Planning a Great Beach Wedding
Planning a Fort Myers Beach wedding is a great idea for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest reasons that people decide to have a Fort Myers Beach wedding is because of the beaches. Fort Myers Beach is known to have very soft, smooth and white sand. Another reason people choose a Fort Myers Beach wedding is because Fort Myers Beach is a very safe island. Fort Myers Beach is also a small island, which makes it easy to get around. There is even a trolley system that will take you anywhere on the island you need to go. Another reason people choose Fort Myers Beach as their wedding destination is because of all the fun things there are to do on Fort Myers Beach. For starters, the center of town, called Times Square, is where a large cluster of shops, restaurants, and ice cream parlors are located. Also located at Times Square is the Fort Myers Beach pier, which is a favorite spot for fishing, for taking a stroll and for watching the sunset. Other fun things to do specifically on the beach include jet skiing, kayaking, parasailing, body surfing, knee boarding, beach volleyball, swimming, and of course sun bathing. Fort Myers Beach also has a great Beach Theatre that features current Hollywood movies and offers a delicious dinner menu to order from during your movie! Another reason people choose a Fort Myers Beach wedding is because of the typically great weather throughout the year. Probably the biggest and best reason that people choose Fort Myers Beach as their wedding destination is because the great sunsets on Fort Myers Beach. On of their primary goals when choosing a Fort Myers Beach wedding is to incorporate the beautiful sunset into their wedding day and to have numerous photographs at sunset for their memories.
Fantastic Wedding Locations
In addition to Fort Myers Beach having numerous great reasons as to why people plan their beach wedding there, it also has several fantastic options for wedding locations. Of course, the number one wedding location choice is to have your wedding ceremony directly on the beach. People often choose to have their wedding on the beach of one of the great resorts located on the island. An advantage to choosing one of the resorts to host your wedding is that there is usually a banquet room that could be used as a backup in case of bad weather. People also choose to have a smaller intimate wedding on the beach of a private beach home. Another option is to have a wedding at a private home located on the bay side of the island. These are some of the largest and most beautiful homes located on Fort Myers Beach. Fort Myers Beach also has two great parks that people also choose for their Fort Myers Beach wedding. On the north end of the island is Bowditch Park and just south of the island is Lovers Key Park.
Popular Beach Wedding Themes
The most popular themes for a Fort Myers Beach wedding include Caribbean, beach, or island flair. But each wedding has their own unique twist to their beach wedding theme such as the coordinating colors, the types and arrangements of flowers, the centerpieces, the favors, the food served, and whether it is a casual or formal wedding. Other possible Fort Myers Beach wedding themes include classy/elegant, a theme related to a specific holiday or season, and even the bride and groom’s favorite sports team! A few Fort Myers Beach wedding traditions include a sand ceremony, a shell toss, and getting married barefoot!
Planning the Day
One of the most important things to consider when planning a Fort Myers Beach wedding is the timeline of the day. You don’t want to plan the ceremony too early because then the sunlight will be very bright, hot and harsh for the guests looking into the sun and for photographs. But you also don’t want to plan the ceremony too late, because then there won’t be enough light to take all the pictures of the family, the bridal party and the bride and groom before the sun goes down. The best time of day to plan a Fort Myers Beach wedding ceremony is about two hours before sunset. If the wedding is a smaller, more intimate wedding, an hour and a half might be better. This start time allows for about thirty minutes for the ceremony and then an hour to an hour and a half for family, bridal party, and couple portraits after the ceremony. It is best to time it so that the pictures of the bride and groom start about twenty minutes before sunset so the pictures include blue skies and the sunset. For weddings that take place in the spring, summer and early fall when the sunset is late in the evening, many people choose to have their ceremony earlier in the evening, take the family and bridal party pictures, start their dinner reception, then come back to the beach for the sunset pictures of the bride and groom. This timeline allows for people to not have an extremely late dinner for their guests. When this timeline is used, we recommend that the ceremony be set up facing at an angle away from the sun so that it is more comfortable for the guests and is a better lighting situation for the photographers.
As mentioned above, Fort Myers Beach is an extremely popular location for weddings for people all over the country and even the world. People chose Fort Myers Beach for their wedding location for a variety of reasons including great beaches, so many fun things to do and the beautiful sunsets! This article also gave great tips for several different options for wedding locations on Fort Myers Beach, some possible Fort Myers Beach wedding themes and traditions, and the best timeline for your Fort Myers Beach wedding.
