Kaitlyn and Brendan's rooftop St. Petersburg wedding was a minimalist dream with fall and earthy hues that matched the skyline sunset.
“Our inspiration was centered around intimacy while keeping things simple and elegant. We decided on a simple boho, romantic theme. Nothing seemed more perfect to us than starting our wedding off with a rooftop ceremony during the ‘golden hour' and ending it with a rooftop reception that was well lit by city lights, candles, and a neon sign,” the bride detailed. “Our colors were terracotta/rust with accents of gold and greenery. I really love earth tones, and we both love fall. They were the perfect colors to help bring both elements to our wedding.”
The bride and groom wanted their February wedding to take place in a city that offered upscale yet laidback rooftop venues. St. Petersburg offered the downtown charm they were searching for and is often a date night location for the couple.
“Our must-haves were being outdoors (preferably a rooftop) and the venue being cost-efficient with either all-inclusive or partially-inclusive packages,” the bride explained. “We chose Red Mesa Events for so many reasons! For starters, their eclectic rooftop. This was such a big part of achieving the atmosphere we wanted for our wedding. While Brendan’s love language is food in general, mine happens to be Mexican-style food and theirs is amazing! Red Mesa offers inclusive packages that reduce costs and unnecessary wedding planning stress. They checked all our must-have boxes and then some, and a bonus is their amazing service and hospitality. After we had chosen Red Mesa for our venue, Anna from Marry Me Tampa Bay sent us some links of the weddings held there that they had previously published. We were able to get an idea of what the venue looked like and did our brainstorming from there!”
The Lakeland couple shared that the most important elements of the wedding day were keeping their 53-person celebration intimate and having great food and music.
“We are both fairly simple people and we wanted to keep true to that, even on our wedding day. So, we kept our guest list small, had only one person each in our wedding party, and kept the decorations to a minimum. For our wedding favors, we chose to do personalized cork stoppers since we love wine and practical gifts” the bride shared. “Our first wedding dance was to Lady May by Tyler Childers, a play on words since my new last name is Maye. We enjoy country music so we had our guests line dance to some of our favorite songs.”
Kaitlyn and Brendan centered their ceremony around the simplicity of their love with a geometric ceremony arch and the downtown St. Pete skyline serving as their backdrop. As day turned to night, the vibrance from the city paired with candlelight and a custom neon sign that signified the bride's new last name created a romantic outdoor ambiance.
Looking back, one of the bride's most cherished memories was celebrating on the dance floor with all of her guests.
“It sounds cheesy, but the first song we ever slow danced to as a couple was Purple Rain by Prince. The most memorable and unplanned moment at our wedding was when our friends and family joined arms to create a circle around us while we slow danced to that song. You could literally feel their love and support in that moment. I cried happy tears!” the bride reminisced. “Another thing we loved about our wedding is that we chose to skip out on most of the traditional wedding activities; we wanted our reception to feel more like a party than a scripted event.”
The Proposal:
We took a trip to Maggie Valley, N.C. to hike mountain trails and enjoy the fall weather. On our last day of hiking, Brendan took us up a mountain trail that led to a tiny bridge situated directly in front of a cascading waterfall. He proposed to me on that bridge, and it was beautiful and intimate with just the two of us and no cameras. He saved the best hike for last!
What did you look for in a wedding venue?
Our must-haves were being outdoors (preferably a rooftop) and the venue being cost-efficient with either all-inclusive or partially-inclusive packages.
We chose Red Mesa Events for so many reasons! For starters, their eclectic rooftop. This was such a big part in achieving the atmosphere we wanted for our wedding.
While Brendan’s love language is food in general, mine happens to be Mexican-style food, and theirs is amazing! They also offer inclusive packages that reduce costs and unnecessary wedding planning stress. They checked all our must-have boxes and then some. A bonus is their amazing service and hospitality! A majority of our vendors were recommended by Leigh Wilson, the Red Mesa Events coordinator.
Where did you spend your honeymoon?
We wanted our honeymoon destination to be close to home so that it was cost-efficient but also gave us that vacation feeling, so we chose St. Pete Beach. We spent the week hitting the beach and finding fun and unique places to experience the sunset.
Where did you host your bachelorette party?
We chose not to do the traditional bachelor/bachelorette trips since most of Brendan's friends live out of state. We did, however, spend the few nights before our wedding barhopping in downtown St. Pete and spending some time out at the beach with our friends.
How would you describe your theme/wedding design inspiration?
Our inspiration was centered around intimacy while keeping things simple and elegant. We decided on a simple boho/ romantic theme. Nothing seemed more perfect to us than starting our wedding off with a rooftop ceremony during the “golden hour” and ending it with a rooftop reception that was well lit by city lights, candles, and a neon sign.
What were your colors?
Our colors were terracotta/rust with accents of gold and greenery. We chose them because I just really love earth tones, and we both love fall. They were the perfect colors to help bring both elements to our wedding.
Which vendors really exceeded your expectations?
Honestly, all of our vendors exceeded our expectations. Our event coordinators and wedding planners did an amazing job taking our thoughts/ideas and turning them into a wedding more beautiful than we could have imagined or done ourselves. We were literally in awe of our wedding reception when we took a sneak peek before our guests. They took a lot of the stress off of us, which allowed us to be fully present and enjoy our big day.
We were also really impressed by our DJ because he played the perfect mix of our favorite type of music with very little direction. Our photographers were stellar. They were very easygoing, patient, and had fun with us throughout the entire process. Not to mention, they take incredible photos!
We had no idea what our flowers would look like, just what we wanted them to look like. Our florist hit the nail on the head! Our videographers, who were hired the day before our wedding, literally asked us one question before filming. A week later they delivered a breathtaking preview of our wedding video (with basically no inspiration from us), and we can’t wait to see the full thing!
What advice would you give to other Tampa Bay couples?
Above all else, figure out the things that are most important to you and your significant other when it comes to your wedding day and make those a priority. It’s your day, which means it’s okay to be selfish.
Go with vendors that are recommended by your wedding planners and try to trust your chosen team to take care of your wedding day so you don’t have to stress the small stuff or stress at all. It’s supposed to be the best day of your life, don’t let anything get in the way of it being just that.
