sarah & tristan | south tampa wedding photographer | palma ceia presbyterian ceremony and tampa yacht and country club reception

… insight from sarah …

what was your favorite moment, or favorite part, of your wedding day?
all of it! way too many moments to pick just one
is there anything you wish you had done differently when planning your wedding?
i wish i would have been more organized in keeping track of all the communication and payments with vendors. we didn’t have a wedding planner, just a day-of-coordinator, and sometimes i think a wedding planner would have helped in keeping everything in line. but in the end, everything was taken care of, payment discrepancies were resolved, and i’m proud to say that tristan and i planned the whole event ourselves.
which three vendors were most important to you when planning your wedding?
photographer, DJ, and venue!
what was your biggest wedding day savings? (and was it worth it?)
our biggest savings was having our day-of-coordinator print out all of our programs, name cards, table numbers, etc. she has a side printing business and she was able to design and print all of our stationary for 25% of what we would’ve paid on Etsy.
what was your biggest wedding day splurge? (and was it worth it?)
our biggest splurge was paying $$ to have a large tent taken down that was outside the yacht club. the tampa yacht & country club is such a beautiful venue, and we wanted the outside to all be open and viewable without the eye sore of a big white tent. it wasn’t cheap, but i am so glad we had it down for the wedding.
what was the best advice you received when planning your wedding? (and did you listen?)
the best advice we received was to find time to soak in everything, just husband and wife. we set aside about 20 minutes before the reception for us to go up to a special private room, eat hors d’oeuvres, drink champagne and just enjoy each other for a little without all of the distractions for the day.
was there a moment(s) during your wedding day that surprised you?
how quickly it went by! people will tell you that the day flies, but it really felt like i was in a wormhole or something. haha
when you look back on your wedding day in 50 years, what do you think you’ll remember most?
standing in the back of the church, arm-in-arm with my dad, waiting for the doors to swing open! i secretly wanted tristan to cry when he saw me, and boy did he ever! it was such a special moment.

… how it all came together …