The Rusty Pelican - Tampa

Here at the Rusty Pelican we have nearly 20 years of experience making every party an event to remember. From the moment you sit down and talk with one of our professional wedding consultants to the last guest leaving, every detail will be planned to perfection.

We offer private rooms that can accommodate from 20 to 400 guests! From that intimate dinner party to a large social cocktail party! Four of our rooms have breathtaking panoramic sunset views of Tampa Bay. Choose from our extensive menu list or have our Executive Chef create a menu especially designed for your unforgettable day.

The Rusty Pelican looks forward to extending our warm hospitality and ideal atmosphere for your future event. Like a great love story, the Rusty Pelican has stood the test of time and will always be here whenever you want to add a new chapter to your own love story. Knowing that you can return to the Rusty Pelican from this day forward promises that your beautiful wedding memories will last a lifetime.

Bald Head Island Resort

From the taste of salt on your lips after a morning swim, to the wonder of a night sky undiluted by city lights, Bald Head Island offers a wedding experience you just couldn't have anywhere else. Charming wedding cottages are located in a variety of delightful settings. And all are, at most, just minutes from the beach.








~ Ceremony

Across the island are many lovely settings for weddings, including:
Bald Head Island Chapel
Old Baldy Lighthouse Grounds
Atlantic Ocean beaches
The Common at Cape Fear Station
Harbourside PavilionShoals Club Presentation Deck

Do men and women cheat for different reasons?

Do Men and Women Cheat for Different Reason?
If you're exposed to any form of American media, you may think that everyone is having an affair. The news is full of celebrities, athletes and politicians caught with someone other than their spouses. In prime time, you can watch the Desperate Housewives commit adultery, then flip the channel and find the Mad Men doing the same thing. Romance novels feature illicit trysts, and much of country music would have gone unwritten without someone's cheatin' heart.
Is infidelity the norm? Scientists know of only a few species that are completely sexually monogamous; one such species is the Diplozoon paradoxum, a flatworm that fuses to its partner until its death [source: Angier]. Even in animal species that practice social monogamy, such as birds that raise their broods in pairs, sexual monogamy is not the norm. A male bird may be raising a brood in which 10 to 30 percent of the offspring aren't his own [source: Barash].
But here's one case in which humans aren't emulating the birds and the (assumedly frisky) bees.

10 Foods for a Better Sex Life

Humans have always linked sex and food. Since the dawn of time, we've been experimenting with dietary supplements to amp up our sex drive. Some foods, like wine and oysters, have a pretty good record (though you can probably attribute the success of these two to the alcohol and suggestive shape). Others, like powdered rhino horn and lettuce, are just plain weird. And while the existence of true natural aphrodisiacs is up for debate, it's an absolute fact that eating certain foods can and does improve your overall sex life.

True, most of these foods are useful for their nutritional value -- it's obvious that someone who gets a diverse mix of fruits, vegetables and fiber in his or her diet is going to be more capable in bed. But there's a set of nutrients your body uses specifically for sex. We'll look at 10 of these nutrient-rich foods that help keep you ready for action when the lights go out.

Choose a Beautiful Color Scheme for Your Wedding

It's Your Day to Pick Your Favorite for Your Wedding

Every detail of your wedding should reflect your favorites, from gown to shoes, flowers to food. By choosing a color scheme right from the start, your wedding decor will reflect your own personal taste and look beautiful in every detail.

The color scheme you select will set the tone for the day and the events surrounding your wedding. You can also add sophistication or simplicity through the colors you select.


Generally, your color scheme will often carry into the attendants' dresses, table settings, and flowers. See our choices for some wonderful color schemes for weddings.

Fourteen Tips for Saving Money on Your Wedding Flowers

As an experienced wedding and special event florist, I'm often asked for floral advice. One of the most frequent questions I'm asked is, "How can I save money on my wedding flowers?" Over the years I've given a number of money-saving tips to brides, their mothers, their wedding planners, and anyone else involved in the budgeting and planning of their weddings. I've compiled a few of the most common ways to cut wedding floral costs and listed them below.

Money Saving Tip #1 - Keep the number of bridesmaids and other attendants to a minimum.
I'm always amazed by the number of brides who say they have a very tight floral budget yet they have a very large number of bridesmaids participating in their weddings. One of the most effective ways to immediately reduce floral expenses is to keep the number of attendants, particularly bridesmaids, to a minimum.

