Destination Wedding Rule #5

Feed well, and feed appropriately! When it comes to your events, especially the outdoors ones, choose your menus wisely. Lots of hot and fried foods after 8 hours in the sun, particularly when your guests aren't used to the heat, is not a good idea. So the key is to offer as many light and refreshing selections as possible.

Need to catch up on the rules so far?
Rule 1, Rule 2, Rule 3, Rule 4

Destination Wedding Rule #4

Put yourself in your guests shoes when considering their experience. If you're bringing them to a warm and/or humid destination from a cold location, do what you can to keep them comfortable. This means offering (welcome bags & hospitality baskets) and suggesting things that will keep them safe and feeling good:
Bottled water, sunscreen, skin moisturizer, off wipes, chapstick, ibuprofen packs, mints, flip flops, and most importantly a guest guide for the weekend.

The bag above is one of the best I've ever come across. It's large enough to carry items down to the beach and pool, but small enough to pack away in an overstuffed suitcase. And at under $6 each...A STEAL. And the cute bags below- I love these for bridesmaids gifts. Perhaps with a nice thank you note inside along with lip gloss, a mirror, and blotters (to fight the mid-reception shine).

Destination Wedding Rule #3

This rule is two-fold and applies to all weddings, not just destination. Study weddings before you choose a venue, hire your wedding vendors and purchase services and products. Reason being- you need to know what is that you want in order to know what to ask for. Just take a couple weeks to flip through magazines, read wedding blogs, and wedding books before you pick up the phone. I'll use wedding cake as a simple example. You have to know that there are frosted wedding cakes and fondant covered wedding cakes in order to narrow down which bakers to consider because so many bakers only do one or the other. This is a good thing by the way because that means they are focused on being really good at that art. This leads me to the next piece; select vendors who have a single focus. A photographer who offers video and DJ service? No. This is hands down the quickest way to get less than quality something. Here's what I can guarantee you. You don't want less than quality anything. Nor do you deserve it.
Read rule 1 here and rule 2 here.

Need some good blogs to research? Try Style Me Pretty, Elizabeth Anne Designs, Bon Bon Blog, Once Wed, the Bride's Guide, and Polka Dot Bride.

For books: read this and this, and especially this.

Beach Wedding Cake Stand perfection

Quite possibly the most perfect beach wedding cake stand ever. I think it belongs in my exclusive collection, don't you?

Here's to another great wedding! Kelly McWilliams www.WeddingsbySocialites.com Sent from my iPhone

Destination Wedding Rule #2

Destination Wedding Rule #2: This one is more of a tip than a rule. Put great consideration into a mid-week wedding. Your wedding costs will be less because of mid- week packaging from your vendors. This means you can do more with your budget. Also, travel will be less expensive for your guests! It's very important though to send save the dates 9-12 months in advance so everyone can get a couple days off of work.

Destination Wedding Rules, #1

Destination Wedding Rule #1: Give your guests time to do as they wish. A couple planned events & gatherings are good, but make sure to leave at least 8 hours of "free to be" time. This will allow your friends and family to make your wedding celebration a truly unique experience.

Lemon Yellow & Caribbean Blue Wedding Tablescape

I admit being completely against yellow for I don't know how long. In fact, when I got the opportunity to design this concept for Bride & Bloom magazine, I was 100% disappointed to hear "Lemon is your design theme".
Um, I changed my mind. I now LOVE yellow. I can't get enough of it. It makes me happy. Weddings are happy. So that makes sense.

What I will say though is that I think yellow should always be paired with another color that translates into a dim light situation well. Which is why when I met with Floral Designer Beth Traucht at Floral Artistry we decided to use some white flowers like these Cattleya Orchids to "pop" in the evening along with some crystal pieces to reflect candlelight.

For the invitation I chose a simple panel invitation and then embellished it with ribbon and the yellow liner. I was floored when Karen showed up with the cake below and it matched almost exactly to the invitation!

This is hands down one of the most amazing cakes I have ever seen. Karen of Kakes by Karen has completely outdone herself this time. Each one of those tiles on the cake is individually hand painted. The 4 tier cake took 5 hours to design and cut the tile pattern and then 10 hours to just to paint!

I want to thank Krista from Impressions Photography for taking so many phenomenal pictures that day and braving the heat with me at on the beach at Sunset Cove.
Wondering where we found this amazing location? It's South Seas Island Resort on Captiva Island; one of my absolute favorite wedding locations.
You can see more images in the summer '09 issue of Bride & Bloom magazine, on newsstands now.