Sharing My Favorite Wedding Photos
Brett and I were married in September 2024 at one of our favorite spots in Tampa, Oxford Exchange. In an already beautiful venue, months of planning and coordinating came together into a magical evening that went smoothly and was full of love, fun, and great food. Since we got our wedding photos back recently, I wanted to share a handful of my favorite shots. Our photographer, Ailyn La Torre, was fantastic to work with, knew the venue well, and really captured the whole event perfectly. I’ll share the details of our vendors and team below for anyone in Tampa looking to plan a wedding soon!
Table of Contents:
Wedding Details
Venue, Decor, Flowers, and Favors
We had about 80 people at the wedding, and it was great seeing so many of our loved ones in one spot! Between a big welcome party the night before (in lieu of a traditional rehearsal dinner) and the wedding itself, I feel like we actually got to chat with more people than I had expected to. A big win for this introverted couple!
As I said, Oxford Exchange is gorgeous on its own, so we really didn’t have to do much in the way of decorating beyond flowers. We featured our cats in the few decorations we did bring in — cat cocktail napkins and stirrers, as well as cat bar menus — and those were a huge hit. I have a blog post about how we made these cat themed details here.
Beyond that, I used Minted to create menus for each table setting and for the big seating charts. This is the exact style menu I used and this is the exact style seating chart I used. We also had custom bookmarks made up by Oxford Exchange as favors, since their restaurant gives out bookmarks regularly. Our other wedding favors were custom golf balls that Brett designed, which were popular with golfers and non-golfers alike!
For flowers, we worked with Flora Fine Flowers. They created gorgeous bouquets for me and the bridesmaids, smaller bouquets for our moms and my sisters, and boutonnieres for the guys, along with the staging flowers throughout the venue. Everything turned out beautifully and only amplified the space. I sent my bouquet to be preserved by Rejoice and Blossom and can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Food & Cake
Food for our wedding was handled by Oxford Exchange, and they let us customize our choices as much as we wanted. We had a guacamole bar (which I missed, but heard was good) and a handful of smaller passed appetizers (which I did get, and greatly enjoyed), including a whipped burrata crostini that I randomly crave now. For dinner, we opted for a combination entree of sea bass and steak, which seemed pretty popular amongst our guests. This was paired with truffle mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach — two of my favorites!
Our cake and desserts were made by Hands On Sweets. Our cake was a mix of flavors; the bottom tier was cinnamon cake with buttercream frosting while the top two tiers were vanilla cake with cookies and cream frosting. Besides this, there was a whole array of mini desserts that were gone before Brett and I had a chance to try them. Luckily, our wedding coordinator at Oxford Exchange saved us a few — the macarons were particularly good — and we had leftover wedding cake for at least a week following the big day!
Dress & Suit
Brett, his groomsmen, and my dad wore navy suits from The Black Tux. Brett ordered his a size up and had it tailored at Nordstrom to his specifications, so he kept his. The suits looked great and arrived without complications. We paired them with Black Watch tartan ties from Locharron of Scotland, which matched the ribbon on my bouquet.
My bridesmaids and flower girl wore Birdy Grey dresses in emerald chiffon. I picked the color and fabric and they picked the styles they wanted. Funnily enough, each of them picked the dress style I had thought they would!
I had wanted my dress since I found it on Pinterest in 2021. It is the Sweetness gown by Monique Lhuillier, made with a cream Lily of the Valley print. I never thought I’d be able to get it, but The Collection Bridal in Winter Park had the dress in white for me to try and were able to order it in the printed fabric. The white was pretty, but the Lily of the Valley print was what made it so special to me. I loved how unique it was — and, of course, that it featured green!
To go with the dress, I had a custom tiara headband made by Maria Elena Headpieces & Accessories, via Isabel O’Neil Bridal here in Tampa. At the store, they helped me pick out the styles I wanted and sent customization instructions to the jeweler. I went with the Reverie headpiece in gold as well as the Cordelia earrings, also in gold. They made a special necklace out of the earring pendant, as well, to match.
For shoes, I chose Sarah Flint’s Perfect Block Sandal 60 in Gold Nappa, a neutral almost-platinum sandal that suited the color of my dress perfectly. I later changed into a pair of Lily of the Valley printed Jack Rogers I had saved for the occasion (I wore them for our engagement photos here).
Vendors List:
- Venue: Oxford Exchange (read my full post on it here) – we used their day-of coordinating service and I cannot recommend it enough – Kathi was the best!!
- Photographer: Ailyn La Torre
- Food: Oxford Exchange
- Cake: Hands on Sweets
- Flowers: Flora Fine Flowers
- My Dress: Monique Lhuillier via The Collection Bridal in Winter Park
- Wedding Jewelry: Maria Elena via Isabel O’Neil Bridal in Tampa
- Brett & My Rings: Chupi
- Shoes: Sarah Flint & Jack Rogers
- Bridesmaids Dresses: Birdy Gray (more on green bridesmaids dresses here)
- Suits: The Black Tux
- Tartan Ties: Locharron of Scotland
- Hair: Kim Trespalacios (mine) & Jessica Faith
- Makeup: Jessica Faith
- Music: Grant Hemond & Associates (here’s my inspiration playlist!)
- Invitations: Piper & Co.
- Menus & Seating Charts: Minted (Empire Collection)
- Pet Portraits: Sarah Paints Pets (more on these here)
Looking for more wedding inspiration?
Click here for my wedding planning library!
The food sounded delicious, the decor was so well designed and perfect for the space, your dress was absolutely beautiful, and the suit/tie pairing was on point! Beautiful pictures, kudos to the photographer!
Thank you so much!! Everything came together perfectly — even better than I had hoped! I am so glad we found our photographer — she knew the space so well and her style was just what we wanted! Thank you, again!