For an example of how the number of attendants can quickly inflate or reduce your wedding floral costs, take a look this comparison. A bride who selects an average $65 bouquet style for her 8 bridesmaids will spend $520 in bridesmaid bouquets alone, whereas, a bride who selects the same $65 bouquet for her 3 bridesmaids will spend only $195. That's a savings of $325!

2010 Wedding Trends

What Will Be the Hottest, Hippest, and Cutest 2010 Wedding Trends?

When predicting 2010 Wedding Trends, it seems almost too obvious to talk about the economy's impact. But before you jump to conclusions about how drab and cheap weddings are becoming, know that money is certainly not the only influence on style, fashion, or tradition. In fact, couples are getting more creative and feel more freedom to make unique choices.

Here's what I think will be hot next year:

Backyard Weddings at Home

While getting married at home isn't necessarily cheaper, it feels more personal, allows you to have a more intimate affair, and doesn't feel ostentatious. The economy means not only that people want to spend less money, but also that they feel guilty when they do spend money. A backyard event not only helps to put your guests at ease, but also allows you to make more casual, less expensive choices elsewhere. For example, a barbeque picnic feels more appropriate at home than it would at a country club.

Honeymoon on a Budget

15 simple ways to save money on your honeymoon

No one wants to skimp on their honeymoon. Posh accommodations, intimate meals, and soothing massages rank high on the wish list of virtually every newlywed, but most people don't have an unlimited expense account. No need to take the backpack-and-hostel route -- just focus on these five areas to cut down your costs.
The Planning

A little legwork early in your engagement goes a long way toward balancing your budget.

1. Consider a travel agent
It's easy to find a flight and book a hotel over the Internet, so the idea of working with a travel agent might seem antiquated. While it's not for everyone, Tim Leffel, author of Make Your Travel Dollars Worth a Fortune, observes that a travel agent can save money for those who don't have a specific destination in mind. "If you just want to go to a nice Caribbean island and stay in a hotel on the beach, agents can often find deals that you might not run across yourself." So if your heart's set on the Four Seasons in Nevis, use the Web. If you're open to any number of islands and resorts, see what a travel agent has to offer.

Jamaica Wedding Destination Guide

Just about every Caribbean island offers the natural lure of sun-filled days on white-sand beaches gently lapped by an azure sea. But for travellers in search of a rich cultural experience in a setting of extraordinary beauty, Jamaica presents a fascinating diversity of options.
Much of Jamaica's land rises more than 1,000 feet above sea level. The celebrated Blue Mountains, famed for their fine coffee, are actually made up of two ranges, the Central Range, in the northern section, and the Port Royal Mountains that rise above the Liguanea Plain, just north of Kingston. Forests are rich in flora and fauna, and a remarkable number of imaginatively landscaped gardens offer colourful relaxation spots for a restful break.

Water sports run the gamut from sailing and yachting to deep-sea fishing. The island's reefs are home to several sunken ships which have become home to huge families of tropical fish and favourite locations for scuba divers. Coral caves, tunnels and steep canyons overlook waters rich in all variety of tropical fish. The land is punctuated by cascading waterways and fast-flowing rivers, with several mineral springs of therapeutic value. River rafting is especially good on the Martha Brae and the Rio Grande. At Dolphin Cove, visitors can swim with a family of bottle-nose dolphins or visit with rays, eels and sharks.

Why Roses?

Roses are-plain and simple-the quintessential wedding flower. A universal symbol of love and beauty, they are at once classic and contemporary, omnipresent yet never overdone, ever current yet steeped in history. There were 20,000 cream-color roses at the wedding of Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. More recently, brides are finding Carmen Electra's luscious deep red rose bouquet to die for. Why? Roses are synonymous with romance. More elegant than daisies, less pretentious than French tulips, and more affordable than orchids...

Roses are Symbolic...

Open any romance novel, look at any romantic painting, and it's clear that throughout the ages writers, poets, artists, and others have used the rose as a metaphor for undying love, beauty, and passion. But why? It has been cited that Chloris -- the Greek Goddess of Flowers -- created the rose out of a lifeless nymph. In the creation, Chloris called upon Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, to bless the nymph with beauty; Dionysus, the God of Wine, to give her a sweet scent; and the three Graces to bestow charm, brightness, and joy upon her. Then Zephyr, the West Wind, blew away clouds so that Apollo, the Sun God, could make the flower bloom. Voila! A rose and symbol of beauty was born.