GeorgiaGal

We flew into Miami and made the drive over, mainly due to the fact we had a ton of frequent flier miles and by doing that it was essentially free. But the fun thing we did on the way home was took a week-long mini-moon, our honeymoon was a couple months later. We took the entire week after our wedding to hop along the Keys on our way back to our flight in Miami. We stayed in Key Largo and Islamorda and went fishing and diving and just lounging on the beach. I thought it was a blast!

Like you, I felt doing my own research and piecing together my vendors was the way to go. So in lieu of hiring a full on wedding planner I hired a day-of wedding planner through We'veGotTheKeys. Fiona was awesome and handled EVERYTHING the day-of. They were also able to recommend a couple of my vendors, but honestly Key West is such a small island that I didn't find it that hard to do my own research on the vendors. Personally I didn't want to pay a planner to book my cakes, flowers, etc, b/c there really are only a couple reputable vendors for both of these on the island. I just called them all, talked to them and went with who I felt the most comforable with. Some made it really easy by being rude or unresponsive, in that case I just went with their competitor. I went with Tony Gregory as my photographer b/c a friend of a friend recommended him. He was great to work with and we ended up with over 1,000 shots, handed to us on a cd within 12 hours of the wedding! Then with our purchased package I think he cropped/altered/enhanced 50 of our choice, but we have them all digitally. We had a very unique situation though, a family friend, who is also a wedding photographer announced at the last minute her gift to us was that she was also going to photograph our wedding so we had both of them there! In retrospect it's kind of funny and Tony was a really good sport about it and in the end we actually ended up with some really cool shots from 2 different perspectives.

I went with James Wist in Key West. I would highly recommend him. I emailed him probably 10 months in advance, he sent me a contract and a cd, I picked the songs and confirmed our contract a month or so b/f the wedding. He was there on time and it was such a neat addition to our wedding. We had him play the steel drums at the ceremony as well as at the coctail hour. Here is his website: Welcome to Key West Calypso He's located in Key West, but his website says he performs throughout the Keys. Good Luck!

I got married in Key West and used the following vendors: 1 - Day of wedding planners Nadine ? and Fiona Garvie at We've Got the Keys were GREAT! For the officiant we used Reverend Ron Paige and he was really sweet and cute and did a great job. 2 - N/A as we went with an all-inclusive deal at a hotel 3 - Love in Bloom. They did a great job and were significantly less expensive than Mama Flowers. 4 - Key West Cakes.....I would say average. I know Croissants de France is supposed to be really good but they were so incredibly rude when I called to inquire about a wedding cake order that I decided not to give them my business. I bet their cake would have been better though..... 5 - James (Jim) Wist did the steel drums for the ceremony and cocktail hour and did a great job for a few hundred dollars. Jim Cooper at Soundwave did a great job as the DJ for the reception. 6 - ? 7 - I would highly recommed Elena at Aveda Salon.

"$125/hr with a minimum of $750 - very nice - 16 years on the island and in the business" This is what I have in my notes and that's just her services, but never really considered this company.....I realized with a wedding of 70 people, that my best bet was going to be working through a resort - a one-stop shop if you will Also in my research I came across one place - cannot remember name of it though which is a small bed and breakfast in which all the rooms open up to a courtyard and you can rent out the courtyard and have your reception there after you shuttle people back from the beach. Then all your guests stay there also......oh if I can find the name of it I'll send to you.

I am planning a wedding for about 70 on the beach so I wanted to pick a place that had beachfront property, so no need to shuttle that many people around. There are very, very few places with their own beaches, but with 20people you could easily shuttle over to Smather's Beach and then off to a reception elsewhere. I contacted a few planners in the beginning and liked the Key West Travel - Group Travel Planning - corporate incentive travel and events planner for Key West Florida company the best. I'm not using a planner as the resort we are at supplies one. They have so many neat ideas. You can do a catamaran cruise the night before or check out the Audobon Gardens for the ceremony if you decide against the beach. Also remember that hurricane season lasts for 6 months out of the year!