Laura and John Holmberg

By Sallie W. Boyles  |  Photography by Pure 7 Studios

As fate would have it, Laura ran into John at a Washington, D.C., bar while making a mad dash for the door to escape a “terrible” blind date. The attraction was mutual, so she took a chance, giving him her phone number when he asked. Everything fell into place from there. In fact, just as the couple seemed to meet at the right moment in time, Laura, who works for the U.S. Travel Association in D.C., found the perfect wedding location when she landed on a website for Carillon Beach in Panama City Beach, Florida.

Orchestrating an event for a hundred out-of-town guests can be stressful when the bride has no personal connections to her wedding destination, but for Laura, the setup was ideal. “Working with Carillon Weddings and their preselected list of the highest quality vendors was one of the nice things about being out of town,” she says, indicating that she had a clear vision for her wedding but appreciated the experts’ guidance. “Also, my husband, bless his heart, let me do whatever I wanted.”

In keeping with a theme of stylish yet simple elegance, she chose grey for the bridesmaids’ dresses and soft yellow accents, as in the handmade necklaces she gave them. Laura’s mother added her personal touches, too. “She worked with Confections on the Coast to create a wedding cake design that resembled my Romona Keveza gown,” says Laura. John quickly caught on to his bride’s aesthetic and gave her the lovely bracelet she wore as a wedding day gift. “It was the perfect accessory,” she says.

Considering every detail, from a delicious seated dinner featuring a trio of entrées to a band that kept them dancing all night, Laura and John agree that their most precious memory of May 14, 2011, is the ceremony.

Favorite Wedding Moment:
“We exchanged our vows on the beach. With the waves in the background, there was the perfect amount of breeze and sunshine,” Laura says. “That picture is forever etched in our minds.”

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Vendors:
Wedding Planners Victoria and Avis of Carillon Weddings
Nouveau Flowers
Townsend Catering Company
Pure 7 Studios
Confections on the Coast
Jones & Company of Gulf Talent Services