A Florida Spring in Full Color — Margo & Patrick at the Pelican Club

The Pelican Club · Jupiter, Florida · Spring Wedding

Some couples don’t just choose a venue — they choose a whole world, and then they build it from scratch inside four walls. Margo and Patrick did exactly that at the Pelican Club in Jupiter, Florida, and the result was a celebration that felt like South Florida at its most alive: tropical, joyful, impossibly beautiful, and completely theirs.

From the hand-painted watercolor invitations to the halved citrus tucked into every table, from the lush floral runners that spilled the length of the long harvest tables to the potted palms anchoring the corners of the room — every choice was intentional, and every detail landed. As their Jupiter wedding photographer, I had the best seat in the house.

RECEPTION DESIGN

The Pelican Club in Full Bloom

The experience began the moment guests stepped onto the Pelican Club’s waterfront deck. There, overlooking the water, stood a tall freestanding seating chart — a beautiful illustrated panel covered in Margo and Patrick’s custom watercolor Florida motifs: flamingos, citrus, tropical botanicals, all in the warm palette of the day. Brass wall sconces with rattan shades were mounted directly onto the board, giving it the feeling of a lit artwork rather than a functional sign. Kaleidoscope Floral flanked the base with lush, overflowing arrangements of peach and copper garden roses, tropical greenery, and warm-toned blooms that spilled onto the deck around it. Champagne was already moving through the crowd as guests arrived — servers in crisp white uniforms wearing custom aprons embroidered with Margo and Patrick’s initials, every single one of them part of the design.

And the details kept coming. Watercolor framed art with the couple’s custom names was placed throughout the space — the kind of personal touch that makes guests feel like they’ve walked into someone’s world, not just an event. Custom matchboxes with the Connolly name sat on tables alongside tropical florals and citrus. Every surface had been considered. The Golden Pineapple Events team and Del Sandro Robles and Co. had turned the Pelican Club into a fully realized vision, and there wasn’t a corner of it that wasn’t intentional.

Then guests entered the ballroom — and it delivered on every promise the deck had made. Bright white walls, warm dark wood floors, tiered crystal chandeliers, gold palm leaf sconces catching the light — transformed into something that felt like a Florida garden at the height of spring. Long harvest tables dressed in solid sage green linen were lined with lush tropical runners running their full length: coral garden roses, peach peonies, orange bird of paradise, blush ranunculus, and tropical greenery tumbling together in that way that looks effortless and takes tremendous skill. Round tables nearby wore sage and ivory striped linens with lower centerpieces, and scattered among the stems on each one were halved oranges and whole citrus fruits nestled in woven rattan leaf vessels — a detail so specific and so right that guests kept pausing to look twice. The citrus wasn’t decoration; it was a signature.

White loop-back chairs with their graceful circular design surrounded every table, their ornate lines a perfect counterpoint to the natural abundance of the florals. Tall potted palms anchored the corners and gave the room layered depth. At the far end, trailing tropical installations cascaded from the walls, drawing every eye toward the dance floor. Every layer of this reception had been thought through. All of it together was extraordinary.

GETTING READY

A Quiet Morning at Jupiter Beach Resort

Margo got ready at the Jupiter Beach Resort with her sisters and her mom — a small, intentional circle for a morning that deserved to be exactly that. No overwhelming crowd of people, no chaos — just the women closest to her, the soft sounds of the morning, and a bride who had space to actually feel the day as it began. That calm is rare and it matters. You could feel it in the photographs: Margo unhurried, genuinely present, already radiating something steady and sure.

Her gown by Mark Ingram and Le Spose di Giò was a moment all on its own — a clean bateau neckline, a full billowing tulle skirt, a long cathedral veil, and a simple white belt at the waist. Classic in the truest sense, and absolutely right for her.

And then there was Rory. Margo’s dog made a proper appearance in the getting ready room, and those photos are exactly what you’d imagine — joyful, warm, completely unscripted. Before the drive to the church, Margo shared a first look with her dad — one of those private moments that happens before the ceremony begins and stays with a family forever. It was quiet and full and said everything that needed to be said.

