As featured in Key Wester Magazine

Tropical Trends Sweeten
Wedding Traditions
BY MANDY BOLEN
Photo by Milt Huffman-Lee.
6 KEY WESTER APRIL 2005
Anna and Andy Stuart weren’t having any fun planning a Long Island wedding with its
conservative traditions, indoor space constraints and unending stream of opinions
about how a wedding “should” be.
“The only thing that was getting us
through the wedding preparations was
the thought that we’d be relaxing in
Key West when it was all over,” Anna
said. “So then Andy suggested that we
just get married down there and forget
the pomp and circumstance of a New
York wedding.”
The couple had vacationed yearly
on the island that specializes in breaking
tradition and wandered, amused, past
the Chapel by the Sea with its promise of
“stress-free weddings.” They had seen
couples happily tie the knot at sunset at
the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor and
decided they wanted to enjoy their
wedding as much as they would enjoy
their waterfront honeymoon by
celebrating both in Key West.
As the sun inched closer to the sea
on an April evening, Anna and Andy
joined  of their friends and relatives on
the beach, wearing flip-flops with their
formal attire and knowing they had
made the right decision.
Thousands of couples make the
same Key West decision every year. Some
weddings are elaborate beach affairs with
Photo by Michael West.
rows of white chairs and linen-topped
tables, while others are small and
intimate—a beachside trio or small
group aboard a boat at sunset.
Key West’s tropical setting makes
weddings unique and lends itself to
Photo by Rob O’Neal.
new ideas, non-traditional trends and
island-style adjustments.
Wedding sites range from the
elegant Southernmost House Grand
Hotel & Museum and The Gardens
Hotel to the Key West Butterfly & Nature
Conservatory, where hundreds of the
most beautiful winged creatures become
a part of the bridal party.
Shawna Wynd, wedding coordinator at the Doubletree Grand Key Resort,
has worked with hundreds of brides and
grooms and their families and lately has
been seeing a lot more of the families.
“Many people are starting to treat
their wedding as a reunion and family
vacation. Often the whole family gets
here a few days before the wedding and
stays for a few days after to enjoy a
vacation and each other’s company,”
Shawna says. “The couples I’ve worked
with have said that they can have private
time for the rest of their lives, but rarely
get to have the whole family together— >
APRIL 2005 KEY WESTER 7
besides, the couple usually stays for a few
extra days after the relatives leave.”
The so-called “familymoons” often
include several activities such as private
snorkel trips or sunset sails aboard Black
Duck or aboard the more traditional and
majestic tall ships Liberty, Western
Union or America.
Families also enjoy kayak
trips, Conch Tour Train trips and
Jet Ski adventures.
“It’s funny. We constantly
hear squealing in the hotel
hallways as cousins, sisters and
uncles reunite,” Shawna says.
She has also been planning
weddings for people who already
have a family together.
“A lot of people seem to be
waiting
until after they have a
Photo by Rob O’Neal.
child together to get married,”
she notes. “I don’t know if it’s a
trend everywhere or if it’s just in Key
West, where few things are done in a
traditional manner.”
Key West’s tropical
setting makes
weddings unique
and lends itself to
new ideas, nontraditional trends
and island-style
adjustments.
8 KEY WESTER APRIL 2005
blended families who unite in a second
marriage ceremony.
The unity that comes from all
weddings is often demonstrated during
the ceremony with the lighting of the
unity candle—two flames becoming one
and inseparable. Such a ceremony
is not practical at an outdoor wedding,
so Shawna has been introducing many
couples to a new “sand ceremony” that
was featured in a televised reality show.
In the beach-themed ceremony,
the couple each pours grains of sand
from separate flasks into one decorative,
keepsake bottle. Once combined, the
individual grains of sand cannot
be separated.
“Everybody’s been doing the
sand ceremony recently at the beach
weddings,” says photographer Rob
O’Neal, who has been helping couples
preserve their wedding memories in
Key West for eight years and has seen
new trends replace old traditions every
few years.
Another popular trend
that Shawna offers to couples
is the “message in a bottle.”
Each wedding guest writes
down a wedding message for
the couple, rolls it up and
places it into an old glass
bottle. Once the bottle is
filled with wishes, the couple
receives it and reads each
message before sealing the
bottle and tossing it into
the waves.
“I’ll do anything I can
to keep in tune with their
desires, and try to add
uniqueness other than
putting seashells on the
tables. One couple had their
reception here at the hotel
and we had a cigar roller on
the porch at the reception
Photo by Milt Huffman-Lee.
and fish tanks on the tables,”
Shawna says, adding that weddings are
A couple’s children often participate
no longer the staunch, traditional events
in the ceremony as flower girl or
they once were, at least not in Key West.
ring bearer. The same holds true for
“More and more couples are now
wanting more casual, candid and
natural-looking photos rather than the
formal poses of a fake kiss and rows of
relatives,” Rob says, acknowledging that
some group shots remain necessary. But
many couples are asking for photos that
show a secret smile, a spontaneous laugh
them on a sunset cruise the night before
or the night after the wedding, or I’ll
shoot them while they ride the Conch
Train or a pedi-cab,” he adds.
But not everyone has the luxury of
time in Key West.
Shawna has been hearing a great
deal about people who get married in
Weddings are no longer the staunch,
traditional events they once were, at
least not in Key West.
or a surprised look.
The increased acceptance of digital
photography has made such informal
shots plentiful and popular.
Photographer Kelston Chaves
now shoots only digital photography,
and offers couples a variety of photo
packages, one of which simply includes
a CD with all the photos on it. The
couples can then choose which ones they
want printed and in what size. They can
also choose to e-mail them instantly to
friends and relatives, Kelston says.
Some couples have chosen recently
to hire a photographer for much more
than the wedding ceremony, also
wanting a professional to capture the
memorable aspects of their “familymoon.”
“They’ll sometimes hire me to join
Key West while their cruise ship is
docked here for an afternoon.
Tim and Tamie Madison boarded a
ship in Fort Lauderdale with their entire
extended family. When the ship stopped
in Key West the next day, Tamie’s dress
was waiting at a friend’s home, and the
couple married amid floral abundance at
the Crowne Plaza La Concha hotel. A
short reception followed at the hotel, but
continued until the next day back on
board the luxury liner.
Anna and Andy Stuart’s reception
at Mangoes restaurant on Duval Street
also lasted well into the evening, and
then continued as family and friends
headed back to homes and hotels to
continue toasting the couple—and their
stress-free, but memorable event. ❖
Photo by Rob O’Neal.
Photo by Milt Huffman-Lee.
Photo by Milt Huffman-Lee.
APRIL 2005 KEY WESTER 9