New Anna Maria Island Wedding Guide...

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With destination weddings being such a growing trend on Anna Maria Island, it was only a matter of time before someone took up the task of producing an island wedding guide.

As the following news article originally posted to www.bradenton.com outlines, it was Holmes Beach photographer Jack Elka that elected to publish a wedding guide specifically for the island wedding trade.

Beach Weddings Prove Hot (on Anna Maria Island)

By ROBERTA C. NELSON
Simple cakes, dresses, flowers also popular.



A wedding blends traditions with trends unlike any other event under the sun.

At the center of every wedding are two people who love and commit to each other. But beyond the decision to marry are hundreds of other big and small decisions, from the location of the ceremony and reception to the variety of flowers in the bridal bouquet. A wedding should be unique, but not outlandish.

Trends are tracked by Web sites like www.theknot.com and wedding planners who present options to couples faced with a long list of decisions.

In Manatee and Sarasota counties, beach weddings are popular and destination weddings for out-of-state couples and their guests are a growing trend for our area. Beautiful winter weather helps, too.

The ongoing popularity of Anna Maria Island as a wedding destination led Holmes Beach photographer Jack Elka to publish a wedding guide specifically for the island wedding trade. Island merchants have become involved in sponsoring a Web site, www.amiweddings.com, to accompany the book.

"People come from all over the world to get married here," Elka said. "The bride might be from Chicago or Baltimore, and she would say they were getting married at the Sandbar (Restaurant) and needed a photographer. And then they also needed a place to stay, a wedding cake. I thought that after about an hour on the phone, wouldn't it be nice to refer them to a Web site or a guide book?"

Allison Williams Loveland and her husband, Matthew Loveland, live in St. Louis, but they wanted to get married in Florida where they had spent many vacations. About 50 of their friends and family came to Sarasota to celebrate the June event at the Holiday Inn on Lido Beach.

"I did everything myself," Allison Loveland said. "We had nine boxes with all the decorations shipped down to the hotel, and they held them. It was crazy."

To make planning a beach or island wedding more convenient, members of www.ami weddings.com are sponsoring a "wedding festival" on Feb. 10, 2008.

"People can come to the Anna Maria Chamber of Commerce at Marina Drive and Gulf Drive to pick up maps and guides," Elka said. "Then, there will be an open house at each wedding business on the island. Guests can use the free trolly on the island, and the limousine service that is in the group will chauffer people around, too."

The wedding trade group has approximately 35 members. For a free copy of the 2007 Wedding Guide, contact the Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce, 5313 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach, Fla. or call the chamber at (941) 778-1541. All businesses are members of the chamber.

New wedding trends... Weddings are a $25.3 billion industry, according to the www.hallmark.com, which tracks figures and trends for wedding celebrations. The average cost of a wedding is between $20,000 and $25,000, and a third of brides spend up to a year planning their wedding.

As budgets and planning time have increased, some aspects of a wedding have actually been simplified.
Receptions have changed from the traditional sit-down dinner to food stations with random seating. Sometimes high tables with no chairs are included, encouraging people to mix and mingle during the reception.

"We do a lot of cocktail party-type of receptions," said Mary Knealy, owner of Stellar Event Management Group. "Speciality drinks are very big - such as mojitos. Sometimes a specialty drink is passed (on a tray), with a beer and wine bar. That can cut back on the beverage bill for the reception."

Stations, where guests visit small areas around the dining room where roasted meats are carved or omelets assembled, are popular.

"I see a lot of station weddings, where that in itself is a new approach," said Pam Eustace, catering sales manager at the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort On Longboat Key.

"Things are lighter, with fewer sauces," Eustace said. "There is more of an almost grazing attitude, with more variety. Fish is very, very in. Seafood is almost always served for the hors d'oeuvres, like ahi tuna hors d'oeuvres, which are on our (regular) menu."

Cakes simpler, too

Dresses are simpler, flowers are simpler, cakes are simpler, she said. Cakes today are mostly stacked, not tiered, and are not nearly as ornate.

"I used to see those god-awful fountain cakes, with staircases up the sides, with the same exact dresses as the girls, with colored water spewing all over the place," Eustace said. "Mercifully, I never see those any more."
Cakes tend toward the whimsical, like a stack of gifts, or a cake with seashells made of icing, she said.

Bobbi Richman, director of catering and banquets at University Park Country Club, said she sees a lot of "groom's cakes." A groom's cake, a tradition that started in the South but has gained popularity in other regions, was originally a fruitcake. Today, a groom's cake is often chocolate with chocolate icing, paying tribute to the original dark fruitcake.

"Cakes are real focal points," Richman said. The cake, and how it is presented and the ease with which it is cut, cannot be underestimated, Richman said. She often recommends Beautiful Cakes by Ron in Sarasota to her clients.
"Cakes are bigger, better, brighter and fancier," said Nathan Zammit, who bakes for his father, owner of Beautiful Cakes by Ron. "Sugared fruit is a thing of the past."

White-on-white cakes are still popular, with white sugar shells being a favorite motif. "Crooked cakes" are a whimsical touch for a wedding, where cake layers are off-set on top of one another. Beautiful Cakes by Ron also specializes in a "cupcake tree" from which guests can pluck individual servings.

"The cupcake tree looks like a tiered wedding cake," Zammit said. "Usually at the top is a 5- or 6-inch cake for the bride and groom to take home."

On gowns and partying

Bridal gowns, especially for beach weddings, often have simple lines and are strapless. "Dress styles have really changed a lot, especially for beach weddings, with gowns that have a mermaid-style or are form-fitting," said DeNette Adix, owner of DeNette's Bridal Expressions on Cortez Road. "This year, we are seeing a lot of draping. Taffeta is very popular."

More brides are again choosing to have church weddings, Adix said. But, if the couple is not married in a house of worship, the No. 1 choice is to have the wedding ceremony and the reception in the same place, Richman said.
"The bottom line for all of them, and always has been, they want a really good party," Eustace said. "Whether they are 22 or 32, whether the parents are paying, or they are both career people and are paying for the wedding themselves, that part I don't think has changed at all."

Roberta C. Nelson, staff writer, can be reached at 748-0411, ext 2121.