Samantha+Andrew …. destination wedding in Clearwater Beach, FL

excerpt written by Claire Liza, Managing Editor of Bridal Musings 

While many stylists would advise a bride to pick her dress according to her venue or wedding destination, we all know what’s often the truth – “The wand chooses the wizard Harry!” Oops! We mean the dress chooses the bride, of course! And that is absolutely the case in this graceful beach wedding.

Andrew and I met at our part-time college job. We both attended Florida State University and worked at the local Jimmy John’s making sandwiches. Andrew had been working there for about two years and I was new to the shop. After about two months of working together, I asked Andy if he wanted to cover my Friday night shift or join me at a party. He attended the party. A month after adopting our puppy Finn, we decided to take him to our favorite farmer’s market in Hyde Park, Tampa. After walking around for a little while, we headed back to the car. I sat down and Andrew pulled the box out of his pocket. I responded with “Yea, duh!” Finn then tried to eat the ring. We kept it intimate and then surprised our families by Facetiming them all!

Bride Samantha entered a bridal salon on a whim while visiting her mother, totally unprepared to meet her dream gown that day. And as it goes in life, she walked out head-over-heels for a simple and classic Carolina Herrera wedding dress totally apart from anything she had ever imagined.

“I went to visit my mom in New York and we randomly stopped in a wedding dress shop to kill some time. My wedding was still over a year away, but we thought it would be fun to try some dresses on. I always envisioned myself in a straight lace dress. I tried a couple of them on and none gave me that “wow” feeling. One of the last dresses I tried on was completely different from the rest, but the moment I saw myself in it, I teared up. My mom even knew it was the one. I panicked because I couldn’t believe I found my wedding dress in the first store we went to, so we ran to three other stores that day, before realizing there was no beating that dress. I loved how elegant it was and adding the cathedral veil tied it all together. The dress even had pockets which was a fun touch!”

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