Tara and Nate’s Sunset Vista Beach Wedding

Nate is from Chicago, and Tara is from Gainesville, Florida. They met three years ago at a concert in St Petersburg’s Jannus Landing. Romance ensued, and when it came time for wedding plans, of course the St Petersburg, FL area was at the top of their list. In fact, Nate and Tara actually moved to St Petersburg just a few weeks before their wedding!
Tara had planned on it being just the two of them at their wedding. But, amidst the hustle and bustle of buying and remodeling a home, Nate somehow managed to plan a big wedding surprise for Tara: About thirty of their close friends and family members were in attendance at their beach wedding, none of whom Tara expected!

Tara’s grandparents, parents, and siblings were there, and her father was able to give her away – what a pleasant surprise! Nate even had the foresight to let Tara in on the big secret a couple of hours before the wedding, so she could get out those tears of joy before putting on her makeup! Good thinking, Nate!

Tara and Nate were married on the aptly named Sunset Vista Beach in Treasure Island, Florida. And it certainly lived up to its name – Nate and Tara enjoyed one of the prettiest beach sunsets we’ve seen in a while. And of course it didn’t hurt that Tara and Nate looked stunning themselves!

After the wedding, their guests headed to the Compass Grille Restaurant at the Sirata Beach Resort while Tara and Nate took advantage of the amazing sunset for their wedding pictures.

Tara and Nate – Thank you so much for making Simple Weddings a part of your sunset beach wedding! Congratulations – we wish you all the best. And since we’re practically neighbors, please keep us in mind for all of your photography needs!
Sincerely,


Jeff & Claire Copeland
Simple Weddings by Simple Treasures Photography
St Pete Beach & Treasure Island Wedding Ceremony and Photography Packages

You Found It!

Barbara & Paul's Sunset Beach Wedding

Barbara and Paul are from Cartersville, Georgia and are regular visitors to Florida, though their first visit to the Tampa Bay area was this past April. While they were here, they fell in love with our beautiful white sand beaches and decided to come back this month and have a Simple Wedding on Sunset Beach in Treasure Island.

It was just the two of them (and of course the two of us!), and their wedding ceremony was relaxed, intimate, and elegant. They each shared their own hand written wedding vows (which were tear-jerkers!) on the beach as the sun was setting. Afterwards, they grabbed a cooler and a couple of beach chairs from their car and set off for a romantic evening on beautiful Sunset Beach. It just doesn’t get any better than that!

Barbara and Paul – Thank you for making Simple Weddings are part of your beach wedding plans! We were honored to be a part of your special evening and wish you all the best. Here are a handful of our favorite pictures.

Enjoy the rest of your Florida vacation and have a safe trip home!

Sincerely,


Claire & Jeff Copeland
Simple Weddings by Simple Treasures Photography
St Pete Beach and Treasure Island FL Beach Weddings

The Snell Isle Gazebo: St Pete’s Best Kept Secret Wedding Venue!

This post is a little different in that it’s not about a particular wedding. Rather, it’s about a particular wedding venue. Nestled in the middle of a large, beautifully landscaped traffic circle across from the Vinoy Golf and Country Club in St Petersburg’s upscale Snell Isle neighborhood stands the Snell Isle Gazebo and Statuary. Believe it or not, this stunning gazebo, consisting of six ornate decorative concrete pillars topped by “a flourish of Italian wrought iron” and surrounded by a beautifully landscaped garden and statuary, has quite a storied history.

A September, 1980 article in St Petersburg's Evening Independent suggests the gazebo was originally gifted to the City of St Petersburg around 1915 by none other than Andrew Carnegie. Other reports suggest the gazebo was commissioned and placed on Snell Isle by infamous St Petersburg developer Percy C. Snell in 1925 (perhaps a more likely story).

The gazebo itself is reportedly “the only known duplicate of a historic Italian gazebo now in the possession of the University of Virginia”. I have been unable to confirm whether the original still exists on the UVA campus.

Whether the gazebo was originally intended for its current home on Snell Isle or for the City’s Mirror Lake Library was a source of some debate in the 1980’s. But sketchy records and anecdotal evidence suggested that the gazebo was originally placed on Snell Isle, then moved to the Mirror Lake Library during the Great Depression between 1931 and 1932. The Snell Isle advocates eventually won out, and the gazebo was returned to its original home on Snell Isle in 1989, as have many other objects de' art that once graced Snell Isle but had ended up in other areas of St Petersburg over the years, at the behest of the Snell Isle Property Owner's Association.

All is well that ends well, and the end result of this tumultuous history is a beautifully landscaped historic oasis in the heart of a beautiful neighborhood – the perfect venue for a St. Petersburg wedding!

Here's one final tip: The St Petersburg Woman's Club has a great reception venue in a historic building within walking distance of the Snell Isle Gazebo!

The Snell Isle Gazebo and Statuary is located at approximately 500 Snell Isle Blvd NE in St Petersburg, and can be reserved through the City of St Petersburg’s Parks Department for a small fee. Contact us for more information!


Jeff Copeland
Simple Weddings by Simple Treasures Photography
St Petersburg FL Beach and Outdoor Wedding Ceremony Packages

Christie and Chuck’s Pass-a-Grille Beach Wedding

In contrast of the “last minute” theme of our last two blog posts, we worked with Christie and Chuck for three to four months planning their beach wedding on Pass-a-Grille in St Pete Beach.

This made the torrential rainstorm that drenched the beach about two hours before their wedding all the more worrisome! But when we were just about ready to move the wedding inside, the weather cleared, and the rest of the evening ran like clockwork.

Christie and Chuck were married under our bamboo canopy with about sixty of their family members and closest friends in attendance, then strolled across the street to The Hurricane Restaurant for their wedding reception, where they ate, drank, and danced the night away in celebration of their marriage.

Christie and Chuck: Thanks for allowing us to be a part of your beach wedding plans. You have a wonderful family and a great group of friends, and we wish you all the best in this new chapter in your lives!

Sincerely,


Claire & Jeff Copeland
Simple Weddings by Simple Treasures Photography

St Pete Beach Wedding Ceremony and Photography Packages

Brian & Nadia'sTreasure Island Wedding

They say all records are made to be broken…and they’re usually right! Just a few weeks ago we were blogging about how spontaneous and romantic Dale and Beverly’s St Pete Beach Wedding, planned on just a couple days' notice, was.

Then along came Brian and Nadia – they called us on a Friday morning to see if we could marry them on…Friday evening! Of course we said “Sure, why not?”!

For the record, Brian and Nadia had been planning to get married on their trip to Florida for a few months, but the wedding officiant they had lined up ended up being unavailable at the last minute.

So we came to the rescue, and of course we’re glad we did! Brian and Nadia were married on Treasure Island’s aptly named Sunset Beach, and their beach wedding was Simple, Elegant, and Perfect (if we do say so ourselves)! These are a few of our favorite wedding pics.

Brian and Nadia: Thank you so much for making us a part of your Treasure Island Beach Wedding! We wish you all the best in the years to come!

Sincerely,

Jeff & Claire Copeland
Simple Weddings – St Pete Beach, FL Wedding Packages