When DH and I got engaged in 2012, it wasn't obvious where we were going to have a wedding. In part, this was because I wasn't super keen on a wedding, really. Have I mentioned I'm super introverted? Yup, I am, and spending 6 hours socializing with acquaintances makes me exhausted, not invigorated.  I threw out ideas like eloping in Africa, which--for the record--I still think is a genuinely great idea. But I didn't get very far. 

So where were we going to have a small, intimate wedding? A Washington DC wedding was not in the cards, so we were going to have to travel (keeping this blog-related, see?!)...

I'm from Wyoming and wasn't real wild about getting married there. I love the outdoors, but I'm not outdoorsy (no wildflowers in my hair, thanks).  I love horses, but I don't ride consistently anymore (traded one hobby for another, remember?).  A preppy wedding in Wyoming in a log cabin just seemed downright weird.  And while I love to ski, I wasn't really into the winter/cold/snow wedding thing. DH is from upstate New York, and that just wasn't really high on either of our wish lists. We talked about Ithaca, where we met, but the enthusiasm just wasn't there.

We both wholeheartedly agreed that we wanted to get married on the beach which meant we had to travel. And we wanted a laid-back wedding. Not totally casual, but relaxed. We wanted to get married at one of those places we really enjoy visiting, not because it's new and novel, but because we genuinely like it.  At a place that has sentimental value, even if its not "home".  And at a destination that we immediately both agreed on upon first mention.

For us, that was Sanibel Island.

I first started going to Sanibel Island when I was very little with my grandmother. Over the years, I've been back to the island numerous times.  And in the past 10 years, I think I've probably gone to Sanibel more than I've gone home to Wyoming. It's a place where we know our way around (though it's hard to get lost on a small island). It was also the first place that Jeff and I went on a trip together.

And so our wedding became a "sort-of" destination wedding.  Sure, it was a destination for some of our guests, but to us it was comfortable and familiar.   

Of course we'd never planned an event on Sanibel, so getting vendors together was much more like a true destination wedding: time consuming and sometimes frustrating.  But when we arrived, we knew where we wanted to eat, what we wanted to do, and were excited to share "our place" with friends and family who had never been before. With a sort-of destination wedding, you also avoid the annoyances of "home"...like running into people you don't really want to see. 

The wedding went off without a hitch, and it was the perfect place for us. Sure, a lot of our invitees couldn't make it, but I'm not sure if some of them would have come if it was 200 miles away instead of 1000.  And that's a-okay...part of the wedding experience, right?

Sanibel Island remains one of my favorite destinations, and we are headed back in December.  I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a home away from home, but it's definitely different than going on "vacation" to somewhere new.  It's somewhere we know, and somewhere we love. I can't wait to get back to the Mucky Duck to have a beer outside while watching the waves. Or run on the bike paths. Or go gawk at jewelry I can't afford at The Cedar Chest. Or try to find the ever elusive unbroken shell. Or do absolutely nothing at all.

All photos in this post are copyright released copies from our wonderful wedding photographer, Nick Adams (www.nickadamsphotography.com).