Emily and Dan
Powel Crosley Estate
“Our wedding color scheme changed a lot. Originally, we wanted more subtle colors like green and white. However, after choosing our wedding venue, we decided to pay homage to Florida’s vibrant atmosphere by incorporating bold fall colors, with green as the focal point.” -The Bride
FEATURING
Emily and Dan’s waterfront Sarasota wedding was a colorful, al fresco celebration featuring warm maroon and terracotta florals, earthy green accents, nods to their shared love of musicals, and an homage to their beloved pet pug. The bride and groom exchanged vows against the backdrop of a historic mansion before dining and dancing with their 118 closest friends and family under the October night sky.
“The most memorable moment was doing our private last dance before the send-off and after party. We finally had a moment to be alone and acknowledge how perfect and beautiful the whole night had been. It was magical,” the bride reminisced. “We danced to the song Photograph by Cody Fry. The song is all about freezing a moment in time, which is exactly what we wanted. Our final dance left us living in the lyrics of the song, and just like the song says, ‘If I had my will, time would just stand still, wait for me until I find some magic film to take a photograph and live inside.’ The day was truly everything we could have asked for and more.”
The Proposal
“Dan proposed on the beach in The Bahamas. My entire direct family watched from afar. It was their first family vacation in years. It was hard for all of them to keep the secret going into it, especially for the nieces and nephews. We went down the stairs to the beach, where Dan led us to a blanket that was decorated with flowers, seashells, and pictures of us over the years. We were then met by the photographer, who was secretly taking candid pictures of us the whole way down. After the proposal, we were greeted by my family, and we got to take pictures together around the beach and have dinner to celebrate!”
Researching Wedding Vendors
“During the wedding planning process, we followed Marry Me Tampa Bay on Instagram. Their content was very resourceful. They also personally shared resources on picking a florist and getting hurricane insurance. This was extremely helpful since our wedding date was in hurricane season, and there just so happened to be a hurricane that same weekend the year before!
We ended up getting hurricane insurance for our wedding, just to be extra cautious. Their resources were very helpful in navigating this process.”
The Planning
“We looked for someone who was knowledgeable on all the vendors available to us since we are not local to the area. We wanted somebody who could be there on the wedding day to coordinate the whole event. We also wanted someone who would be open to helping us create a unique experience for us and our guests.
When we had our first call with Amanda Biery, the owner of The Olive Tree Weddings, we felt very comfortable speaking with her. She had a confidence about her that made us know she’d do a great job. Throughout our entire wedding planning process, Amanda was kind, accommodating, and professional, and provided us with a lot of insight on the various decisions that needed to be made. She was timely on all email responses and provided us with resources to keep us on track of our budget and wedding planning timeline.
Amanda is truly an expert at what she does, and it is shown through her work and communication. The Olive Tree Weddings completely outdid themselves, and the day would not have run as smoothly without them. We owe our wedding day all to them!”
The Experience
“We live in New Jersey, about 15 minutes from Philadelphia. We really loved the idea of a small destination wedding in Europe, but we wanted to make sure our venue was accessible to all our guests.
After touring our wedding venue in Florida and feeling like we were swept away to somewhere in Spain or Italy, we knew it was the one. We created a whole weekend full of events for all our out-of-town guests, starting with gathering at the local Eagles bar to watch the Eagles’ game. The evening before the wedding, we hosted a rehearsal dinner featuring one of our favorite meals (a nice pizza, Caesar salad, and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc), and a karaoke welcome party. This combined our fun nights out to karaoke bars with friends with our love of musicals. This also gave us an opportunity to see and talk to everyone before the wedding day, which allowed us to be more present during the wedding day and spend more time with each other! The day after, we invited our guests to one last day in the sun at Lido Key beach. We spent the afternoon chatting about the wedding and enjoying each other’s company for one final time.”
The Inspiration
“Our wedding color scheme changed a lot. Originally, we wanted more subtle colors like green and white. However, after choosing our wedding venue, we decided to pay homage to Florida’s vibrant atmosphere by incorporating bold fall colors, with green as the focal point. In our early planning stages, we were sitting at a restaurant on the back patio and saw these amazing olive-green-painted walls and black tables. I imagined that color combo with bright pink and orange flowers for our wedding theme. I immediately went home and created a vision board and never looked back. Dan’s favorite color is green, and he wanted to wear a green suit. It worked out that green would be the main color for the whole event.
We wanted to incorporate our dog, Dove, throughout since she is such an important part of our love story. We had her face on bar napkins, her name plastered on signs throughout, we had an espresso martini signature drink called ‘The Dove,’ and we even had a painting made of her to put over the seating chart that said ‘Dove’s approved list.’ We also played on her name by having doves incorporated on the wedding cake toppers and the place cards.
We also incorporated our love for musicals through our Playbill-style programs, dominos on the lounge set coffee table (a favorite game of Dan’s family), a projector showcasing photos of us through the years, having philly cheeseteaks served at our after party, and of course the green dance floor!”
The Bach Party and Honeymoon
“I hosted my bachelorette party in Park City, Utah. I wanted to host the trip a few months beforehand to have a good amount of time in between. I wanted to have a cozy, wintery themed bachelorette and Park City was still transitioning from winter to spring, and I had always heard how beautiful the state is, so my family and friends took the trip out there for a long weekend. We hiked, did yoga, shopped, and even went down memory lane to go and visit the school where High School Musical was filmed.
We have not gone on an official honeymoon yet, but we did take an extra day by ourselves after the wedding before returning to New Jersey. We drove up to Dunedin, Florida, and stayed at the Fenway Hotel. It was a beautiful hotel that we were considering to host our wedding at. We spent the day at the beach on Caladesi Island. We had great food and weather throughout our stay there. The days leading up to the wedding were filled with lots of socializing, so the extra day to ourselves spent reflecting on the whole experience and feeling so grateful was a great way to end our time in Florida.”
Which vendors really exceeded your expectations?
It’s really hard to pick out a vendor since they all did such an amazing job, but Regan and her assistant from Arms of Persephone truly shone. The flowers provided were unreal They were completely unique, and the bridal bouquet was mesmerizing. The flowers as a whole brought everything together. Ashley, from Ash and Co., took our wedding cake vision and brought it to life. Just like the bouquet, the cake was also mesmerizing. Lastly, our photographer, Janel, was extremely efficient and a pleasure to work with. She has a vision in her head and knows exactly what to do to get the job done. From the beginning, we knew we didn’t want to spend a whole lot of time on our wedding day posing for photos. Janel found ways to capture our day, and the result left us speechless. Her photos were breathtaking.
What advice would you give to other Sarasota couples?
There are so many choices to be made for your wedding. Just trust what you and your partner want and envision, and don’t let what everyone else is doing distract you or make you doubt your choices.
