Anna Maria Island Bride Needs Help!

Liz4aker

Hi everyone, this is my first time posting here on the knot

My FI and I just set the date to get married at the Sandbar Restaurant on AMI December 10, 2011. My gpa lives on the island and I have been coming to the island for 25 years so I know the island pretty well. My problem is that I live in Jacksonville and all of my family lives in Ohio so all planning is on me.

Everyone has been giving me vendor lists but I have no idea who is good. Has anyone gotten married lately and have suggestions for DJ, florists, wedding coordinator, etc?

Also has anyone had success with hotels giving a block discount? We are having between 75-100 people all coming from out of town and so far the hotels aren't working with me.

mpgator

Hi! I live in NYC and am also planning my wedding from afar. (My fiance's family is all coming from Ohio too!). If I were you, I would focus on getting your photographer first. All the good ones book up pretty quickly! We are going with Alicia from Pure Emotions (http://www.pureemotionsphotography.com/) Her packages come with two photographers, you get all the rights to your pics, she only does 2 weddings max a month, and she edits each picture individually- all of which were important to us. Jason Angolini is really popular on this webiste too.

As far as hotels go, another bride told me not to stress too much about them because most people are going to look up and book off of expedia anyway. We are having our wedding at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay and so of course doing our room block with them.. I have heard of people doing room blocks at the Double Tree on Rocky Point Drive, but I'm not sure how far that is from your venue.

As far as other vendors go, you can search this board for recs or just post and everyone here is pretty responsive and helpful.

Good luck!!

teachermegs

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_florida-west-coast_anna-maria-island-bride-needs?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:62Discussion:6b8425d3-e85c-40d7-8585-622c5c9d7ea2Post:9991875f-149a-48a6-9187-5c8e1db39c7e">Anna Maria Island Bride Needs Help!</a>:
[QUOTE]Hi everyone, this is my first time posting here on the knot :) My FI and I just set the date to get married at the Sandbar Restaurant on AMI December 10, 2011. My gpa lives on the island and I have been coming to the island for 25 years so I know the island pretty well. My problem is that I live in Jacksonville and all of my family lives in Ohio so all planning is on me. Everyone has been giving me vendor lists but I have no idea who is good. Has anyone gotten married lately and have suggestions for DJ, florists, wedding coordinator, etc? Also has anyone had success with hotels giving a block discount? We are having between 75-100 people all coming from out of town and so far the hotels aren't working with me.
Posted by Liz4aker[/QUOTE]

I sent you a pm

mbathey

I am also having my wedding at Sandbar (this march).   I can tell you what I have choosen so far:

Dara Caudill- Photography
Chuck Caudill- DJ/Live music 

They are a married couple, and come recommended by sandbar.  I wanted some live guitar music during cocktail hour and Chuck does that, then he will dj the rest of the night.  I met Dara when i visited from Boston in Aug, she seems nice, and not pushy (which i like!!!) 

I am using Saraosta FLower GIrls for Flowers--- so far ok....sometimes take a while to email back and forth but ive been happy with their proposal so far. 


We had a hard time with wedding block.  I LOVED the marriot on the river, but they would not do a wedding block for me since it was in March which is high season.  They could only give me a TENTATIVE wedding rate, which could fluctuate.  We ended up going with HOliday Inn express, which was reasonable, close to our church (which is in bradenton) and is relatively new.  At first i wasn't sure i wanted to spend my wedding night at the holiday inn, but its actually a nice hotel and i wanted to be with my guests.  Ed from holiday inn was nice and easy to deal with, and set aside a wedding block.  Once we hit 20 rooms, he will add more.  And it inclucdes free breakfast.  Since we are getting married in March, plane tickets are $$$$ so im trying to save my guests money wherever I can!!

Good luck!!

aspenorange

Welcome aboard!  I'm actually planning our wedding on the island too for Nov 2011.  I'm up in RI and our families are all over the Northeast!  Anyway, I'm pretty far along now and I just wanted to share some insight.  I also, thought planning this out by myself and being so far away would be a daunting task. However from my experience so far, everyone in this area is used to dealing with destination weddings and are more than happy to discuss things via email or phone or make recommendations for other vendors.  TheKnot was also a big help for me, reading reviews.  I'm actually booked with the sister restaurant The BeachHouse, but most of my vendors are from the Tampa area.  I'm using Phillip Lloyd for photography, Rob Sword for the DJ, and Weddings by Christina as the officiant.  I've actually met Phillip and Rob and they were great to talk to and also have great reviews.  I was having the guests stay at the Silver Surf Resort (a couple miles south of the Sandbar) and they will block 10 rooms at a time and once you fill that set you can block another 10.  They were real nice and accommodating.  I visited and the rooms were modest and clean.  We'll actually be staying the next building over, Tortuga Inn.  You would know better, but guests could probably ride the free trolley from the reception to the Silver Surf, which would prevent driving after a party and getting lost     GOOD LUCK with your decisions!  Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.  It'll all work out in the end.