Seaside is a beloved spot for couples to share a special moment, whether it’s a proposal, a wedding, or an anniversary. The Seaside Times asked couples how they celebrate romance in town, whether it’s with a special date or an unexpected anniversary celebration. 

Mary Kathryn and Michael Lamping 

Mary Kathryn began coming to Seaside in 1992 with her family when she was just two-months-old, they visited every year. Since then, Seaside has become the most special place in the world to their family. 

“When I went on dates one of my first questions would be, ‘Have you ever been to Seaside?’ When I met my husband in 2014, he checked that box,” she says. “Two months later, we went on our first trip together to Seaside.

We instantly fell in love there. Fast forward to 2016, when he proposed to me at the Tupelo Pavilion. We immediately began planning our Seaside wedding. In October 2017, we married at the Chapel at Seaside and had our reception and Bud and Alley’s Waterfront Restaurant. Hurricane Nate decided to make an appearance at the reception, and we danced the night away while the chandeliers swayed under the tent. Following the wedding, we stayed the week in the honeymoon cottages.” 

Mary Kathryn and Michael had their first daughter in 2022. “And when she turned two-months-old we of course took her to Seaside,” Mary Kathryn says. “In May of 2023 to our surprise, while we were on our second trip with our daughter to Seaside, we found out we were pregnant with our son. Seaside will forever hold a special place in our hearts.” 

Ruben and Christina Flores 

Christina grew up coming to Seaside and brought her boyfriend, Ruben, to visit right after they met in college in Houston and started dating. 

“He quickly learned how special Seaside was to my family,” Christina says. Ruben then proposed in a pavilion, with their whole family around them. The couple has now been married for 15 years and share two wonderful boys, Jack, 12, and Jacob, 9.

“We still return yearly to Seaside – this will be our 19th year in a row – with our entire family to spend a week each summer, it’s our kids’ favorite week of the year!” Christina says. 

Grayson and Chandler Thomas

Grayson and Chandler were living in Georgia when they met at college in 2016. “Grayson knew my best friend before I knew him, and she had told me about him in the weeks leading up to our meeting,” Chandler says. “She would later tell me that right after he and I became friends he told her ‘I’m going to marry her one day.’”

The couple dated for a while and then spent time apart before running into each other at an Atlanta Braves game in 2022 and reuniting – they’ve been inseparable ever since. Both grew up visiting the area, so it made sense when they got engaged in Seaside Memorial Day 2023 during a trip with their best friends (including the one who introduced them), which they called “another beautiful chapter.” 

The couple grabbed pizza and made their way to the beach at sunset for the surprise proposal. Now, they’re planning on returning this summer as a married couple, visiting from their home in Birmingham, Ala. 

Spencer and Temple Kortum

Spencer and Temple live in Sarasota, Fla., after meeting through mutual friends in school. 

“In the summer of 2015 my husband and I were just friends, both aware he had a huge crush on me,” Temple says. “I was doing a photography project for my senior art class where I was going to make a photo collage of the food trucks in Seaside.”

Temple had to be in town extremely early in the morning, so there were no parked cars in the way, and asked Spencer if he wanted to accompany her. “He watched me take my photos and would later on tell me that this was the moment he knew he loved me,” Temple says. “A year or two later for our dating anniversary he gave me a necklace with these exact Seaside coordinates on it to remember that special morning.”

They dated throughout college, and after Temple returned from studying abroad in Italy Spencer planned a date. “We drove to the spot where I took the food truck photos and got out and started to walk to the Coleman Pavilion. Once we got under the Seaside Pavilion, he got down on one knee and proposed to me,” Temple says. 

In a full circle moment, one of the first places the newlyweds lived together was a carriage house in Seaside on Forest Street. 

Evan and David Holland 

Evan Harrell, a University of Texas graduate, and David Holland, a Texas A&M graduate, were set up by mutual friends from Houston, Texas.

Evan grew up vacationing in Seaside, and brought David to visit only weeks after their first date. A year and a half later, David pulled off a surprise proposal in front of the Chapel on Christmas Eve in 2016 – and of course, they decided to get married in Seaside. 

The wedding had a nautical theme and was nicknamed the “nauti wedding,” and local “wedding crashers” were more than welcome as folks from Texas descended on the town. Now, the sweet couple visits regularly with their three children and call Seaside their home away from home. 

In the last issue of The Seaside Times, we took a look back at some of the most special recent weddings in town, from intimate Ruskin Place affairs to parties that took over Bud & Alley’s Waterfront Restaurant until the wee hours. This time, we’re covering weddings from 2001 on, including sweet nuptials on the beach and gorgeous events at the Chapel.

