About three years ago, we flew down to Key West to shoot a surprise proposal. My friend Nick was proposing to his girlfriend, Brielle. Months before flying down, him and I sat down and discussed how he was going to propose to her. We thought of a bunch of different ideas but in the end landed on him proposing in Key West. Key West had a special place in their hearts and Nick thought it would be very special. He told me he wanted me and Laura to secretly fly down and shoot the proposal. Brielle couldn’t find out. We were in.
Three years ago in Key West was such a memorable trip. We filmed Nick getting down on one knee. I was super shaky because of how nervous I was. We took photos of Nick and Brielle afterwards and it was the first time we shot somebody proposing. We spent the rest of the week with them, jet skiing out to sand bars, eating conch fritters, and sitting by the ocean, watching manatees swim by the house late at night. It was a magical experience that we won’t soon forget.
Fast forward three years and Nick explained how he wanted us to shoot video for his wedding. He was getting married in Key West, which meant us coming back to the place where it all started. Naturally, I said yes.
Laura is a school teacher full time and, being that the wedding was on June 12th at the end of the school year, she can’t take time away. This meant us flying out late on Friday night, shooting the wedding on Saturday, and flying back on Sunday so she could be at work on Monday. It was going to be a long weekend but we thought it would be a great time.
Because Laura had work on Friday, we had a late flight on Friday night. We flew into Fort Lauderdale around 10:00pm. It was there where we picked up our rental car. Nick had paid for a compact car for us. I think it was supposed to be a Ford Fiesta. I asked about the cost difference to upgrade to a Ford Mustang convertible. After all, we’d be driving through the Keys. I thought it would be worth the price difference. We did end up leaving the airport in a Mustang convertible. It was glorious.
Because we were arriving at our motel in Key West very late (around 2:30 in the morning), Laura called the front desk to make sure somebody would be there when we arrived. When she called, though, she got a voicemail. We spent the next 20 minutes super anxious until we ended up getting a call back from the same number she called. The person on the phone apologized they were away from the phone and explained they would be at the desk until 7 in the morning. We were relieved.
We got to the motel around 2:30 in the morning. We parked the car and went inside to the front desk to check in. The same man that had talked to Laura on the phone was there. He asked for ID and noticed it was a New Jersey drivers license. He asked if we had driven all the way from New Jersey. We explained we had a late flight and told him why we were in Key West. He was super nice and told us to get some rest and enjoy our stay. We got to the room and unpacked a little. We ate a few snacks since we didn’t have dinner that night and went to bed.
We woke up around 9:00 in the morning. We didn’t have to be at the wedding venue until around 1pm so we took some time to get up and go for a quick walk around town. We went into a local gift shop and got a new ornament (we collect ornaments from every trip we go on). We decided to go to a place called The Lobster Shack and got THE best lobster rolls we have ever had (even better than ones we’ve had in Bar Harbor, Maine). Laura got a traditional roll and I got one that had hot butter and key lime juice on it. It was amazing.
We got back to the room and dressed up for the wedding and made sure everything was packed. The venue was two blocks away from where we were staying but we decided to drive over anyway. Being that Laura is pregnant, she’s been getting more tired quicker. We figured after a full day of standing on her feet, the walk back with camera gear would be tough.
The wedding turned out great. Laura and I took turns filming Nick and Brielle getting ready. Everything was all done in one location at the Casa Marina so we didn’t have to go far. The venue itself was beautiful. The ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception were all outside on the beach and the weather was wonderful. The reception was extra nice, as the sun was setting while the music was bustling. It was a buffet style dinner and there were foods like garlic mashed potatoes to conch fritters available. It was a delicious dinner followed by some speeches.
The night ended with some s’mores by the ocean and some donuts (both of which Laura and I ate of course). Towards the end of the reception, around 10-11:00pm, Laura’s feet started bothering her so she took some time to sit down as I got a few extra videos of the party. We were invited to go out afterwards and party around the town, but it was getting late and I was getting tired and Laura wanted some time to rest so we made our way back to the room.
The next morning we had to leave the room at 10am in order to get to the airport in time for our flight home. We spent half the drive through the Keys with the top down on the Mustang, soaking in the view. There’s nothing quite like driving down the 7 mile bridge and being surrounded by nothing but water for miles. It rained a little bit for the second half of the drive so we had the top up (which was good because I was starting to get sun burn). We stopped at a gas station at some point and there was a chicken staring at me while I filled up the car.
We then went through the more boring parts of travel. We dropped off the rental car at the airport, went through security, waited for boarding, and flew on the plane to get home. Everything went pretty smooth. We did have to wait on the runway in Newark, NJ for about 45 minutes before a gate opened up for us to unload at.
We ended up getting home close to 11pm that night. And both of us had to work Monday through Friday the following week so we’ve definitely been dragging these last few days. But I always say, being tired is only temporary. The memories will last forever. You won’t care how tired you were 5 years from now. You’ll only remember the experiences you had. And this was definitely one of those moments. We had the opportunity to come full circle and re-visit a place where we saw it all begin. While we wish we had more time to celebrate, we were glad to be a part of Nick and Brielle’s special day and can’t wait to share the final video with everybody!
Thanks for tuning in!
Justin
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