After our nuptial mass, guests traveled to the Ritz Carlton, Sarasota for the celebration!! The reception site was perfection. Mr. SG and I elected to have our reception on the lawn by Sarasota Bay. We always had the back-up plan of a ballroom which made us more comfortable risking the elements. But when November 14th came, the weather was by far one of the most beautiful, Florida days. Not even close to being hot, hardly any humidity in the air and only got a tad chilly once the sun set.
The hotel as viewed from our boat approaching the reception post Mass.
Guests were greeted by a table filled with silver trays holding their place cards ... you can see the little green alligator for a touch of Florida whimsy.
Continuing on with our Florida theme and fitting right into the coral color story, a sweet Flamingo graced the bottom of the menus, tucked into the guests napkins. 
Later in the evening, Mr. SG and I toasted our first toast as husband and wife in these beautiful, crystal champagne glasses from 18th century France, given to us by my grandparents, Gaya and Geedad.
Our cake was covered in a simple ecru fondant and adorned with clusters of coral-hued flowers and kumquats to give it that Florida flare!
In lieu of guest books, guests signed the same vintage Florida post cards that had been our Save-the-Dates. They dropped them into an old suitcase bearing a sign that said "Best wishes for the new Mr. and Mrs. " Also on the table are silver picture frames filled with wedding pictures of family members.
This is the head table. I am not a fan of the head table that sits on a platform and looks out over the party with members of the wedding party on one side. Instead, we had one enormous table running down the center of all of the guests tables where all of our wedding party, including ushers, and their dates could sit with us. Now realistically we were only able to talk to those sitting closest to us, but it was so cool to be able to look down the table and around us to see our loved ones. During dinner were were able to make rounds to about 75% of the people to personally thank them for being there and to see how their evening is going. With a reception as large as ours, it was impossible to have a receiving line. Our parents were able to take care of anyone else and as the hosts of the event, it all worked out how it was supposed to.
The flowers were mostly antique green hydrangeas, English Garden Roses in shades of coral, and kumquats - my personal favorite. 
Each arrangement was done in a piece of silver. No container was exactly alike as I had been collecting them for over a year from various thrift stores. We used Revere bowls of all shapes and sizes, julep cups, trophies, and even little silver serving sets like sugar bowls and creamers. 
The flowers for everything were done by Tiger Lilly. I wish there was a Tiger Lilly in Dallas because I would use them for everything!! They provided the tall silver vases for the arrangements. Having arrangements in all different containers was a somewhat risky move that could have made the arrangements look disjointed. But it since the containers were all silver and the flowers were all the same, it was actually very visually interesting!
And I realized that y'all have never see pictures of the rings! So I will leave you with that ... stay tuned, because the next post will be the Reception with people!! (Dancing, toasting, chatting, bouquet tossing and cake cutting!!)
sounds beautiful!!!!! :)
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