Caitlin and Blake

Location: Rusty Pelican Tampa

Tell us a story of the proposal?: Blake and I had been dating for 6 years at that point. We had met our first week of college at UCF (I was an out-of-state student from Chicago). We had made an agreement early on that a proposal wouldn't happen until at least 1 year of working 'in the real world' after college (yes, so romantic). We're logical people and wanted to know, for sure, that we wanted to get married. The only way we could figure that out was to see how our relationship did in the real world with real world stress. Well, Blake broke the rule and proposed a few months sooner than that 1 year agreement! We were living in Dallas at the time. While at UCF (and broke college students) we used to walk around the campus fountain for hours, just talking. He found a beautiful fountain in downtown Dallas, hired a private photographer, and popped the question! I can't tell you what he said because I was just too overjoyed to actually listen, but I'm sure it was sweet. It was simple, it was authentic, and it was us. Blake and I are very different people. He's a number driven Engineer that works at Amazon and I'm a creative and communication drive girl that works in Advertising for Nike. We don't have many hobbies in common or even a huge amount of interests. But we just...click. It's cliche, but they exist for a reason. It's easy with him. Effortless, like breathing. We're right in all the ways that matter. The proposal was very 'us' and we love that.

Colors for your wedding?: Navy blue, gold, and white/cream. Honestly, sometimes we follow it (invitations) and sometimes we don't (table decorations kind of tie in colors, but not really). While we're doing a lot of traditional 'wedding' things, a lot of it hasn't been very important to us. Wedding colors were one of those things. But if asked, those are our colors.

Why did you choose your venue?: We got engaged while we were living in Dallas, but all our family and friends were still in Florida (where we attended college at UCF). We decided to have the wedding in Tampa, just to make it easier on everyone and for parents to help us plan from out-of-state, since they both live in that area. Glad we chose that option because we don't even live in Dallas anymore (now in Seattle). We chose the Rusty Pelican because we thought if we're going to have a Florida wedding, it has to be on the water. But both of us have been to some less than stellar beach weddings. The Rusty Pelican was the only place where you could get married on the water, without having speedo man in the background to ruin your photos. We picked it because it wasn't a hotel, it wasn't a golf course, it wasn't a church. It was unique. It was different. It had character and we like to think our relationship has character, so it felt like the right decision. Amazing food is a huge priority to us, so what better place then to have your wedding at an establishment that's primary function is a restaurant with amazing food? The water, the food, the feel. All of it was a factor in our decision. Mainly the water and food!