Art & Joan | Casablanca Hotel Wedding | Key West, Florida

When two young lovebirds found each other again later in life, it was a story that could only be told in the warmth of paradise with friends and family traveling to Key West to celebrate together. Joan and Art - the bride would tell me when we met - had been friends when they were kids, but life and other relationships saw them part ways and lead very different paths. Finding each other again, the two rekindled their friendship, love blossomed, and they decided to get married!

The couple chose the Casablanca Hotel right on Duval Street to celebrate their big day, and Art was very hands-on as he helped the vendors, including Peter from Milan Event Florals and Design, with placement and ideas of everything from the centerpieces to the arch.

While I have photographed many wedding for mature couples over the years, I find that they usually go for a very understated, casual, low-frills affair. So you can imagine my delight when I found out that Joan decided she was not foregoing the usual bling and glamour a bride is afforded only on this special occasion, and she went with an absolutely gorgeous bridal gown, complete with sparkly jewels, a sweetheart neckline, and flowing train and veil!

The intimate ceremony was standing-room only :D as family gathered around the lush foliage and watched on as Art and Joan exchanged their vows.

It was also a great place to shoot with lots of open shade, and a vantage point that allowed me to get higher angles, including a really cool shot of Art putting the ring on Joan’s finger during the ceremony - something I normally am relegated to the center aisle and praying I can get a good shot over the cuff links, but this time had a perfect aerial birds-eye view!

Midway through the ceremony, the family all came around and poured beautiful colorful sand into a shared vessel, as a symbol of their unified status as a family.

After a few quick family photos at the altar, I swept the couple away and chauffeured them around town to get some images of them down by the boat docks, the Dockmaster building, Mac’s Sea Garden, and the direction sign near Cuban Coffee Queen.