Destination Wedding: Brianna and Jon Michael
Dry Tortugas Wedding in Key West, Florida

When you think about the Florida Keys and Key West, the turquoise water and tropical vibes is what instantly comes to mind.  The “island time” mentality where it doesn’t matter what time of day it is, as long as you have a smile on your face and toes in the sand.  This is exactly what Brianna and Jon Michael wanted for their day.

The Dry Tortugas and Fort Jefferson are one of those must go destinations and a bucket list for any national parks tourist.  There are only two ways to get there: boat or seaplane.  Fort Jefferson is located 70 miles west of Key West, Florida.  It is an island structure that consists of 16 acres, 16 million bricks with an adjacent lighthouse on Loggerhead Key. 

It was fitting that Brianna wanted to do something adventurous, because that’s a word that describes her and Jon Michaels relationship.  Brianna works for a tourist bureau and is always looking for fun things to share pertaining to Florida, so for once she was the tourist.

We started the morning off on Smathers Beach with a first look with her and Jon Michaels family.  We took some photos as the sun rose, and then hurried off to the Key West Airport to board our plane.  She chose Key West Seaplane Adventures as our charter company who flew us out to the Dry Tortugas National Park.  We boarded a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter which sat all 10 of us.  One bride and groom, two sets of parents, a videographer and me. It was a joyous sightseeing tour of the quicksands, shipwrecks and a commanding view of Fort Jefferson on approach.

Once we landed and got situated we had the ceremony on the west beach, then headed inside the fort for some photos of the two of them.  It’s an amazing 16 acre playground of bricks and architecture.  We spent about two hours inside the fort then boarded the seaplane back to Key West.

Once we arrived we all headed back to our hotels to get showered and rest.  When it got closer to sunset we all met up and headed to Fort Zachary Taylor for sunset.  This is one of my favorite places in Key West to view the sunset.  They even toasted each other with some Key Lime Pie on a Stick from Kermit’s Key West.

I hope you enjoy this quick look into their day!