Captiva Island - Perfect for a Sunset Wedding

We had to plan our wedding on less than one month's notice from New York, so we were both absolutely panicked when we arrived three days early. The South Seas Resort wedding coordinators had everything under control, and they took us on a tour of all of the venues and completely put our mind at ease. Michelle was just wonderful and had thought of everything. We had a wonderful time enjoying the beach, golfing, and having some relaxing meals on the marina. A couple of dolphins swam by during our lunch the day before we got married, and they were so graceful.

Quick Tips:

Definitely plan to spend a week here. There is a surprising amount of things to do here, so you need to allow enough time to fully enjoy yourself. Also, there is only one lane of traffic to and from the island, so try to plan any drives off the island at off-peak times, or it could take you an hour to go a few miles. Tempers can flare in this normally relaxed area.

The food is generally quite good at the resort, but it is pricey, so be prepared. Surprisingly, prices at the salon are low, so spend more money on indulging in pampering rather than food!

Best Way To Get Around:

You can walk all around the Resort area, but you really need a car if you want to explore other parts of Captiva or Ft. Myers or Sanibel. There is an excellent outlet mall not far off the island with all of the latest Coach items (my favorite) and about 100 other retailers' items.

This resort is the nicest one in the area (although there are some nice ones on Sanibel, too). We wanted to get married at sunset on a beach, and in February, there weren''t many places that could deliver. The on-site wedding coordinators handled many of the details for us which made our lives much easier.

We arrived at the resort a few days before the wedding to relax and unwind and take care of last minute details, and we loved the clear blue-green ocean water and white sandy beaches. We also enjoyed the golf course and just walking along the grounds. There is also a wonderful pool, and a marina filled with gorgeous yachts. There was a big game fishing contest going on while we were there, and it was fun to see the contestants coming back with their prize catches.

We were so happy with the service before and during the wedding. The coordinators managed to handle all kinds of details while not making themselves noticeable to our guests. When we got to our room after the reception, we were touched to see all of our gifts waiting for us as well as two champagne glasses and a bottle of champagne from the Resort.

We both were completely relaxed during the day because Michelle and her assistants handled all of the headaches. We look forward to staying at the Resort again soon.

We ate here for breakfast twice and lunch once. We preferred ordering off the menu to the breakfast buffet since there wasn't a lot there that either of us wanted to eat. We were trying to stay away from breakfast meats and eggs, and those encompassed most of the buffet.

I had a terrific grouper sandwich at lunch and enjoyed the atmosphere overlooking the Yacht Harbor. We saw two dolphins swimming between the boats together. Food was pricey, but filling.

Chadwick's Restaurant is know for its seafood buffet, and that is where we had our rehearsal dinner. Fortunately most of our guests were very big seafood lovers, so everyone left quite satisfied. There are different nightly themed buffets with entertainment, but Fridays are always the seafood buffet.

The cakes were also excellent, so it's important to save room after all of the king crab legs, grouper, and shrimp. If you don't like seafood, you will have to dine on veggies, rice and cheese.

How could an emporium be anything but wonderful, especially when it's main product is ice cream? I was momentarily disappointed when I realized that the ice cream was "Eddy's" because I had expected homemade, but their wide expanse of flavors soon assuaged my feelings. On a warm winter's day, nothing hits the spot like an ice cream cone. The store closes by 9pm though, so it's not available for late night cravings. Bob's is a must for those of us with sweet-tooths!