CEREMONY & DESIGN

St. Christopher’s Catholic Church, Hobe Sound

Margo and Patrick were married at St. Christopher’s Catholic Church in Hobe Sound, Florida — and Kaleidoscope Floral made sure the church was ready for them. The space was filled with tropical blooms in the full palette of the day: vivid, colorful, abundant, the kind of floral design that makes a sacred space feel like it’s celebrating right along with everyone inside it. Every arrangement carried the same joyful energy as the couple themselves — lush greenery, bursts of coral and orange and warm tropical color, nothing restrained, everything alive. Walking into that church, you understood immediately what kind of day this was going to be.

The ceremony itself had the weight and warmth that a Catholic Mass brings — the kind of ritual that slows time down and asks everyone in the room to pay attention. Margo and Patrick stood at the altar together and meant every word. By the time they walked back down the aisle as husband and wife, the room was full of the particular feeling that only a ceremony like that can produce — something between joy and reverence, and entirely unforgettable.

PORTRAITS

The Pelican Club, the Lighthouse, and the Light

After the ceremony, Margo and Patrick came together as husband and wife for the first time in front of the camera — and they were everything. Some couples need coaxing; these two just had it. Natural, easy, completely comfortable with each other and with being photographed. The energy between them made every location we moved through feel like it had been chosen specifically for them.

The Pelican Club grounds gave us a full session’s worth of distinct backdrops — including the jasmine hedge wall, covered in dense boxwood and tiny white star jasmine blossoms, where Margo’s tulle skirt and long cathedral veil swept across the white pathway in a way that stopped time. Patrick in his Maxwell’s tuxedo, completely relaxed, grinning in that quiet way that suits him perfectly. Every frame from that wall was a portrait worth printing large.

And then the Jupiter Lighthouse. Capturing that lighthouse with the ocean stretching out behind two newlyweds — that is the definitive South Florida wedding portrait, and Margo and Patrick wore it beautifully. The light off the water, the landmark behind them, the bride still in her veil at golden hour — this is exactly why I love photographing weddings in Jupiter. There is nowhere else quite like it.

RECEPTION & DANCING

The Evening in Full

Good Musicians knew exactly what they were doing from the first song, and they never let up. The band had the Pelican Club dance floor full and kept it that way — the kind of live music that doesn’t just fill a room but pulls everyone into it, whether they planned to dance or not. That energy is a gift to a wedding night, and Margo and Patrick’s guests leaned into it completely.

The space around the dance floor had been designed for exactly this kind of evening. A cozy seating arrangement wrapped the perimeter — comfortable, warm, welcoming — so that during toasts and speeches, the couple and their guests could settle in close to each other rather than being stranded at distant tables. It gave the whole room that rare quality of feeling both grand and intimate at once, like a celebration that was somehow happening in everyone’s living room.

The dance floor itself was custom — Margo and Patrick’s names and a floral pattern printed directly into it, so even the floor was telling their story. Above it, the ceiling installation drew the eye upward: chandeliers layered with moss and lush hanging greenery, that soft, organic texture wrapping around the light and giving the whole room a warmth that no standard chandelier alone could have produced. It was the detail that tied everything together — the garden brought fully indoors, even overhead.

By the end of the night, nobody wanted to leave. That is always the truest measure of a reception — and this one had it in abundance.

Margo and Patrick — what a day. What a couple. What a room. Thank you for trusting me to photograph your wedding at the Pelican Club Jupiter, and for building a celebration that was so genuinely, beautifully you. It was a privilege to be there.

If you’re planning a wedding at the Pelican Club in Jupiter or anywhere across South Florida and are looking for a Jupiter wedding photographer — or dreaming of a destination celebration — I would love to hear from you.

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Amazing Vendor Friends: Ceremony: St. Christopher’s Catholic Church | Venue: @pelicanclub_jupiter | Planning: @thegoldenpineappleeventco | Photo: @sunnyleephoto | Video: @all_for_one_creations | Hair & Makeup: @jessbonillabeauty | Florist: @kaleidoscopefloral | Production: @delsyroblesandco | Transportation: @oceansidelimo | Bakery: @earthandsugar | Entertainment: @goodmusicians.live | Invitations: @wildwoodcalligraphyandpost | Dress: @markingramcollection @lesposedigio | Shoes: @gucci | Rings: @ringconcierge | Tux: @maxwellsclothiers | Bridesmaids: @aje