Bailey Palm Glade: Site of Our Ceremony

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

Bailey Palm Glade: Site of Our Ceremony

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden

The view from the Sonesta Hotel & Suites

Sonesta Hotel & Suites Coconut Grove

Chart House - Rehearsal Cocktail Site

Big Fish

It feels like a Florida Keys seafood shack plunked down in the gritty heart of industrial Miami. The best seats are outside at tables fronting the Miami River or the bar built around a large banyan tree. With cars clattering across a nearby drawbridge, tugboats hauling in ships, MetroRail cars zooming overhead and airplanes blasting through the sky, the place literally reverberates with urban energy. Crab cakes are arguably the best in town.

Cafe Pastis

Once inside, you'll be seduced by the cramped, noisy, engagingly funky bistro that calls to mind Paris' wealth of excellent little neighborhood eateries. From the broom-closet-sized kitchen comes the kind of homey, satisfying, no-frills cuisine that never goes out of fashion. There's escargot, fine spinach salad with roasted pears and Roquefort, and the classic steak frites.

Francesco Restaurant

Behind Franceso's sprightly yellow stucco facade is an equally warm and welcoming dining room, a rustic-elegant space done in tones of sunny gold offset by rich, dark wood. Peruvian cuisine is known for its abundance of seafood, inventive use of humble ingredients and the influence of its Japanese population. Peruvian tamales stuffed with tender octopus are perhaps an acquired taste, but shrimp in pepper and shrimp roe sauce is quite popular.

Joe's Stone Crab

Though a longtime Miami institution, Joe's appearance and ambience are surprisingly nonconformist--lots of dark wood and gleaming brass, black-and-white tile and plush banquettes. Starters include the chopped salad (a blend of feta, veggies and honey-roasted nuts in a light vinaigrette), groaningly rich creamed spinach or hash browns so good you could rename the place after them. Although there are steaks, poultry and other seafood, the stone crab claws taste cleanly and sweetly of the sea and need only a bit of Joe's famous mustard sauce.

Lebouchon Du Grove

Once a playground for bohemian hippie types, Coconut Grove was seized by capitalists who Disneyfied the quaint village in a big way. People nostalgic for the past haven't written the Grove off entirely, seeking solace in the comforts of Le Bouchon du Grove, an authentic French bistro with doors that open to the outside, providing a perfect view of pedestrian traffic yet keeping diners at a safe enough distance away from the madness.