Elegant Garden Wedding

I am utterly in love with this beautiful garden wedding captured by Merari Photography. The images are just stunning! And the florals are this perfect blend of romantic and unique. The best part though is how the couple chose to do custom lego mini-figures for their escort cards. It really goes to show that you can have a really elegant event, but still have fun and unexpected details that reflect your personalities.

When we began planning our wedding, we knew that it would be in Miami and that it would be in the Spring. After that, all I knew is that I wanted to have beautiful flowers and all Stuart kept saying was: romantic. We decided on location first: Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens– it is beautiful, lush and romantic. We knew that we wanted to keep everything soft and pretty and settled on blush and soft greens/aquas. Stuart had no idea that my dress was in blush, and we kept the secret the whole time! 

garden wedding invitation | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

my wedding vows | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

silver bow heels | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

lush tropical bouquet | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

blue bridesmaids | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

The first look was our absolute favorite part of the day. We were so hesitant about seeing each other before walking down the aisle but it was such a good choice and we have Merari to thank for that. We got to spend some much needed “alone” time together during the day and seeing each other as I walked down the aisle towards him was still incredibly special (we both cried!)

first look | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

ceremony arch | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

We wanted to make the wedding really feel like us and be welcoming to both sides of our family: my family is Cuban and his is British (English and Scottish). We also had a lot of guests coming in from Texas where his family lives now. We made sure that the food reflected both of our cultures but weren’t too strict on that theme. Mini-Beef Wellingtons and mini-ropa vieja on tostones were some of the examples. We really kept our family informed of all our decisions but tried to make all of the decisions between the two of us. Working things out that way resulted in both of us being very happy and our families being very happy for us. We also made sure the music reflected us. We had a string quartet and they played classical music for Stuart and I walked down the aisle to Queen’s Somebody to Love.

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

As we continued the planning process, we started to feel like maybe there wasn’t enough of “us” in what was beginning to shape into a very beautiful wedding. So we decided that, even though it was a lot of work, we were going to make customized lego place card holders for all of our 150 guests. Stuart loves Lego and I’ve really fallen in love with them too and we had so much fun customizing them to look like our friends. My favorites include the goth girl for my maid of honor and the pharoah and Cleopatra for some of our Egyptian friends.

lego escort cards | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

lego escort cards | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

lego escort cards | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

wood table number | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

floral cake | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

The day really was romantic and captured how much love we have for one another. 

elegant garden wedding | Merari Photography | Glamour & Grace

Photography | Merari Photography | Venue | Fairchild Tropical Gardens | Planner | JCG Events | Florist | Ines Naftali Floral & Event Design | Cake | Todo Dulces | Caterer | Mena Catering | Invitation | Wedding Paper Divas | Rentals | Hitched | Linens | Leyani Linens | Videography | Concept Lounge Creations | Dress | Allure Bridals from Merlili | Hair Comb | Jennifer Behr | Earrings | Jenny Packham | Shoes | Kate Spade | Suit | Suit Supply | Hair | Kevin Farias | Makeup | Jackiy Aviles | Musicians | Innocenti Strings | DJ | DJ Serge Ramirez | Transportation | Padrino Limousine