CASA MARINA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY BY TONYA BEAVER

Missy and Robert’s Wedding Day Photos

Love Story: 

How did you two meet?  

It all started with a “Swipe Right” on a dating app in the fall of 2016. Great conversation and excitement began until we realized Missy lived in Atlanta, GA and Robert lived in Pensacola, FL. While we have no clue how this happened, we are so incredibly happy it did. 

It wasn’t until June of 2018 that we finally met in person when Robert drove from Jacksonville, where he was living, to Orlando to visit Missy for the day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We had such a great time that day that we planned our next meeting “halfway” in Savannah, GA.

While unconventional, our relationship began long distance. We saw each other at least once a month, and were always very intentional about planning our next visit with each other whether it was in Atlanta, Jacksonville, or somewhere else.

In March of 2020, Missy drove down to Jacksonville to see Robert not realizing the pandemic would shut down the world. She ended up staying for several months in Jacksonville. We are so thankful for this time we had together as it gave us the opportunity to finally live in the same city. We once again returned to long distance when the school year resumed, and Missy went back to teaching her students in person.

In July of 2021, we officially closed the distance when Missy moved to Alexandria, VA to live with Robert due to his military relocation. Our time in Alexandria has been filled with so much joy and exploration of our new city.

How did he propose?  

In September 2022, Robert proposed to Missy during a beach weekend in Hilton Head, South Carolina. It was a perfect moment to start the next chapter of our love story.

Wedding planning: 

How did you decide on your color scheme, flowers, and cake?

While we currently live outside of Washington DC, we fell in love when Robert lived in Jacksonville. One of our favorite activities to do together in Jacksonville was to walk on the beach. We loved our venue Casa Marina because it allowed us to incorporate the beachy vibes into our wedding day without being covered in sand. The architecture and scenery of the venue is so beautiful that we wanted everything to look very natural, organic, and simplistic. We were so inspired by the ocean and sand dunes outside of the venue that we selected our color scheme to be dusty blue, white, and green.

We shared a few inspiration photos with our florist, Jacksonville Flower Market, but gave them free range to design the florals using flowers and greenery that were in season and fit the beachy scenery.  We continued the natural look with our white two tier cake decorated with florals. We threw in some flair with the four flavors of mini cupcakes. 

How did you decide on your invitations, and who did you use?  

Our invitations are from the Knot. We loved the combination of dusty blue and greenery that matched our desired color scheme. 

What was the most fun part of wedding planning? 

The best part of wedding planning was working together to create a vision for how we wanted our special day to look. We loved working with small local vendors in Jacksonville to bring this vision to life. 

Which part did you not like as much? 

The most challenging part of wedding planning was finding a beautiful venue that had availability in our desired time of year. We live over 700 miles away from our venue, so it was difficult at times to envision the flow of the day and what everything would look like. Our day turned out absolutely perfect despite these small stresses. 

What are the biggest pieces of advice you wish you would have known before the wedding day. 

Numerous people gave us the advice to soak up the day and truly live in the moment because it will fly by and be over before you know it. Their advice could not have been more accurate. 

Wedding Weekend Info:  

Hotel accommodations for guests: Jacksonville Beach Hotels & AirBnbs  

Welcome Party Location: Southern Swells Brewery  

https://www.southernswells.com/

Ceremony Location: Casa Marina
https://www.casamarinahotel.com/ 

Reception Location: Casa Marina 

https://www.casamarinahotel.com/

Caterer: Casa Marina 

https://www.casamarinahotel.com/

Wedding Coordinator: N/A 

Photographer: Tonya Beaver Photography

https://www.tonyabeaverphotography.com/

Videographer: N/A

Cake: Biscottis 

https://biscottis.net/

Florist:  Jacksonville Flower Market

Home

Officiate: Family Member- Jack Wilcox 

Hair: Meagan Hinton

https://loves-hair-by-meg.business.site/

Make-up: Hillary Scrogins (Ethereal Jax)  

https://www.etherealjax.com/

Entertainment: Full Circle DJs  

https://www.fullcircleweddingdjs.com/

Transportation: N/A

Wedding Dress: Maggie Sottero 

https://www.maggiesottero.com/

Wedding Shoes: Amazon   

https://www.amazon.com/

Bridesmaids Dresses: Azazie

https://www.azazie.com/

Groom and Groomsmen Wear: The Black Tux  

https://theblacktux.com/

Any other vendors who contributed that we need to mention? N/A

In your words, can you give a storyline of your wedding day?  

Missy and her bridesmaids had their hair and makeup done in the morning surrounded by mimosas, Mini Bar donuts, and Chick-Fil-A nuggets. Robert started his day with a run on the beach, brunch with close friends at Maple Street Biscuit, and drinks with his groomsman at Casa Marina’s rooftop bar. 

It was a beautiful ceremony surrounded by eighty of our closest friends and family members. Our guests enjoyed cocktail hour while we took photos. We shared our first dance as husband and wife during golden hour, followed by the father daughter dance and mother son dance. 

The remainder of the night was filled with delicious food and cake, great conversation, toasts from loved ones, and dancing under the stars! We wrapped up the evening with a private last dance and sparkler exit. 

What was the high point of your wedding day that you hope to remember forever? 

Our wedding day was so incredibly special to us because we were surrounded by friends and family who traveled from all over the country to celebrate the love we have for each other. It was a beautiful day filled with endless smiles, tears of happiness, laughter, and so much love.

Tonya Beaver Photography Studio Location: Jacksonville Beach, FL

318 First Ave N

Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250 

To view more Wedding Sessions, please visit:

https://www.tonyabeaverphotography.com/weddings

For more Wedding pricing, please visit:

https://www.tonyabeaverphotography.com/wedding

Hi, I’m Tonya, a Jacksonville Florida Photographer. I specialize in photographing weddings, families, and babies. I would love to hear all about your photography needs to see if we’re a right fit for each other. As a photographer, I get to capture the most exciting and life changing experiences in people’s lives. 

Not only in Jacksonville, but all over North Florida: Ponte Vedra, Amelia Island, St. Augustine, etc. 

I know there are quite a few photographers in Jacksonville so it can be overwhelming. But I invite you to check out my wedding, family, and newborn portfolio. Also, feel free to check out some of my reviews that my previous clients have given me. Jacksonville is one of the most beautiful areas for photographing engagements, weddings and family photos. From the beach, golf clubs, parks, downtown, gorgeous churches and so much more. I look forward to hearing from you and getting to know you more!

[email protected]

(904) 382-6354

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