Are you surprised to see me post a Fort Pickens Wedding right after I announced I’m no longer doing weddings? I understand. But, when Rebekah and Jen from the incredible Fete and Flora asked me if I’d like to collaborate on a huge styled project they had in mind, I couldn’t possibly turn it down. Although I’ll be working exclusively with PV Cobia weddings in 2025, I’m no stranger to Pensacola Beach Weddings. When I think of Pensacola Beach Weddings, I often envision a tropical infused color palette. We think the gorgeous sound side our area has to offer was being quite neglected in our opinion. We knew we wanted to go in this direction.

The one who really settled on the idea was Jen, who found a fabric she fell in the love with. This fabric was the base of the entire shoot and we ran with it. As we spent more time together, we kept coming up with more and more ideas for a possible publication. We’re proud to say the publication is live in Southern Bride and Coastal Weddings Magazine. Although I wish I could cover every detail in depth, I’m going to go over some of the key points and take my time to brag on the vendors who contributed to this shoot.

Photographing in Fort Pickens

I photograph families and couples in Fort Pickens quite often as many others do. However, if you’re planning to set up any sort of decoration, wedding, or anything of the sort in a national or state park, you must get the proper permitting. We had no idea how extensive and intense this process was and looking back, we may have planning something different if we knew what was ahead.

Pulling It Off

If you’re planning to host anything at Fort Pickens specifically, I suggest applying a year in advance. I also suggest applying in person. You will be spending a lot of your time in their office, making phone calls to people you know in the government sector, and trying to get answers. This was only for the people at the top of the hierarchy to tell us “We don’t really know how to handle these types of requests.” Red tape and bills that were recently passed put a pause on some of the rules and regulations. We got proper permitting the night before our Styled Shoot. Only after borderline harassing the people in charge. Even then, we were still stopped in our tracked four separate times by park rangers pulling up and stonewalling our shoot.

Powering Through

The first time was to check in. The second time the rangers came up and tried to get us to leave. Even though they were able to pull up our permitting they insisted. We refused, so they told us we must remove our live flowers. Again, pulling up our permitting we showed that we got permission for live flowers. Rebekah and Jen specifically chose flowers that were stable in structure and mostly native to the area to protect the land. We took extra care with this to be respectful of our environment.

We honestly thought this would bring a ton of exposure to our Gulf Islands National Seashore and might generate more revenue for them by showcasing it’s beauty. Our only intent was to be respectful. But there were several rangers in a small park and they seemed intent on finding a reason to get us to leave. This is the only negative thing I’m going to say about the shoot. The rest of the day was inspiring, captivating, and we had some amazing vendors who brought this to life.

Sound Side Details

Pevee with PV Cobia Photography and I created flat lay after flat lay and had a field day with it. Fete and Flora are incredible stylists and designers and always provide their photographers with extras for flat lay details on the wedding day in case they need it. What a dream come true! We got busy and the creative juices just kept flowing. Scripted Calling and Works of Harte handled the calligraphy design and signage for this shoot and both of them knocked it out of the park.

The Statement Piece

Every Styled Shoot needs a statement design and center piece. For this shoot it was the “Among the Dunes” welcome wall that was repurposed as a champagne wall for the second part of our shoot. This wall was designed as an escort wall for guests and serves as inspiration for new wedding trends. An escort wall can double as wedding favors for guests. In this case, Fete and Flora created custom bouquets for each guest with a table number and name on a card.

Coastal Fashion Wedding Inspiration

The Dress

Our team chose none other than the perfect Margaret Ellen Bridal to look for a dress. While browsing we came across this Made with Love Gown that had just enough flair. The leaves and flow perfectly complemented the nature while leveling up with look of the shoot.

Randall’s provided a men’s suit and we decided to do a second look for the bride and groom.

A Different Type of Table Scape

If you look closely, you’ll see no detail goes unnoticed. We pulled in every possible element from the coast we could think of down to the textures, hues, and the food. Fete and Flora’s design elements left no stone unturned when scouring the area for what we could incorporate. The wall may be the statement piece, but I believe this table setting is the most brag worthy element of the shoot. If you decide to shoot in November to avoid some of the heat, you’ll be limited on daylight. We had no choice but to photograph in direct sun. However, this gave us playful shadows and beautiful contrast.

The Second Look

The model looked gorgeous in her second look, a more causal, flowy dress from Jardin Vue. The cape can also be sleeves and created a dynamic look for the second part of our session.

The Bar Scene

We put our blood, sweat, and tears into this shoot and believe it paid off wholeheartedly! We hope you’re able to use some of the ideas created here to implement into your own wedding day. If you’d like to work with any of the vendors who were a part of this shoot, please take a glance below at this incredible vendor team.

Fort Pickens Vendor Team

Planning | Styling | Florals: Fete and Flora

Photographer: Jordan West Photo

Videography and Associate Photographer: PV Cobia

Location: Gulf Islands National Seashore at Fort Pickens

Stationary and Bar Glass Design | Champagne Bottle: Works of Harte

Signage: Scripted Calling

Cake and Cookies: Kate’s Cakes Pensacola

Bar Rental & Escort Wall: Events Styled By Luxe

Chair Rentals: Supposey

Linens: BBJ La Tavola

Hair and Makeup: Fathom Beauty by Renee

Dress: Margaret Ellen Bridal

Men’s Suit: Randalls in Pensacola

Film Lab: Rewind Film Lab