Last month we had great pleasure of photographing a wedding at Port Royal Club in Naples.
Adam and Ellen first crossed paths in 2009 while Ellen’s was celebrating her 30th birthday at a Chicago bar where locals gravitate for good drinks, great times and Sinatra on the jukebox. After getting to know each other over mini-cheeseburgers at another local haunt later that night, the two learned that they worked only one block from one another which was the perfect excuse for them to make a lunch date. Ellen and Adam spent the next two years cooking, traveling, concert-going, and most importantly, becoming a part of one another’s families. On March 17th, 2011, Adam put on his best suit, picked up a bouquet of Ellen’s favorite flowers and returned to the bar where they met. Standing out quite a bit from the rest of the St. Patrick’s Day crowd celebrating, Adam got down on one knee and asked Ellen to marry him in. She promptly said yes and the two danced to Sinatra on the jukebox while bunch of strangers circled around and congratulated them. After many trips to visit Ellen’s parents in Naples, Adam and Ellen decided it was the perfect place to celebrate their marriage with family and friends. They were married at St. Ann church with a reception following at The Port Royal Club.

A meeting by chance. Pure luck is what drew these gentlemen, Carlos and Nik, to each other. They both were working as managers at two different stores in July of 2011 when their paths crossed in the food court at the mall, and they have been inseparable ever since. Their relationship officially began with a message on a cookie and eventually evolved rapidly into a proposal. Carlos took Nik to the place they had their first date, Broad Ave S., blindfolded in a car and popped the question on the beach much to Nik’s surprise on Christmas Eve of 2011. It comes as no surprise that these two chose the Naples Zoo as their wedding venue because it describes exactly what they are: WILD. So, it made perfect sense to shoot most of the engagement photos at the Zoo and see them in their natural habitat, haha. These two guys’ dynamic personalities really show how they fell in love and the saying “Opposites attract” comes immediately to mind when seeing these two together. Congratulations Nik and Carlos, we can’t wait to photograph your wedding at the zoo in January of 2014!

This is one of our latest weddings that we photographed at the Naples Beach Hotel. You may remember these guys from seeing their Engagement photos on our website nine months ago. They are a young couple full of life and excited to begin their journey together. Amanda and Jeff are so grateful for all their family and friends who joined them on their special day at the Naples Beach Hotel. Thank you guys for letting us be your wedding photographers. We wish you many years of happiness together!

Just recently we went to Miami to photograph a wedding of our great friends, Scott & Lana. We started at Vizcaya where they did their first glance, and we took some really cool pictures of them at the gardens. After that, they had their beach wedding ceremony performed at South Pointe Park just before the sunset. Lana and Scott met in 2001 in Wisconsin. Over the next several years they had an occasional conversation here and there. Then, in 2004 when Lana returned home from a visit to Belarus she found several unwanted house guests. Scott, along with two of their mutual friends, had taken up residence in Lana’s condo while she was away. In one day they went from casual acquaintances to lifelong roommates. Along the road to their wedding day came sons Daniel & Michael. On September 1st, 2007 Scott proposed by having one-year-old Danny deliver a matryoshka doll to his mother containing an engagement ring. The rest as they say is history. Finally, after nearly 5 YEARS of engagement, Lana & Scott married in South Miami Beach. We love you guys! Congratulations!

Jenny and Jason met at a North Carolina State University football game in 2009 where a group of mutual friends were tailgating. They didn’t really get a chance to speak much to each other on that day. One week later they ran into each other in the stands of another NCSU football game and started talking. From the moment they sparked up conversation they were inseparable and that was it. It was love. It may sound cliché but “when you know you know”, and it didn’t take them long to realize that they both knew almost instantly. Then the next Fall they went to Riviera Maya in Mexico for a week vacation where Jason popped the question within 2 hours on landing in Mexico. He couldn’t figure out where to stash the ring in a safe place and figured the safest place was on Jenny’s hand.

Just recently we were on Marco Island photographing a wedding of Misty and George. They traveled from North Carolina to Marco Island Marriott Resort to get married in a beautiful beach ceremony, witnessed by close friends and family. They got very fortunate with gorgeous weather and sunset. Kids and guests had a blast with DJ Dominick of Mobile Sound Entertainment during reception. What a great wedding it was. Congratulations guys!

