Key West Brides?

Yes! I had a hard time deciding on a venue too. I think we have finally chosen Margaritaville Resort for the reception.

Hi LaraLou,

Yes! Getting married in a month, eek. We live out of Chicago and went down last January to check out locations. We saw; Ocean Key, Casa Marina, Hyatt Centric, Audubon House and Margaritaville resort. Here are some of our thoughts;

Margaritaville; the two outdoor options, one was like a rooftop that we didn't like the floorplan and you could see in people's rooms, the other would be on the board walk, very very close to the public which we didn't like. We wanted something a little more private. Also, the staff was a little difficult, maybe not difficult, but out of everyone we communicated with, their team took a little more effort.

Audubon house; LOVE! Couple downsides, you have to bring EVERYTHING in. They have pretty strick guidelines on when/how/who. The main reason we didn't chose this place was because we were on a beautiful island and you wouldn't even know it with all of the greenery, even though it was STUNNING. Also, when we went down in November for last minute planning, a lot of the greenery was lost in the hurricane. I"m sure it will be more full come your wedding in 2019.

Casa Marina; hands down the best grounds. Stunning. Two reception space locations, in the sand or in a ballroom. I didn't want either of those no matter where we booked.

Hyatt Centric; great resort grounds, not too big or small. I didn't like the reception space. Inside with limited outside space, couldn't just open up a window wall and enjoy the sea air.

Ocean Key Resort; this is where we are getting married we LOVED the staff and the location, 0 Duval, hello party! Unfortunately we lost the pier for our reception to the hurricane, but the staff were very accommodating and we are on plan B. Our ceremony and dancing are still outside. Our Plan B is almost better than Plan A (the pier), almost. Food is really good, and all of the rooms are suites, so plenty of space.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions. I'm currently in the thraws of all the small last minute details.

View Quoted Comment Awesome Ashley that is so much Info I love it! We are planning from Tennessee but unfortunately we will not be able to go down there before the wedding so it’s great to have some first person info!

I hope all the detail planning is going great... how are you dealing with being so far away? I’m worried it will be a little more difficult but I so think it will be worth it. Are you doing any DIY projects, or are you having vendors for everything?

View Quoted Comment Awesome! I’m glad you were able to decide on somewhere, they have a really great central location at Margaritaville... I’m sire it’s going to be lovely.

View Quoted Comment

Keeping well organized and doing a lot of research will help. I have booked all of our vendors, because it is a small island, only so many to go around, so book early. What vendors do you think you will need? We have; venue (includes all rentals and food), photographer, videographer, DJ, day-of planner (required by our venue), hair/make-up and cigar station/roller. I didn't book a florist, they wouldn't allow my MIL to do the bouquets. And for dessert, we are getting a couple local bakery's (key lime pie, cupcake sushi and cookies. No cake.). I can give you insight on any of the above on how/why I chose them verse others. A BIG TIP! Ask your (potential) vendors who they like to work with. Again, its a small island, so everyone has worked with everyone. There is the good/bad/ugly.

As for DIY, we are doing the flowers ourselves. The trick is going to be "installing" them on the day of. I don't want to take people away from the fun of getting ready and the day-of planner will only "place" the floors. Since they are accustomed to having a florist on hand and don't want to be responsible for not installing the flowers just right.

We saved a lot of money by using a wedding website on minted.com. We sent save the dates with the website listed. Note, a lot of people didn't notice the website and were waiting for a traditional invite, so several phone calls had to be made. But we saved thousands.

For our rehearsal dinner, we booked a sunset cruise on the Commotion on the Ocean through Fury. They gave us a great deal, and the boat has (included in cost) drinks and apps. This was actually economical compared to a restaurant and who doesn't love a sun set cruise!

There are a lot of small little things we are doing ourselves, but its the standard stuff; card holders, table numbers, hand fans for the ceremony since we'll be outside, custom plastic cups, etc.

Oh, and we are getting married at the Ocean Key Resort, not Margaritaville. That was actually my least favorite place.

View Quoted Comment Yeah it was Danielle getting married at Margaritaville, I might have replied to the wrong person for that... oopsies!

I didn’t think about asking the vendors who they like to work with. My planner is from Islamorada so she isn’t always in Key West (got a really good deal). She has relationships with some of the hotels but we can’t meet most of the minimums with only 30 guests so we are trying to think outside of the box, which is new for her too but she has been a good sport.

The only thing we have pretty well decided on is that we are going to have our ceremony on a sailing Catamaran, very similar to what you are doing for the rehearsal dinner. It will be long enough to have the “cocktail hour” after the ceremony because the drinks and appetizers are included.

Im sorry your DOC won’t be much help with the flowers, that’s great you are doing those yourself though I’m sure that saved a lot. Are you doing live or silk florals?

