Amy imagined her wedding to Gary long before she knew his name. “Starting at age 13, I have been collecting every Martha Stewart Weddings, Southern Living Weddings and Town & Country Weddings magazine,” Amy told to Pretty Little Weddings. “To put it lightly, I had a very specific vision in mind.” A team of talented Gulf Coast vendors—including Diva Productions, a talented member of Pretty Little Weddings’ vendor guide—captured her vision perfectly, she said. “The vendors executed my vision better that imagined, and everything was even more beautiful than the magazine pictures,” Amy said.

Pia and Daniel welcomed their families from abroad to Moraira, Spain, for their wedding. “We’re very attached to it,” Pia told Pretty Little Weddings and so the couple ignored the city’s logistical issues—it’s small chapel and crowded marina—and planned a stylish affair for 200 guests. “We realized that even though there were many other beautiful locations, which were much more convenient in every sense, we still were looking for somewhere where we felt at ease,” Pia said. “We needed to have a connection with the place.”

For Pia, an ethical fashion blogger, the dress came first—the stunning Lanvin gown was the one dress the bride tried on. “It was love at first site,” she said. The couple mixed nautical elements with fresh flowers for their reception, held beneath Indian tents at the edge of the marina. But, Pia said, “all everyone kept looking to was the view of a June sunset surrounded by boats.” Pia and Daniel carefully chose a variety of wines for guests to enjoy, and paired them with a menu of fresh fish and soups. “All our focus was in organizing a fun weekend,” Pia said. “ We knew we had succeeded in making it a fun night when we left the venue with our last guests, walking and dancing barefoot at 6 a.m.”

Morgan and Wes wed on the beach—just miles away from the stretch of sand where Wes proposed and where Morgan’s family vacations each year. The couple envisioned a “vintage wedding with a neutral color scheme,” the bride said, complementing the simple backdrop of Inlet Beach and its Grand Pointe pavilion with do-it-yourself burlap designs and vintage furniture pieces.

The couple incorporated burlap throughout their wedding, constructing a burlap arch for their ceremony, ring bearer’s pillow and table runners. The bride and groom also hand-painted a smattering of wooden signs directing guests to their ceremony and reception locations. Morgan, whose hobby is sewing, made flags for the couple’s candy and cake tables. And the couple’s cake—a three tier taupe tower made by the groom’s aunt—sat on top of a Singer sewing machine and antique table.

Aileen and Alex came from different parts of the world—she from California and he from Great Britain—and so, their wedding would be a destination affair no matter where it was. “The world was our oyster,” she said. The couple considered a dozen locations, but settled on Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. .

“I never thought I would get married in Mexico,” Aileen said. “I didn’t want to have a beach wedding or be on the sand or be outdoors in the blazing sun—I got everything I didn’t expect, but it was perfect.”

She said, “We kept true to ourselves and our style—we didn’t do anything over-the-top or over board. We didn’t try to change our setting—we wanted to accent it and bring out the best of it. We didn’t want our wedding to feel like a wedding necessarily—we didn’t want Chivari chairs, table numbers, escort cards, etc.  We didn’t want to do the expected, it just wasn’t us.”

The couple instead used soft décor, including pillows from IKEA, and a mixture of succulents, mums and orchids for centerpieces. “We wanted the natural beauty of the space to shine through and we didn’t want to disrupt the horizon or the gorgeous color lines,” Aileen said.