A Casual Garden Wedding at WaterColor Inn and Resort in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

About seven years after Ashley Martin (28 and an art director) added Tyler Heckman (28 and an animator) as a friend on Facebook, he popped the question in her favorite spot: the beach. “The beach is a very special location to us. It is where we spend all of our weekends in the summer and my family has a house down in Florida.” says Ashley. Within a year, the couple planned a blush, white and green beach-inspired garden wedding in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. “Our theme started with the idea of ‘beach chic’ and the idea of getting married in a town called Watercolor,” says Ashley. “We loved the simple palettes of the sunset in Florida, so we pulled from the light pastels as well as added in succulents (our favorite plant) and driftwood from the beach.” Their outdoor ceremony at the WaterColor Inn and Resort was lined with driftwood, and breakaway vases filled with pink roses, greenery, white hydrangeas, pink lavender and white ranunculus stood atop gold urns and painted logs at the entrance. After Ashley and Tyler said “I do” under a colorful banner-draped arch, the celebration moved closer to the resort for an outdoor cocktail hour complete with a raw bar, barbecue appetizers and the couple’s favorite Montauk “Endless Summer” cocktails. Inside, white-linen-covered round and family-style tables were paired with black chiavari chairs, gold chargers, lush greenery, and driftwood-accented centerpieces, as well as a large gold geometric structure covered in cascading pink roses. After all were treated to a buffet dinner and three-tier watercolor-embellished wedding cake, Ashley and Tyler spent the rest of the night on the dance floor with their 100 friends and family members. For future couples, Ashley shares: “You can never control everything. I learned that early on, but in the end it doesn't matter. You will still remember it as the most amazing weekend of your life.”