Island voted matrimonial mecca

By SARA KENNEDY

skennedy@bradenton.com

ANNA MARIA ISLAND --

Local restaurateur Ed Chiles is riding a growing trend in the bridal business - "destination weddings."

Couples are increasingly choosing a gorgeous, sun-kissed spot, such as Chiles' Sandbar Restaurant at Anna Maria, overlooking a sugar-sand beach teeming with wildlife and swept by gulf breezes.

They fly in friends and family members for a romantic sunset ceremony, then walk next door to its new,160-seat wedding pavilion for an easy, elegant reception.

"It's close to seven figures for us," Chiles said of how much his business, The Chiles Restaurant Group, generates annually from weddings. It employs a wedding event staff of six, which handled 200 ceremonies last year, he said.

Two of the small chain's restaurants, The Sandbar at Anna Maria and The BeachHouse farther south, Thursday were honored as top ceremony and reception sites on the west coast of Florida by The Knot magazine and Web site, a wedding planning network.

Lori Ruth, an account executive at The Knot, presented plaques to Chiles and his staff.

She congratulated them, admiring the setting, which was postcard perfect - complete with an unrehearsed dolphin sighting and lazy, puffy clouds drifting over deep, blue water.

"Our brides took a survey nationally and picked five 'best spots' for ceremony and reception," said Ruth. After tabulating the results from 20,000 brides, The Knot chose winners across the United States in five different geographical areas, she said.

Close to 40 percent of couples are now choosing a destination-style wedding, Ruth said, citing research from The Knot's 6 million unique visitors each year.

"They're able to throw a wedding on the beach and have a pavilion and a staff - that helps," she said of what brides liked about The Sandbar, at 100 Spring Ave., Anna Maria City.

It was the first time The BeachHouse won honors, but the second consecutive year for The Sandbar.

One couple filed suit two years ago, objecting to the growing wedding business at the restaurant on grounds of parking, noise and permit application problems, but their complaints have been mostly resolved, said Mayor Fran Barford.

"We're doing a lot more code enforcement," she said.

Several neighbors of the restaurant interviewed Thursday said they had no problem with traffic that so many weddings bring. One was even married at The Sandbar in 2004, he said.

"It was wonderful," said Jim Fleischmann, 55, a political consultant from Montana who stays every year at a house near the restaurant.

Sara Kennedy, Herald business reporter, can be reached at (941) 748-0411, ext. 4500.

The Knot magazine, Web site honor island restaurants as top wedding destinations on Florida's west coast