Read on to discover some of the most romantic weddings, with Seaside as the backdrop. 

Nick and Macy Scialdone 

We got married April 1, 2023, and had our ceremony at The Chapel at Seaside and our reception on the lawn and courtyard outside of the chapel. When we began planning and thinking about our wedding day, we found what we wanted – the most beautiful setting and a place our guests would be able to enjoy all weekend long! The chapel was the dreamiest place and the town surrounding it was the perfect place for our family and friends to enjoy all weekend long!” 

Brian and Vivia Arbelaez 

We got married at sunset at the seashore and just below the Pelican Pavilion on Feb. 21, 2022. Seaside has been a magical place for my husband since he was two years old. When he was 14, his parents purchased Wave the Wheat just off 30A before the honeymoon cottages. Seaside is so magical, and calls everyone to be childlike and free-spirited. It’s there we fell deeper in love time and time again. It was there we were introduced, where we decided we’d get married and where we had appetizers at Bud & Alley’s Waterfront Restaurant, got married on the beach and ended the night with a bonfire and pizza with a glow-in-the-dark Frisbee toss just below Watercolor Inn. Now, we vacation there with our toddler two or three times a year, reminiscing and making more sweet memories together. 

Daniel and Laura Harrison

I began visiting Seaside in 1992 with my family — bike rides and Camp Seaside are some of my fondest memories. Although the town has grown and evolved over the years, Seaside has always felt like home. When Daniel and I got engaged, without hesitation we knew where it would be. On Oct. 31, 2022 (my grandmother’s birthday), we wed at The Chapel at Seaside. It was magical with sprinkles of subtle details throughout — my family even stayed at Happily Ever After. After the ceremony, we took a walk through town where we were complimented multiple times on our costumes — a bride and a groom! 

Benjamin and Shelby King 

My family and I have been coming to Seaside for summer vacation for 28 years, every year since I was four years old. It is definitely our happy place and I always knew from a young age that I wanted to be married in my happy place! We got married in The Chapel at Seaside surrounded by our closest family and friends. Now, every year we go back, we have a new memory in our happy place. 

Shaun and Kara Hood

We’re based in Ringgold, Ga., and started visiting about 25 years ago. We were married at the Pensacola Pavilion on June 2, 2001, with about 50 people in attendance in a small and intimate wedding. I have always been a sucker for detail and Seaside was such a sweet town. I knew it would be the perfect backdrop for our wedding. We come down five or six times a year and plan to retire there when our youngest graduates. Seaside holds a very special place in our hearts. 

Cara and Mikey Brock 

We got married July 9, 2022 at The Chapel at Seaside. We chose Seaside since it is a place we both had a lot of memories of growing up and it’s a place we still regularly visit to this day. We love being in Seaside and being reminded of our special day every time we are in town!

Ashley Gunn and Andrew Farquharson

We got married at The Chapel at Seaside, followed by a reception on the Lyceum Lawn on Oct. 13, 2023. I’m blessed to have grown up visiting Seaside as my family has a second home in the area. For as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamed about getting married at the Seaside Chapel. Even though my husband is from New York, the first time we visited he also fell in love with the town and I love that he supported my Seaside wedding dream. We had an absolutely perfect wedding day and it was truly amazing to see the vision I’ve always pictured in my mind become a reality. We are blessed that so many of our friends and family were willing to make the trip to celebrate. For many it was their first time in the area. Overall, our wedding was a huge success and we will cherish our Seaside memories for a lifetime!

Jill and Harrison Haest

We got married June 17, 2023 at The Chapel at Seaside with a reception on the lawn. When it came to choosing where to have our wedding, we wanted a place that was sentimental and somewhere we could always go back to and remember our day. We could not think of a more perfect place than Seaside. Seaside has always been a second home for us, and now it holds an even more special place in our hearts!  We will always be reminded of the love, joy and commitment we celebrated on that magical day with each visit to Seaside. 

Nick and Carrie Smalara

My husband took me to Seaside on our first vacation together, as he had many fond memories vacationing there as a teenager. So, after a proposal years later in Seaside, the choice was so easy to get married in a place we both love so much on May 13, 2005 at the Tupelo Pavilion. We love it so much that we’ve brought both of our children here to vacation each summer since they were born. And yes, they love it as much as we do. Fun fact, our wedding photographer took yearly pictures of us as a family until her retirement from her business. 

