**~~** vizsla **~~**

[Mandarine]

Hi Vizsla!

Thank you for all your suggestions in my other post!!! I really appreciate them!!!

I hope you don''t mind me asking some questions!

My FI is loving the Sanibel idea...so I wanted to know if you had any information you could send me?. I''ve only been able to find information on the big resorts, but some of those are really expensive (beautiful, but expensive!).

I have many, many questions! How did you find the house where you are having your wedding? Do you have pictures you can share?. Do you have any other suggestions for locations?. I know you mentioned that the fall was cheaper...I just don''t know if I can pull this off by the Fall and I don''t wnat to wait until Fall of 2008!. Would February be too late to get some good prices?.

Anyway...any info you can provide will be greatly appreciated!!!!!!

TIA!

M~

 

[vizsla]

sorry.. i didn't see that you posted until today..
p.s. sanibel is awesome!

 

[vizsla]

i''m leery about posting too much personal information on the forum, but i can definitely give you some of the more general info.

if you are unfamiliar with the area... sanibel and captiva are extremely relaxed and laid back. they don''t have street lights, fast food restaurants, or the hustle and bustle of fort myers. travel channel rated sanibel/captiva one of the top beaches in florida. it has white sandy beaches and tons of shells. shelling is not only a favorite activity on the islands, it''s an obsession for most. my FI and i will be on the beach at night, listening to the ocean and you''ll just see bobbing lights up and down the beach (these people wear flashlights on their heads to look for shells at night!)

there are plenty of outdoor activities for people to do while they are visiting; kayaking thru the nature preserve, fishing, tons of golfing.. and my favorite.. relaxing!

there are a several very reputable rental companies that will let you host a reception at one of their rental properties. we chose captiva island over sanibel because on sanibel you must rent a house for a month, whereas captiva is weekly. that is not to say you can''t have a reception at.... say.... the sundial (condo community on sanibel) -- but we preferred to rent a house that would host us and our wedding party and family.

this was my first choice for a wedding/reception location, but it was booked.. it''s a little pricey, but when you figure that it is your "hotel" for the week, your ceremony and reception site it doesn''t seem so scary... also, if you have the guests who are staying at the house chip in for the week...... located right on the beach
http://captiva-island.com/amrc/tenderly.htm

these are the websites i used to find our house... then it was just a matter of calling and verifying that we could have a small reception at the house. ours charged us a slightly higher cleaning fee and fee for emptying out the septic tank (gross i know).

http://www.captiva-island.com/amrc/amrc.htm
http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/florida/central-gulf-coast
http://www.royalshell.com/

i know some of the properties will also do partial week rentals if you are renting "off season" which is basically hurricane season high season is november - april.

since i''m from the frozen north, i''m not too familiar with other areas of florida, but i have heard that the beachhouse in naples? is a popular choice for brides.

as far as the rest of our expenses...we are getting our flowers from proflowers.com (they deliver 2 days before your wedding) you can check out their website to see packages. and using a local rental company for our tables, chairs, bar etc. and a local caterer. and we are buying our alcohol from total wine and more. cake from publix. lemme know if there is anything else i can help you with.

 

[Mandarine]

Thank you!!!

This is all great info!.

I always heard that the "nightmare" about renting a private property for a wedding was the liability and insurance costs. Is this true?

Are Captiva and Sanibel pretty close together?. I have never been there. I know there is one catholic church there and I would love to have the actual ceremony at a church if possible...I couldn''t find new pictures of the church though, since it was renovated after being destroyed by one of the hurricanes...

Is there a limit to the time you can have the reception? (music, vendors, etc?)

Also, are you doing anything about bathrooms?. Or are there enough in the house to have at least two restrooms available (women/men)?

Thank you again!!!!!

