Underneath the shade of palm trees, Sarah and Steven exchanged vows in an intimate ceremony conducted by Steven’s father, surrounded by 30 of their nearest and dearest at Casa Ybel Resort in Sanibel Island, Fla.

“We wanted to make sure that we had our closest family and friends who really love and care about us at our wedding and wanted to be able to be ourselves and have a great time without the formalities,” says Sarah.

After the ceremony and as the sun dipped below the aquamarine waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the couple headed down to the sandy beaches to bask in newlywed bliss as their photographer, Wes Weber, captured soft, sunset-lit moments. Later, they shared a lively patio dinner with their guests underneath strings of twinkling lights. After the couple cut into the two-tiered wedding cake, an impromptu dance party broke out and lasted throughout the night.

Sarah, 29 & Steven, 29 

Sanibel Island, FL

Wedding Date: November 17, 2012

Number of Guests: 30

Wedding Cost: $20,000

Wedding Ceremony Location: Casa Ybel Resort

Wedding Reception Location: Casa Ybel Resort

Peonies make perfect wedding flowers. In fact, they are one of the most popular flowers for weddings.  They’re luscious and showy, yet delicate. They smell incredible – and they come in every color except blue. You can mix them with other flowers, or let them stand alone. They’re also perfect for barn weddings (in Southern German, they are known as the “Bauernrosen” or Farmer’s Roses.)

I stole these beauties from my own garden. The whitish pink ones (shown above) are actually from a plant that was originally in my husband’s grandmother’s garden many moons ago. That’s the thing: peony plants can live in a garden for 100+ years!

If you get married in the spring and happen to have a peony patch to steal from, then you will save a bundle on wedding flowers! (Just remember to dip your flowers in a water bath to get rid of ants.) Otherwise, they cost around $10 a stem.

Here are a few ways to display them at your wedding:

Peonies look fantastic on their own in vintage bottles. You could tie a name tag around each one and give them as favors. (You can also give peony bulbs as favors. Check out this tutorial for burlap ‘peony pockets‘.)

Place three or four peonies in a vintage blue mason jar and you have a gorgeous centerpiece!

Place jars inside wooden crates for an even more rustic look!

Confession: Our team is a little Pinterest-obsessed here at Intimate Weddings. We could look at beautiful wedding inspiration all day long (luckily, we can claim that it’s our “job”) and we know some of you enjoy it as much as we do! One of our newest follows is Ann’s Bridal Bargains, which is a website that offers discount wedding invitations and accessories. They’re constantly pinning amazing wedding imagery both from their online boutique (which is worthy of a peek on its own) and around the web.

And, they’re having a contest for a chance to win $100 toward wedding invitations. All you have to do is, you guessed it, pin to win! Here’s how to enter:

Go to their Facebook page and fill out the form. Then pin at least five of the 20 images listed, choosing from inspiration boards, favor ideas, wedding signage, and more (you may very well find yourself pinning all 20!). The contest ends on June 18 and a winner will be randomly chosen and announced on June 19 through email and on their blog.

One hundred dollars toward invites for doing something we’d probably already be doing anyways? Sign us up! Happy pinning, brides!

Sponsored post.

Is your hubby dying for a mountain getaway, while you long for a wedding weekend full of resort style pampering? We’ve got the low down on a place that just might keep you from having to choose: Vancouver Island.

Vancouver Island, BC, is one of North America’s best kept secrets for destination weddings. With a relatively mild climate, miles of beaches, rainforest (that’s right RAINforests), snowy peak mountains, and breathtaking resorts, Vancouver Island is the ideal spot for couples seeking a wilderness wedding.

Before deciding that Vancouver Island is the place for you, here are a couple of things to consider:

Customize your favorite bottle of wine with personalized wine labels from The Wedding Outlet.

Choose from a great selection of designs and colors. Use as favors or display as event centerpieces.

You can personalize each label with names, event date and/or custom message. Just peel and stick the label to your favorite bottle of wine!

Isn’t the bunting design (shown above) adorable? We also love the art deco look of the wine label below:

Check out The Wedding Outlet for more designs. (They also have a great selection of water bottle labels.)

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