Today we head to the beaches of Belize, for Haley and Hance’s warm and tropical soirée in Belize, on the island of Ambergris Caye. We love how the overall palette of white and green from this day stood in beautiful contrast to the blue of the sky and sea, and the lightness of the sand. Their day was captured beautifully by photographer Marni Wishart, and was filled with lovely details that made it special for them.
from the photographer, Marni Wishart: “With their roots in Louisiana and Texas, the bride and groom chose to celebrate with their closest friends and family during a week in Belize. Some of my favorite “details” of the wedding include the bride’s engagement ring, which once belonged to her grandmother, the “with us in spirit” dedication photographs -one of which attached to the bride’s bouquet, and another which was from her bridal portrait session, a portrait of the bride with her sweet pup Gracie (who actually passed away on the very day I delivered her bridal gallery to her – talk about tears, it was such a strong reminder of why we do the work we do! Some other favorite memories of their wedding day include the rain storm that rolled in and just as quickly passed by, the Second Line March, and the newlywed’s getaway boat. “
From Haley, the bride:
“We already had a trip to Belize planned so when we got engaged we decided to turn the mini-vacation into a wedding research mission. It was Hance’s first time to Ambergris Caye and he immediately fell in love with island. He’s an avid fisherman so seeing the clearwater with the fish swimming below was a great selling point to him. The people on the island are so friendly and the laid back vibe made us feel right at home, and we knew our friends and family had to see this place. We visited Las Terrazas Resort and quickly decided that would be the best spot. Everyone who works there is so kind and professional. When we arrived the week of the wedding, we had a meeting with the managers, head of housekeeping, the bar manager and staff. They had all the details of our big day laid out and organized – this was the first time everything felt really real to us!
Some of our favorite memories are when everyone started to arrive. It was surreal to see (most) of our closest family and friends arriving by boat at the Las Terrazas pier. We will also never forget the caravan of guests driving down the bumpy sandy streets in golf carts. Hearing everyone laughing as we cruised along the tiny Central American island was one of our favorite things. Hance’s parents hosted a lovely rehearsal dinner at the Truck Stop. It was so crazy to see that the entire group of people had gathered at this island bar to celebrate us. We had guests from Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Oregon and even Ireland!
Music was very important to both of us for the wedding. I walked down the aisle to a tropical version of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Joseph Vincent. The original Elvis version was the song my mom and step-dad danced too at their wedding! It was also an homage to my grandparents who loved everything Elvis and everything Hawaii. Hance’s first dance with his mom was to “You Are My Sunshine” by Aretha Franklin. She used to sing this song to him when he was baby. The last song of the night was “Calling Baton Rouge” by Garth Brooks – we had to have one last nod to LSU!
Hance is from Louisiana and we both went to school at Louisiana State University so we definitely had to incorporate that into our wedding. Hance’s mom, Jamie, decorated traditional second line umbrellas for us and made hankies for all the guests. We did the Second Line dance, a New Orleans tradition, around the beach on the sand. It was so fun seeing everyone getting involved – specially our guests from Oregon who’d never done such a thing before!
My engagement ring is so special to me. It was my grandmother’s ring and it means even more to me that Hance asked my parents if he could give it to me. I remember her wearing the ring and thinking she looked so glamorous with it on. I feel connected to her every day that I wear it and I know she’d be so proud to see me with it.
Something Blue – My something blue was a blue opal tie pin that my grandfather bought in Australia. He was relocated there for work in the 60’s.
Brooch – This was my ‘something borrowed’. My best friend, Brittany, and I have been friends since we were five years old. She had this brooch in her wedding bouquet so it only seemed right that it would be my something borrowed.
Champagne – Hance bought a bottle of Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne before we were engaged for us to have at a special event. We brought it with us to Belize because what is more special than our wedding day! We shared it with our best friends at the reception, and I have never felt so fancy.
Photos – It was important to me to include wedding photos of our grandparents that are no longer with us. Without each of those couples getting married, we wouldn’t be here! I loved the photo of Hance’s grandparents in front of the New Orleans courthouse. My grandmother on my dad’s side is still alive and kicking (thank goodness!). I love that the photo I have of her and my grandfather was actually at their junior prom! They were married just a few months after it was taken.”
At the end of the reception we were supposed to have a “sparkler send-off” that was just for the photo opp as we had no get away car. However, my mom arranged with the resort to have a boat pick us up at the end of the pier to take us on a little boat ride. Who knew we would have a get away boat! It was so cool to see the whole crew waving to us from the pier and even nicer to have a few minutes to ourselves on the water as newlyweds.