M~

 

[vizsla]

hmmm... ignorance on my part may be bliss - i haven''t heard anything about liability and/or insurance or any nightmare stories.... i spoke with the owner directly and he knows what we are planning...he never mentioned anything.... we''re not having a very big reception 60 ppl max. with a majority of the party outside around the pool. i do have a "insurance agent" friend that i could ask... but what i don''t know is probably better than being stressed about things that are out of my control.

we are having an ipod dj.... and renting av equipment. during turtle hatching season you have to turn your lights out if you are on the beach by 9:00, but we are on the bay side so that is not an issue.. there is an noise ordinance that starts at 11:00 on captiva.. but we are starting the pre-cocktail hour at 4:00 - so that will be enough time.

the house has 5 bathrooms, and they are emptying the septic tank before we rent it. we''re not concerned with additional facilities. most houses are very big... ours sleeps 12 --- there is even a house that sleeps 21! (but it''s 17K for the week!)

in speaking with my caterer he has catered many large private parties on captiva, i''m trusting him with a lot of the food details - it''s more of a casual cocktail party with food and some music.... we''re not planning any chicken dances etc. just a chill time with our friends and family!

sanibel and captiva islands are very close to one another... and actually you could consider them the same stretch of land.... with captiva being slightly more laid back than sanibel...

there is one church on sanibel called chapel by the sea that is non-enominational... and the catholic church on sanibel is st. isabel http://members.aol.com/stisabelchurch1/Home.htm
since neither my FI or i are very religious we are having an officiate marry us on the beach

hmmm i think i answered all of your questions.. keep em coming!

 

[Mandarine]

Thank you again!!!

We are expecting also about 50. If I do it here (locally) it would be more like 70...but I know that number will drop to about 50 if it''s not here (which is good! hehe).

Ok, I can''t think of any more questions right now. I gotta say, you''re brave!. It''s much harder to do it this way than to just have it at a resort. I looked at some fo the resorts and the prices are not that bad...but not that great either!.

I sent your message to FI to see what he thinks also. I''m sure we''ll have a lot more questions if we decide to go this way!!!.

I''m still looking at resorts, hotels....so any suggestions on that are also welcome!!

Thanks

M~

 

[vizsla]

our budget was very tight and we knew we wanted to get married on the beach... but also didn''t want to have to make our guests travel tooooo far or worry about passport regulations etc. and since FI parents have a place on sanibel and my family vacations in fort myers it was a no-brainer. this was the only way we could afford to have our beach wedding.

some of my resort suggestions are:

www.tween-waters.com - tween waters (in between sanibel and captiva)
www.sundialresort.com - sanibel
www.southseas.com - very tip of captiva absolutely beautiful .. but expensive
http://captivaislandinn.com - hosts weddings - can also caterer to private residence
http://www.sanibel-resort.com - this is actually located in ft myers just before you go over the causeway - however you could have your reception on their yacht!
for other yacht receptions www.newmoonsailing.com - or - http://www.captivacruises.com/priv_charters.html
also very popular with brides http://www.casaybelresort.com/ -sanibel

the west coast florida knot board has a lot of sanibel captiva brides .. if you are looking for even more info!

happy planning.. i''ll check back to see if you have any more questions...

also... i talked to my FI about the insurance.. he seems to think that since his parents rent out their property as well, that their insurance covers any damages that might occur on the property. he''s double checking our rental agreement. but that there is special homeowners insurance for people who rent out their homes. he also told me "don''t worry.. no ones going to jump off the balcony into the pool" famous last words

 

[basil]

Date: 3/14/2007 11:58:06 AM
Author: vizsla

http://www.sanibel-resort.com - this is actually located in ft myers just before you go over the causeway - however you could have your reception on their yacht!

My grandparents own a condo on this property (it is a hotel but also condos), and so that''s where we stay when we visit. It''s beautiful!! They have a lot of scenic nature walk-type things - we took a family pic there some years ago and there were lots of pretty locations. The beach is not the absolute greatest, in my opinion, but it''s nice. It would definitely be a more hotel-y kind of reception than a beach wedding, I think. The restaurants there are good, too, so I''m sure the food would be good. I don''t know if you''re interested at all, but I thought I''d chip in with my limited information