About Anna and Lee
Occupations: Event Planner & Project Manager
How they met: Camping at a music festival in FL, but we didn’t start dating until 6 months later. We dated long distance (3.5 hr drive) for 3 years until we got married in Feb and I moved where he lives.
What attracted Lee to Anna: I knew that we shared common interests because of the setting where we met.
What attracted Anna to Lee: I’ll be honest, I wasn’t attracted to Lee  when I met at the festival, although we had fun and I thought he was super nice, I just didn’t see him in that way.  Thankfully he saw something there and kept in touch with me.  Six months later asked if I would attend a wedding with him—I agreed and over that weekend he starting growing on me.  Later on in the weekend he helped me hang some shutters on my house.  While he was on the ladder, drill in hand, sweat on the brow, I realized at that moment I was smitten.  And the rest is history.
Engagement story: We returned to the same music festival in FL 2.5 years later and Lee proposed by candlelight at our campsite on the first night.  We spent the rest of the weekend camping and enjoying a bunch of great music—just the two of us.  It was perfect because it wasn’t just one night; we had an entire weekend to celebrate our engagement!

The Wedding Day
Location: Azul Sensatori
Number of Guests: 25 (22 adults, 2 kids, 1 baby)
Anna’s most memorable moment: Lee getting choked up saying his vows.  I knew he was truly speaking from his heart and I never felt so loved
Lee’s most memorable moment: Seeing Anna walk out onto the beach, absolutely stunning.
Advice to others: Really focus on what you want out of your special day—thankfully Lee kept me in check on this.  It’s to be expected that everyone will voice their opinions on what THEY want, but always keep what you both want at the forefront, it will pay off and you won’t have any regrets.  Everyone said this was the best wedding they had been to because it was so unique and personal.  If I had gone with what everyone else wanted, it wouldn’t have felt that way.  Trust me, a destination wedding to Mexico was not what my Mom had in mind – but once she got there, she was in heaven!
Wedding song: “I Will” by the Beatles (about 1 min 30 seconds long – the perfect length!)
Signature Drink: Mojitos
Most unexpected moment: Almost having to move everything inside because of the weather.  We chanced it and although it was windy, the clouds made for fantastic photos and no one was hot during the ceremony.  You just have to keep the faith that everything always works out the way it should!!  And it did.
Honeymoon: We went with the “WeddingMoon” idea so it was just an extension of our time at Azul Sensatori.  It was easy and we loved our time there, but just keep in mind – other guests stayed for the entire week too (including the groom’s parents) so we had company….sometimes whether we liked it or not.  J
The day in three words: Perfect Beach Wedding

Wedding Info:
Ceremony location: Beach under a canopy of flowers
Reception location: Moved from beach to a reception room inside due to wind.  A great decision in the end…everyone was so much more comfortable!
Anna’s gown: Strapless white lace with a sweep train, cinched with a sash at the waist, large orange gerber daisy in hair, no veil (thank goodness because it was windy!)
Bridal party attire: Matron of honor:  strapless coral chiffon dress, barefeet adorned with beaded “foot jewelry”.  Best Man:  White button down, khaki linen pants, flip flops, no tie.
Lee’s outfit: Khaki linen suit with white shirt and striped coral tie and flip flops
Favors: Embroidered beach towels—they were a hit!!
Music: We played a playlist off our iPod for free, then hit up a dance club on property after the reception.
Flowers: Orange gerber daisy in the bride’s hair, mothers carried single orange gerber daisies in lieu of corsages, boutonnieres were white orchids, bride’s bouquet was ivory roses with green accents, bridemaids bouquet was white gerber daisies.  We also said our vows under a traditional Mexican lazo, made from oranger gerber daisies, as our symbolic gesture. The flowers at all of the events were amazing!

Fun Stuff
Astrological Signs (Anna) and (Lee): Scorpio and Capricorn
Type of Ring: Hers – Round cut low set solitaire in platinum with accenting diamonds and etchings around the band with a custom wedding band to match.  His – white gold band with a distressed look
Wedding Colors: Various shades of orange (coral, salmon, bright orange).  I was worried the colors wouldn’t come together, but they did!
Anna’s Shoes: Barefeet adorned with beaded “foot jewelry”
What was borrowed? Chunky turquoise bracelet from my good friend, Helen
What was new? Dress
What was blue? The same turquoise bracelet
What was old? Me (ha!)
What did you put in gift bags? Didn’t have gift bags, but at each place setting we put  cardboard silver heart boxes filled with Sweet-tart candies with a note attached:  “A few Sweet-tarts from the Sweethearts!”.  They were a fun touch, and best of all, they were easy to travel with and assemble onsite.
Most romantic moment: Candlelight dinner for two on the beach.

TELL US ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE WITH LUXE DESTINATION WEDDINGS:
We are so grateful to LUXE for so many reasons.  First, I was very overwhelmed deciding on a location just not feeling like we found the right place. Remember – you’re not just planning your wedding, you’re also planning a vacation for you guests! So I put a lot of pressure on myself to choose the perfect place.  After exhausting many options, our LUXE rep suggested trying this brand new resort (which hadn’t yet opened).  Because the intro rates they secured were literally half of what we would have paid for a 5 Star, we decided to go for it.  I was nervous going to a new resort, but they assured me it was a great hotel brand and they even took a site visit prior to our event and addressed all of our concerns.  The risk totally paid off, the resort was AMAZING and our guests had the best time—smiles from ear to ear the entire time.  Second, the website LUXE created for us was fabulous, everyone raved about it.  It was great because most people are not going to attend when you have a destination wedding, but through the website they still felt like they were a part of everything.  It was so well organized and professional looking, our guests loved visiting it.  Even after the wedding, the folks at LUXE were patient with me and took the time to post pictures from the wedding so I could point people back to the website in our mailed announcement.  It was just perfect.  I also appreciate to LUXE because during the planning/booking process, it was great to point our guests toward Jenn to answer all of their travel questions and handle their bookings.  I already felt like a travel agent with all of the questions coming my way (which was quite overwhelming, even for an Event Planner!), so it was such a relief to have her as a resource.  She was patient with all of our guests and just a phone call away when anyone had a question.  Lisa was a great resource as well and always so patient and quick to get me an answer.  If I had to do it all over again (and let’s hope I never do!!), I would definitely use LUXE again.