The Vinoy has been hosting weddings in St. Petersburg for a century, and it is one of the few venues in Tampa Bay where a film can be shot almost entirely indoors without losing anything. Labif Filmhouse has filmed there, and that is a genuinely unusual thing to be able to say about a Florida venue.
The Vinoy opened on New Year's Eve in 1925 — 375 rooms, built in just under ten months. Its Grand Ballroom, opened the same night, carries 20-foot ceilings, arched windows and a Dale Chihuly chandelier. Outside, the waterfront lawn looks across Tampa Bay to the St. Petersburg skyline.
How it actually films
The arched windows are the reason the ballroom works on camera. Twenty-foot ceilings with tall glass give you soft daylight falling from above rather than the flat overhead light most ballrooms force you into. That means a ceremony inside the Grand Ballroom does not have to look like an indoor compromise.
The waterfront lawn is the counterweight — open sky, the bay, and the city behind it. Between the two, The Vinoy covers both halves of a wedding film without ever leaving the property, which is why it holds up for winter dates when outdoor-only venues are a gamble.
What to protect in the timeline
- The chandelier deserves one frame, not ten. It is the ballroom's signature and it is easy to over-use.
- Skyline portraits near sunset. The lawn looks east across the water, so the light lands on the building and the city rather than behind them.
- Room to move between the two. They are different films and the transition needs minutes, not seconds.
Anastasia + Robert
Filmed at The Vinoy in St. Petersburg in January 2022. Their film is below.
Filmed at Vinoy Renaissance. See more of our St. Petersburg wedding film work.