Miami couple Chris and Emily are a laid-back, Key West loving, Hemingway fan type of couple that wanted to give their family and friends a reason to dress up and celebrate in style. The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum checked all the boxes, and so did the clean, classic and timeless images from Merari PHotography . We're sharing those lovelies with you today, along with the sweetest of stories - as told by the groom!
Chris, a high school English teacher, and Emily, currently studying for the MCAT, met and became friends in high school. When Emily left to study abroad in college, Chris realized that he missed her too much to remain just friends; when she returned home, he made his move and they began dating. A few years later, Chris popped the question during the fireworks show at Disney World... and she said YES, of course!
“What I most admire in Emily is her selflessness. She is fulfilled by helping others, literally a walking fairy-tale. I don't know what's more mathematically improbable, that someone like her should exist, or that she should choose me.”
As Chris tells us, some of their favorite moments and memories happened before they walked down the aisle: "We both woke up before anyone else (usually we're the last to wake up) and started texting each other. I wrote the majority of my vows before breakfast (I had made a general outline months earlier). We both felt incredibly anxious until the reveal, then everything just felt right."
We took our entire wedding party on a Key West-wide photo shoot via trolley, a seemingly hectic feat, but we honestly didn't feel stressed at all, it was a great time. Emily was the first to laugh when a bird pooped on her at Higgs Beach. This peaceful easy feeling was due in large part to our photographer and videographer: Merari and Quincy. They only got tense at the thought of taking our picture in front of the Southernmost point. They were determined to shove everyone out of the way for us, but when the crowd saw Emily in her wedding dress they parted reverently before us. There must be a hundred tourists with Emily mingled in their vacation photos; I can't say I blame them.
I just loved this couple's classic and elegant attire - such a perfect Key West contrast! Emily's mantilla-style veil was a nod to their Hispanic heritage, and Chris's grape soda pin boutonniere was an homage to UP, their favorite love story.
Emily and Chris have each vacationed in Key West many times with their families, making the area special to them both and the perfect choice for their wedding celebration. They loved the aesthetics of The Hemingway Home - the wrap-around porch, lush vegetation, and the lighthouse view - and as a bonus, Hemingway is their favorite author. It was also important to them to keep everyone together, and have the day's events all in one place.
The couple wanted their wedding to be intimate, elegant and simple, with a ceremony that didn't "feel like a ceremony, just a special moment we wanted to share with the people important to us." Their officiant, Juan Gonzalez, who has known Emily's father and Chris's mother since before the couple was born, gave a beautiful benediction before the two shared the personal vows they wrote for each other.
Their invitations, paper goods and decor were inspired by the 1920's Art Deco style, with every piece of mercury glass on the tables hand picked by Emily's mother, America. Says Chris, "We joked afterward that we had enough pieces to make our own wedding rental company." (Crazier things have happened, y'all!)
Looks like they achieved all their goals, don't you think? Congratulations, guys!
