Florida Panhandle help please
 

Looking for a Florida panhandle location for my daughters weddding. We are looking for an area where the houses are not built right on top of each other. Does this exisit? Thanks

Out in the piney sticks (there are PLENTY of those places) or at the beach? It's kind of a big area.

We want to rent a large beach house with deck right on the beach. Wedding on the beach and reception on deck.We would need other lodging available within twenty minutes or so.

You are asking about 200 miles of coastline from Perdido Key to the Big Bend. Are you open to any location? For the right price I'm sure you could find something that fits the bill. There are a ton of wedding planners. have you contacted any of them? wyndhamvacationrentals.com covers much of the area as do dozens of other companies. Best of luck and if you have more specific questions, please post again.

Yes, I am open to any location in the panhandle. We are not faniliar with the area at all. That is why I am asking for help on the board. I am looking for an area/city/location where I can rent a large house on the beach without neighbors ten feet away. Thanks for any help!

Beaches of South Walton, maybe? Most of the houses are pretty close together, but you might be able to find one or two that are spread apart. And there is definitely other lodging close by. Try vrbo.com for ideas.

Another idea might be to have the wedding somewhere like Carillon Beach, and then have guests stay farther away near Rosemary Beach, to give the newlyweds some space, or vice versa (assuming this is why you want the places farther apart?). I know Carillon Beach has a really pretty wedding pavilion but the houses are really close together.

We want to have the wedding on the beach at the house right outside the house and the reception at the house. The reason I am looking for a house with a bit of privacy is to avoid a lot of people walking/hanging out on beach during the wedding.

I have looked at vrbo but that is difficult without knowing what area I am looking for. I don't want to contact a wedding planner. We will be doing the wedding preparations on our own.

I just need to narrow down a couple if nice, lesser populated areas to look in. I would appreciate any suggestions.

My recommendation is to contact a wedding planner. I have been to two weddings on the beach. One was on Okaloosa Island and the other was along the road from Navarre to Pensacola Beach. Both of them were in undeveloped areas hence no homes, condos, etc. There were some people on the beach but they didn't gawk at the ceremeony. If you are planning a january wedding it would be much less crowded than a July 4th wedding. Good luck. I hope you can find some answers because you are asking a question that obviously the thousands of Fodorites cannot help you with. If you narrow it down to more specific questions, please post and you will get answers. Best of luck.

Actually I think you might still look at Beaches of South Walton. If you search around for weddings in the area, maybe you could choose a photographer with knowledge of the area who might recommend a perfect location for the ceremony itself. (i.e. choose the general location, then the photographer, and then the lodging, in that order) Just a thought?

There are many houses along the South Walton Beaches that are not between stretches of beach that would be heavily travelled. If you chose one between Seaside and Seagrove, or between Seagrove and Rosemary, you might really be fine.

Have a look at Blue Mountain Beach. Mostly residential with beachfront houses. Not crowded.

I've vacationed on the panhandle for the past 25 years. It depends on when the wedding is. In the mid summer anything in the Destin area is going to be crowded, very crowded. Blue Mountain beach all the way to Seaside is nice but you would still have to travel on crowded roads in the summer. Pensacola features many large house options ( I have stayed in a few, sleeping 18-20) Great beaches and less crowds even in mid summer. Check out Pensacola Beach on VRBO for better house options.

Cape San Blas would be a great location...lots of large beach houses and quiet beaches