Joseph and Courtney's Wedding in Saint Petersburg, Florida

While on our way to the Columbia, Joey suggested we pull over and take a pic at the same dock where we shared our first kiss, I happily obliged because I love a good selfie...especially during golden hour.

When we got down to the dock, Joey began telling me how much he loved me and that he couldn't envision his life without me. He then got down on one knee and opened up the ring box with my stunning ring inside---I, of course, said YES! Joey and my mom planned to have photographers there to capture the moment, which lead to a mini engagement session.

After the photos we dropped our bikes off and were walking up to the arena when I told Joey I wanted to FaceTime my parents, he insisted he needed to get inside to use the restroom, and then we could call them from there. Then he said we needed to check on something at our seats...once we walk to our seats, I see my mom and dad waiting there with a congratulatory sign! He had gotten them the seats behind us to celebrate! He also had a custom jersey made (with my soon to be last name on it) waiting at the seat.

Just when I thought the night was through, my mom suggested we grab one last drink back at The Hall on Franklin, where they had actually reserved a table and some of our friends met up with us to celebrate the engagement!

The Wedding

The Venue

Joey and I got married on 2/1/20 at the Morean Center for Clay in Downtown St. Petersburg. The venue was an old train station turned art studio and event space. The large room where we had both our ceremony and reception had a very industrial and intimate vibe to it, which complemented our moody jewel-toned color palette and romantic boho-chic theme perfectly!

The Attire

I BEGGED Joey to at least humor me and try on a velvet forest green tuxedo jacket that I had spotted online from Men's Wearhouse...he was very, very reluctant...until he saw himself in the mirror and proclaimed "I look like James Bond! Joey Bond!", which pretty much sealed the deal. Since our fur child, Rambo, was going to be a part of the big day, I decided to order him a custom matching tuxedo off of Etsy. When it arrived, we couldn't get over how cute and dapper our little prince looked in it!

I knew I wanted something form-fitting with a low back and Calvet Couture Sarasota happened to be having a Katie May sample sale the same day as my initial appointment! I took my parents with me and after trying on a number of dresses, I tried on what wound up being my dress, which fit me almost perfectly! The seamstress did a bit of custom work, made me a veil, and even saved some of the lace for me as a keepsake.

The Catering

The food and drink (along with photography and videography) were on our "will not compromise" list. We'd been to many weddings and know what an impression (positive, or negative) the meal and cocktails can make! We went with Catering by the Family for the food, and UDream Events for the cocktails both did an incredible job, our guests were raving all night long (and still after the wedding) about how wonderful the food and drinks were! We created custom his (Joe Fashioned, a play on his favorite cocktail, an Old Fashioned) & hers (Caliente Coco, a spicy vodka drink with jalapeño cold foam) cocktails with the team at UDream and couldn't have been happier with the execution on the day of! For dessert, we opted for a small cake from Publix for tradition's sake, because the big treat was the mini donut truck we hired to dish out custom flavors we created with the awesome team at Craving Donuts!

The Florals and Decor

We wanted a really romantic and intimate feeling for both the ceremony and reception, so we opted for tons of candles rather than large floral arrangements and chose dark jewel-toned velvet and satin with pops of gold and copper. To give it a more bohemian feel, I used geode and agate slices to make the table numbers and place cards! We gave all of our guests a little velvet bag beneath their napkins so they could take their place cards home. Our family friend, Carole, did our florals, and she absolutely blew me away! While planning, she and I visited a wholesale florist so that we could get a look at the peonies, ranunculus, anemones, greenery, and disbuds and discuss my vision. When I walked into the venue the day of, I was overjoyed to have seen my vision come to life thanks to all of her hard work!

The Photographer

We went with Benjamin Hewitt Photography for both our formal engagement session as well as our wedding! He knew how to bring out the best in us in terms of posing and composition (I'm a huge fan of the light flare), and in both sessions, he did an incredible job of capturing our personalities and love for one another. We were thrilled to get our photos back from the big day and even happier that there were SO many favorites (I mean it, we have like 700 favorite photos).

The Videographer

I am overjoyed that we chose Roberto with Love It Films for our wedding video. He and Ben worked together seamlessly and it was fun to see them coming up with ideas together! Roberto created numerous teaser videos that I was able to share on social media a few days after the wedding, which was a really nice surprise! We chose the 7 min wedding video and what Roberto created left us speechless and in tears...in the best way possible. We watch it occasionally and we still cry every single time.

The Bridal Party

Initially, we were going to go without a bridal party because we wanted to keep the ceremony really intimate, however, the more we talked about it, the more we decided that we should definitely do a Best Man and a Maid of Honor. We're both incredibly happy we made this decision because it made the day even more special and definitely helped with our nerves! Additionally, we chose to have my brother marry us, and have Joey's sister walk Rambo down the aisle, making it a true family affair!

The First Dance

Joey is admittedly NOT a dancer, so when we were discussing our first dance, I brought up the idea of dance lessons. I bought a Groupon to The Way 2 Dance so that we could try it before fully committing. After our first two lessons with the owner, Tatiana, we ended up purchasing a large package of classes and we were so glad that we did! Not only was taking dance lessons with your soon to be husband tons of fun, but we learned some great moves and ended up with a beautiful first dance!