touches; a beautiful 'Petal Toss' and a buffet that included mountains of fabulous sweets!

Why did you decide to get married on Anna Maria Island?

"We love the quaintness of the Island. We wanted something personal and intimate. We knew we wanted a Florida Beach Wedding, but didn't want throngs of tourists looking on. Anna Maria Island is unique in it's "Old Florida" feel, free of high rises or chain hotels and restaurants, and that's why we felt and immediate bond with it. Plus the beaches and sunsets are simply breathtaking and we knew we would get some gorgeous pictures because of that."

How long were you on Anna Maria Island during your Wedding?

"We stayed on the Island for a week. But prior to our wedding, we visited several times to meet with vendors and plan out the logistics for the day".

Did you have a specific theme or colours?

"We wanted to play off the colours of the location, on the beach at the front of Limefish. Both the natural colours of the water and all the lush vegetation but also the mint hue of the house. So we chose shades of blue and green with torquioise and lime being our main colours and hints of teal and chartreuse to accent".

What did you and your Groom wear, and the Bridesmaids?

"We wanted to make sure what we wore suited our relaxed but stylish beach theme. I wore a beautiful short, long-sleeved dress with lace cut outs by Diane VonFurstenberg. Matt wore light coloured linen pants and a white, textured Tommy Bahama button down shirt. The Bridesmaids all wore dresses from Anthropologie, they were short teal-coloured cocktail dresses".

Why did you choose to get married on the beach at Limefish and this home as your wedding accommodation?

"We literally drove around the whole Island looking for where we were going to stay. I had actually met Liza from Sato Real Estate at the Anna Maria Island Wedding Festival that year and she showed me pictures of Limefish. For some reason, initially I wrote it off, I'm not even sure why now. So, I continued my search for about 2 months before I just drove down the street, saw Limefish, walked into the property and fell in love with it"

Who did you work with on the Island to help plan your wedding day?

"We used a caterer in Sarasota, Milan Catering, who did a great job. Entertainment-wise, we also used a DJ from Sarasota - Wayne Delair of Delair Entertainment. He did an incredible job and I would definately recommend him to anyone. And, we worked with AJ (AJ's Island Network). We hit it off straight away. She was fabulous and frankly I wish I had found her sooner in my planning process. She just supplied teh food for us, as I did all of the decor and planning on my own. I truly believe if you are getting married on the Island, you need to come and speak to AJ (or myself now, as I was so impressed with her, I now work with her!). She is the difference between a nice event and a WOW event! Her attention to the design details, the incredible food provided by her arsenal of Personal Chefs and her connections on Anna Maria, to anyone from a local Island brewer to a steel drummer and beyond make her services invaluable. I also used Chi Photography, who did a lovely job of capturing my wedding. And a Slice of Heaven in Sarasota for my 2 wedding cakes - they were gorgeous and delicious and relatively inexpensive. My wonderful flowers and greens were from Silvia's Flower Corner.".

How did you discover AJ to help you plan your day?

"I met AJ through Sue who workedat Silvia's Flower Corner. I remember admiring an arrangement Siliva had done for the Anna Maria Island Wedding Festival. I stopped by and spoke to her and told her the vision I had of using bamboo poles to mark my alter and she recommended I speak to AJ. I did, and I got bamboo poles as my alter!"

Apart from each other, were there any special touches that made the day even more special?

"A lot of brides and grooms opt for a sand ceremony, but we wanted something a little bit different, so we did a shell toss. Basically, each of our guests writes well wishes on a shall and we all toss them into the ocean. That was really nice. We also did a candy buffer, which I loved and I think most of our guests did too! I'm trying to recommend doing tose to most of our brides now and while they can be a bit pricey (I never knew candy could be so expensive), I think it is well worth it if a bride wants something a little different".

What did you enjoy most about your day?

"To be honest, the day went by in a whirl. I really enjoyed getting ready with my bridesmaids at the salon - all the champagne then didn't hurt either. I loved saying our vows to each other; the ceremony was very special and dear to my heart. The food was really good, so I enjoyed eating and dancing was good fun too. But it all went by so fast and because I did so much of the planning myself it was a bit stressful. I definately recommend brides calling AJ's Island Network at The Loft, to handle the details of the event, it will allow you to just experience the day as opposed to worrying about it".

Did you stay on Anna Maria Island for your honeymoon?

"Yes, and Limefish doubled up as both our wedding and honeymoon location. Here we were, beachfront with an incredible pool, sorrounded by a lush, tropical location and in the quaint and adorable Anna Maria Island. It was perfect!"

What activities/where did you and your wedding party visit within the Gulf Islands during your stay?

"More than anything else, we just hung out at Limefish. We really didn't need to go anywhere else! We had the sand and surf right there and that was what mattered most. We did, however, go parasailing and eat at a number of great restaurants. We went to the Waterfront for dinner and Gulf Drive Cafe for breakfast. We looked around the shops on Bridge Street in Bradenton Beach too. And, we had some friends andfamily over to Limefish for some great bar-be-que's a few nights".

Did Anna Maria Island exceed your expectations for a romantic beach wedding?

"After planning the whole wedding and having a 1 year old, romance was important but not nearly as important as de-stressing and relaxing. And the Island did an incredible job of doing that! We were able to just chill and relax and that was all that mattered to me! I'm sure the Island can be incredibly romantic, that just wasn't our aim, and we aren't outwardly lovey-dovey. It was wonderful to just spend time together doing something as simple as Sudoku on the back poch as we ate our breakfast. That, to us, was perfection".

Did Limefish exceed your expectations?

"It was wonderful, but that was what we were expecting. Having done our research and speding so much time on the Island ahead of time, we knew what we were getting into. Plus, we're spoiled by aways being relatively close to the beach living in Florida. I definately think for out-of-town or foreign guests, it would be more of a dream come true. That's not to say we didn't love it here, because we did!"

How much did the wedding cost in total? And, including accommodation and travel?

"Obviously, we were close by, so transportation was not much. Including Limefish our catering, rentals, entertainment, photography, flowers, decor and tons of little details and everything for about 40 guests it was about $15,000. (Guests paid for their own travel and accommodation). I believe to do a wedding for less or more, I found it's all about prioritising and deciding where to put your money"

Do you have any tips for future couples that might want to get married abroad and in particular on Anna Maria Island?

"DO IT! Get married here! Stay at the Pineapplefish properities, they are by far the best accommodation on the Island (and I looked everywhere!). And use AJ and myself and The Loft 5. Those three factors are the key to an UNFORGETTABLE FLORIDA BEACH WEDDING! Literally breathtaking!"