Hi - I have only posted a few times, but seeing as there is not a lot of info on Naples/Marco Island locations on here I wanted to share my experience a bit. My H and I were married Saturday, March 31 at 9:30 a.m. with a brunch buffet reception following.
Venue/food: Marco Beach Ocean Resort A+
The location was perfect. I looked at MBOR, the Marco Hilton, Naples Beach & Golf Club, and La Playa in Naples and this was the only place that didn't stick you in a stuffy ballroom or around the pool for the reception. If you have fewer than 100 guests, you are put out on the Sale e Pepe terrace, with a wonderful view of the gulf. The tables are all under cover so we didn't bake in the sun.
Corrin, the wedding coordinator, was wonderful and checked in on me periodically every few months (we booked 13 months in advance) and was very responsive with my questions.
My dad walking me down the aisle from the boardwalk to the beach:
View of the water from the terrace:
The food was fantastic - and they even had a staff member walk through line with me in my dress and plate my food for me. We brought our own toasting flutes (H's grandmother gave them to him, and she was unable to travel for the wedding) and they were already waiting at our sweetheart table with champagne. We took their basic brunch menu, removed the lunch-y items they had, and added in some of the "upgrades" they offered, and they still charged us the same per person price as if we had used the original menu.
Cake(s): Sassy Cakes (cupcakes) - A+ / Mikkelsen's Pastry Shop (rehearsal dinner groom's cake) - A+
I've enjoyed Sassy Cakes since before we got engaged. Since we had a morning wedding, we went with fruity flavors: key lime pie, strawberry blonde, banana pudding, and blue velvet (because red velvet would have clashed with my colors). We also had a dozen gluten free chocolate for my MOH with a gluten intolerance, and they were kept separate in their own box so she could have first dibs on them. They tasted fantastic, and they display they set up was simple but looked great.
Us with the cupcake display:
My mom and I surprised H with a groom's cake from Mikkelsen's in Bonita Springs - it was a grand marnier cake with strawberry mousse filling in the shape of a mahi (fish - he loves fishing). It tasted amazing, and looked great - people even commented on how they usually hate fondant but really liked it on this cake. The pastry shop was great to work with, especially with me coming in for the tasting and my mom handing everything else over the phone.
Alterations - For the Bride in Ft. Myers - A
I did have trouble finding a local alterations place since I bought my dress in Cincinnati, where my parents live; most dress shops down here will not do alterations on a dress that did not come from their store during tourist season (Oct. - April). They did a great job and were friendly, but because I didn't get my dress there it took over three months to do two fittings and pick the dress up.
Officiant: Rev. Eddie Bellis from Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church (Naples) - A+
We are members of VPC, where Rev. Bellis is the associate pastor. We got to know him during our three meetings with him before the wedding, and he delivered a wonderful homily during the service. In fact, we had a few people come up to us afterward and tell us what a wonderful service we had, and that they really enjoyed the message of the homily.
During the ceremony:
Florist: Marco Island Florist - B+ / Fiftyflowers.com - B+
Marco Island Florist wasn't too bad to work with, but I did meet with them in July and hadn't heard back from them by October with an actual contract/prices/flower descriptions. However, they did deliver the flowers on time and they looked wonderful. We also rented their bamboo arch, which was decorated very nicely. They seemed really overpriced for centerpieces, which is why I used fiftyflowers.com for that part.
My flowers from fiftyflowers.com (60 white football mums) arrived on time and in mostly good condition - a few had the netting come off of the blooms during shipping and some of the petals were a little shrively. Also, when my mom started cutting the stems for centerpieces, she only counted 57, including the shrively ones and one where the bulb just fell off the stem. I haven't contacted them to resolve that yet, and probably won't, but I probably should have counted as soon as they got in. Good thing I only needed 54 flowers in the end and not the 60 I had originally planned on...
Photographer: Doreen Kline - A++
Doreen was great to work with. We hired her for our rehearsal dinner the night before too, for two hours that night and five hours the morning of the wedding. It was supposed to be just her per our contract, but she brought a second photographer at no extra charge. They showed us a few pictures after they took them and they were very good at setting up shots, especially her assistant Steffy. We should get blogged in the next few days, have a short video slideshow on her website soon too, and she said usually it only takes a few weeks for her to get all the digital images on DVDs to us (the photo books we ordered will probably take longer). She has done many weddings at the MBOR, so I let her take the reins on where to take pictures. When they got to my room in the morning, they got right to work taking pictures of the dress, the rings, etc.
Music: Seaside Strings - A+
We loved the idea of a string quartet, and Seaside Strings had worked at the MBOR many times before which was helpful. My H and I are not really traditional wedding music people, so we were pleased to find they had an extensive pops collection. For the processional, they played Morning Has Broken for mothers and the wedding party entrance; the Star Wars Theme for our ring bearers and FG (the RBs - our nephews - are HUGE SWs fans - so they timed it out to make that work for us); Annie's Song for my entrance; The Lord's Prayer during our ring warming (we didn't practice this with them and the timing was perfect); and All You Need is Love for the recessional. They played a bunch of pops songs we picked out for reception. They were easy to work with and they sounded wonderful.
I think that is it for vendors! (I did my own makeup and hair - hair ideas were from pinterest.com and eventually I settled on a style from oh so pretty! the diaries).
Please let me know if you have any questions or want contact info for any of these vendors.