Of all the “firsts” one may hear they need to do to start planning a wedding, for me I first had to decide on my venue. This was made difficult be the lack of a decision on a location. As mentioned before, a local wedding was out. We tried and my stars would simply not align for this to work. We began to consider a destination wedding, the destination being the most beautiful beaches in the contiguous United States. The Florida Keys are the destination of consideration, and they are magnificent. They offer some incredible Gulf sunsets, Scuba diving, fishing, other water sports, and endless entertainment for nature lovers. The local, laid back atmosphere leaves nothing to be desired. And in contrast to some other blue water beaches, you can drive to these (or hop on an inexpensive flight to Fort Lauderdale or Miami)!

Freesia Dude and I actually spent the week following our engagement in the Florida Keys. We took a road trip and stayed in Key Largo, Islamorada, Key West, and Bahia Honda Park. We contacted a wedding coordinator (Keys Dream Weddings) to begin helping us with the unknown world of destination wedding planning. Immediately she directed us towards two venues, a small hotel called Coconut Palm Inn, and a beautiful private residence. Initially, we were drawn to the residence due to the unique location and that it has some of the most beautiful landscaping in Florida (truly, it is award winning!). However, it slowly became apparent that this would not work within our budget and our eyes turned to Coconut Palm Inn…

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My sister got married two years, almost to the day, before Freesia Dude proposed. She and I are rather close in age and in friendship. I was her MOH and she is mine. The day she got engaged was the day that I started paying attention to all those details at weddings that one does not usually consider. From my point of view, she handled the whole process like a champ. She had every bit of it under control and turned out an amazing wedding that totally encompassed the personalities of her and her new husband. It took around a year to plan her fairly sizable wedding. During her planning, I decided that if when my day came I would do a destination wedding and if not, it would be small and simple and DEFINITELY not take longer than a few months to plan.

One of the first questions I was asked after becoming engaged was whether I would have a destination wedding. Immediately I said no, I would miss out on several things that I will only get to have one chance at. I had set in my mind that I would plan a wedding on the Texas beaches that Freesia Dude and I both grew up on.

I dreamed of a ceremony on the beach at sunset, in front of a beach house that would hold the reception. A small number, around 50 or so of our closest friends and family, would make a fabulous, yet not overwhelming, party. After all, socializing does make me tired! (My apologies, this is a small joke from my family that originated during my brother’s engagement to my now sister-in-law. After attending a couple of wedding preparation events, I returned home exhausted and explained that “socializing makes me tired”, it has stuck ever since.) So a quaint wedding on the beach had my name all over it….until I began to consider who those “50-ish guests” would be, and where there was a beach house on the Texas coast that did not have a septic system that would be massively overloaded by 50 people! (again, my apologies, this time for the unsettling example)

Freesia Dude and I began looking between Galveston and Surfside Beach. This land is not within city limits, allowing us to hold fireworks which would be nice as we were hoping to have a July 4th wedding (this will be our 5th “dating-anniversary”). Also, it is less crowded, but has fewer homes. While searching we found a couple houses that looked like they might work, so we took a Saturday drive to the beach to take a look. The first house we drove to was filled with quite a buzz and, judging by the white tulle draped on the railings, we suspected they were setting up a wedding!

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Now on to the fun part– eating and dancing! I’ll spare everyone all of the photos of our friends and family around each table.

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Lovely ladies helping with program assembly

I have been pretty open about not being the craftiest bride out there. Luckily, I have some awesome friends and family members who were all too happy to pitch in! Above you can see three of my aunts, my brother’s MIL and my mother hard at work assembling programs.

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In my last venue entry, I listed the top three venues Plumeria Dude and I were eying in Atlanta. We liked the idea of getting married in the city we call home, but neither of our families were particularly jazzed. In one of our conversations on the topic, my mother said it was really important to her that we get married in Florida, where I grew up. My hometown of Vero Beach is a beautiful place but it definitely has its drawbacks. For one thing, it’ pricey. It’s also a rather sleepy retirement area. So that was out. But when I mentioned the Florida Keys, my mom perked up.

At one point we considered Key West, but we figured its relative inaccessibility (either via an expensive flight or a 3+ hour drive from Miami International Airport) would be too much of a burden on our guests. It is a great wedding location though!

Today we’ll look at three of our top choices in Islamorada, Fla., a town smack dab in the middle of the Florida Keys.

1. The Islander Resort

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