We are hoping to do table numbers and all those things as well and bring them down. Glad to hear that’s not a crazy person idea!

we are going to forgo a DJ and videographer. How did you decide on hair and make up? I have been nervous about that (even though my wedding is so far away lol) because I won’t know if they suck until my wedding day! Also who are you using as a cigar roller, we are interested in hiring someone for that as well.

other than that the big ones will be florist and bakery’s and reception venue. I’ll try reaching out to our photographer for some ideas too!

We looked at many places and we went with ocean key resort most included for your money, great staff, Cara was so sweet and she’s been so helpful along the way

I'm having a small reception (8-10 people). I had a hard time finding a place that wouldn't charge me for 25 people, their minimum. Finally found Turtle Kraals, they have an awesome rooftop dining area with a bar. They let me reserve a section of it and didn't have to take the book the whole, large area as a private party. Their prices for hors d'oeuvres and other group items is great too.

I still need to book a salon for hair and makeup though! Having the hardest time finding someone. Makes me nervous not being able to do a trial in time to pick someone else if it's bad.

View Quoted Comment

For our flowers we are doing faux. I always thought it was a little tacky. But I was able to get some "professional" grade flowers and they look very real in photographs. Its also saving us about $4K, which in perspective it SO WORTH it. Who goes to a wedding and one of the top 3 things they remember are the flowers?

As for the hair/makeup, I am using Bella Luxe (https://www.bellaluxehairandmakeup.com/). I wasn't able to do my trail while down there in November, but I got a couple different prices from other salons and stalked all of them on social media. These girls are the best. Also, after I booked them, while I was booking our cigar rolling station, the mother of the guy who owns the cigar company just got married the weekend before and used their service. Said they were amazing. Its good when a local recommends them

As for the cigar roller, we are using Rodriguez (http://www.rodriguezcigarskeywest.com/). During the vetting/info stage, he was the best. We are pretty excited for them to be there.

View Quoted Comment Thanks. Seems like Ashley wasn’t fond of it but I hope it goes well. My planner works with them a lot so she was able to get great deals and has stunning pictures. I think your ceremony sounds amazing on a catamaran! We are doing our ceremony at Fort Zachary Taylor and plan to have a trolley or conch train transport our guests for cocktail hour and the reception.

I had a general idea where I wanted to get married in KW but really narrowed it down once we picked a date and had our guest list.

Our wedding is in August and it will be very warm. We wanted a venue that could incorporate an outside and inside event. With our guest count between 80-100, we eliminated the Hyatt due to the max capacity of 83. I would definitely recommend them as a consideration. Most other locations were either all outside or inside and outside in August is not the most comfortable.

We selected the Waldorf Astoria (The Reach) due to the covered gazebo on the water for the ceremony, option for beach sunset photos, an outdoor cocktail venue and an indoor reception. Their event planner Ashley is fabulous!! If you haven’t given them a look, you may want to consider. I found their pricing in line with other similar venues.

Off topic a little, but wondering how far out everyone booked their venues to get the date you were wanting? We are looking ahead to 2020 which seems far now, but I know it will be here before we know it. Thanks!

View Quoted Comment Mine is may 2019 and we just booked our venue. I don’t think it’s ever too early to look for your major vendors, like venue, photographers, etc. their prices continually go up and people make reservations up to 2 years early.

View Quoted Comment We booked a year out, got every vendor we wanted

View Quoted Comment

How many people are you having?

I only have about 10 people total. My wedding is Feb 10, 2018! I booked my salon this past weekend, the reception/dinner last week, hotel about a month ago, ordered the cake last week, booked a cruise honeymoon three weeks ago, it got canceled, bought a new cruise last week. Got a wedding planner maybe six months ago. They go the site setup, ceremony at Smathers, the flowers and photography.

Hi Lara! We are having a DW in Key West (we live in NY) - we are getting married at the Smathers Beah and having our reception at the Sheraton (in the garden area weather permitting). I am loving to work wit them! The ceremony is also part of our package and coordinated by Say Yes in Key West. Our florist is also great, we are using Karro Events and Floral.

View Quoted Comment

Melanie, congratulations on your wedding! Please come back and tell us about it! I would love to hear about it

View Quoted Comment

Not too early! I missed on the photographer I wanted because she booked early too! I am actually using a photographer from Miami area now, but she goes to the keys often for weddings. I absolutely love her!Oh - and I missed out on DJ too because I waited too long! Keep on booking your key vendors!

View Quoted Comment Hi Ashley,
First of all, congratulations!! I am also getting married at Ocean Key and have been told we need to think about plan B for our reception. Just curious what your plan B was and any other thoughts/recommendations/comments you have!

View Quoted Comment Hi Courtney, congrats! The OKR is awesome and the team there is amazing.

What is your plan A? Ours was the pier but that was ruined in the hurricane, so plan B was the restaurant. There’s a capacity issue but ended up be no problem. We only had 50pp, capacity is 66. I’m actually really happy it was in the restaurant, turned out to be the reception of my Pinterest dreams. I can send you photos if you’d like.