Please give a warm welcome to our new couple! We had great deal of fun taking their Engagement pictures on Marco Island two weeks ago. Nick and Jenna met in 2008 on the Island where both of their families live. Both Nick and Jenna moved to Marco from the Midwest and quickly found out they had a lot in common. They both enjoy spending time with their families, eating out and watching football. After dating for several months, Nick asked Jenna to move in and they have been living together for over three years. Both Nick and Jenna love Marco Island and admit that the Island will continue be their home and eventually the home of their family. The engagement came by surprise on Christmas Day 2011. Nick organized a surprise get together for both families and gave Jenna the ring. Even though she did not see it coming, Jenna said yes and started planning the wedding soon after. After consideration, the couple decided to be married in November at the Marriott on Marco Island. Nick and Jenna are looking forward to long happy lives on Marco Island surrounded by family and close friends.

It was another beautiful wedding at Marco Island Marriott.
Allison and Arick worked together in healthcare at Orlando Regional Medical Center in Orlando, Florida for 3 years and barely knew each other. During Allison’s time in Orlando, she traveled to Haiti and worked in a makeshift hospital, helping those in need of medical relief following the devastating earthquake. Upon her return, she had planned a night out in downtown Orlando, in which Arick, along with several others attended. That was the night that Allison and Arick really started to get to know one another and things took off from there. They talked the whole night, realizing how much they had in common – their passion to help those in need, the importance of family and friends, their love for animals, and their ability to live life to the fullest, while having fun at the same time. Soon after that night, Allison was asked to substitute on Arick’s co-ed softball team and they soon became teammates on and off the field

You could probably make a movie about these two, and maybe one day someone will . Here is their story as it was told at the wedding by one of the happiest men on Earth:
“Three years ago I found myself living alone for the first time in my adult life. It was an emotional time for me and I felt that I needed a change. Living in Michigan, where I had retired from a rewarding career as a firefighter and paramedic, I decided to leave. I moved to Marco Island Florida; a place I had vacationed every year for the past 30 years. It was a good way for me to gather my thoughts, regroup and get my general disposition to a better place. I eventually grew to really enjoy my time alone and had no intentions of ever changing this new life I had discovered.
However, my life as I knew it was about to change. I was having dinner by myself at a local tiki bar on the water one night, talking to a friend, when SHE walked in. A beautiful woman with kind eyes. I hoped the host would seat her by me, and as luck would have it, he sat her right next to me. She smiled ( I melted ) and asked me if the food was good at the bar. I told her it was great! It really wasn’t, but I told her it was, for fear of her leaving and going somewhere else to eat. We talked for a couple of hours. From the beginning of the night I knew something was different. I felt I knew her from the moment we met.
At the end of the evening we made plans to meet on the beach the next day at the hotel she was staying at. I was going to bring my jet ski to the beach and take her on a tour around the island. However, I was so smitten with her that night, I forgot to ask her for her phone number. I searched the whole beach the next day, looking for her, but couldn’t find her. Apparently some business friends of hers had made other plans for her and she couldn’t make it to the beach. I was afraid I would never see her again, and thought maybe I had missed the opportunity of a lifetime. Why did I not get her phone number the night before?! I decided that I would try to find her somehow at one of the many establishments on the island that night. After all, she was on vacation, and I thought there would be a good chance she would be out on the town. The first place I went to that night was a popular local brewery/restaurant. I was sitting at the bar talking to a man about my dilema, when suddenly she appeared across the bar from me. Our eyes met at the same time, she smiled and seemed excited to see me. I certainly was excited to see her, and immediately stopped my conversation with the man next to me, jumped off the bar stool, and ran around the bar to be with her. She was even prettier than I remembered, and I told her she was beautiful. We had another amazing night, getting to know each other. I never thought it was possible to really fall in love at what was basically first sight. But I had! I knew I couldn’t let this go, and hoped she felt the same. Words can’t describe the incredible comfort and desire I felt for her. I truly had never in my life felt anything like this before. She went back to Cincinnati, and I felt compelled to call her to tell her my feelings about her. We talked for a long time. She told me she had been feeling the same way about me. I knew she was sincere, because she came back to the island two weeks later. I went to the airport to meet her, and when I saw her I was reminded of just how beautiful she was. And once again the first words out of my mouth were, you are so beautiful! This time I kissed her! We kissed a lot on that trip. We’ve been kissing a lot ever since. I hope we never stop kissing a lot! Sweetheart, you know I love you more than anything in this world. Here’s to our night, and the rest of our life!”