Seaside has long been a place for folks to tie the knot. Whether they want a casual ceremony like the town founders, Robert and Daryl Davis (their dog Bud helped walk them down the aisle and they served strawberries as a snack) or are craving an elaborate, elegant southern Pinterest wedding, there are locations for everyone. To celebrate some of the stunning recent weddings in our town, we’re letting brides share their stories.

We couldn’t name a better, more welcoming, intimate town to get married in. We chose Seaside because we were looking for a place that our family and friends could enjoy and relax while celebrating us! The town of Seaside has always felt so intimate for us and the weekend truly included everything Seaside has to offer – a shrimp boil rehearsal dinner on the beach, pickle shots at Pickle’s Sandbar, and bike rides to breakfast at Black Bear Bread Co. every morning.

Bud & Alley’s Waterfront Restaurant was the absolute perfect venue, beachside with the best food (of course). But what made our day so special was hours before, there was a tropical storm warning so our ceremony was moved off the beach and onto Bud & Alleys’ beautiful deck. Our vendors worked so hard to make the evening special and we couldn’t be more grateful.

Andrea Fischer Quinn and Brendan Quinn

My family has been coming to Seaside every summer since 1993, this will be our 30th summer together there. When I met Brendan, who grew up going to Cape Cod, I knew he would love Seaside. He started joining our family vacations and needless to say, fell in love with Seaside. In February of 2017, we got engaged on the beach in Seaside and then all of our family and friends joined us as we got married there in September of 2019.

Our rehearsal dinner was at Bud & Alley’s Waterfront Restaurant followed by a beachside bonfire. We got married at the Chapel at Seaside on Saturday Sept. 21 with our reception at the Watercolor boathouse. The weekend was nothing short of perfect. We will go to Seaside for the rest of our lives, creating new traditions for our growing family.

Callie Wilder and Jeff Jacobs

We got married on April 26, 2023, at sunset near the East Ruskin Street Pavilion. Jeff and I love the beach and we knew we wanted to have our ceremony there. I had visited Seaside a few times with my best friend and her family. In 2018 she passed away. Her favorite place was Seaside. Getting married here was my way of having her there with us. It was absolutely perfect and she gave us the prettiest sunset that day.”

Samuel & Madison Taylor

Our first trip together as a couple was in Seaside. As I showed him the Chapel at Seaside, I joked that we could get married there one day. Seaside holds a special place in my family’s heart, as we’ve come here for many years. We love that we celebrated our marriage in this magical place.

Abby Spurlin and Phillip Badham

We got married Feb. 11, 2023 and made it a whole weekend affair. We threw parties for our guests at The Court on Thursday and Friday nights and some of the guests stayed in the rooms at The Court for the weekend. On Saturday, our ceremony was at DiBicci Park and our reception was at Bud & Alley’s Waterfront Restaurant.

We chose to have our wedding in Seaside because I grew up going to my family beach house just a few streets over in Old Seagrove. I spent summers in Seaside and along 30A and it is such a special place to my family. We would frequent Dawson’s Yogurt & Fudgeworks, Modica Market, and the Seaside Amphitheater. We could not imagine a better place to host our friends and family for our wedding weekend. It was one to remember.

Rachel and Deven Carlisle

I fell in love with Seaside the first time I visited years ago. It became our favorite family vacation spot for us and our golden retriever. We wanted something small like an elopement but wanted our parents and siblings to be there with us and our fur baby.

We got married in Ruskin Park at 7:30 a.m. because Seaside in the morning is our absolute favorite. We took pictures all around town and then met our family for brunch at Great Southern Cafe and margaritas from Pickle’s Burger & Shake. Everything was so special, from renting through the Seaside Homeowner’s Collection and being able to get ready in the house that was in the background of our photos in the park, to having the last signing with my last name for my cookbook, “Perfect Pairings” at Sundog Books, the whole weekend was unforgettable.

Elizabeth Case and Will Farrington

I always dreamed about being married barefoot on the beach at the East Ruskin Street Pavilion. Our first family home was on East Ruskin and that was our local beach. We were married in November of 2020 – a small group of close friends and family attended.

The beach was decorated with vibrant-colored mixed flowers, including hydrangea, anemone, poppies, and my bridesmaids wore jewel toned dresses. My husband is a chef so we made his boutonniere out of herbs and kale. Our after party was at Bud & Alley’s rooftop bar and we stayed in a honeymoon cottage next to the East Ruskin pavilion. It was perfect and so magical and beautiful.