I guess you'd like to see this sneak peek now, right? :-)
Julie sent everyone their wedding invitations in this beautiful box:
Their wedding rings with the invitation that came in the above box (More photos of the invitation where the invitation is the main focus to come in the big reveal!)
Julie's shoes for the ceremony and reception:
Julie's ceremony wedding gown:
Julie's girls all had the cutest flip flops with their initials on them!
A couple of photos of Julie and Flo right after their First Look:
Julie had seen us do this shot before and she wanted it too:
Then we headed over to the cocktail hour set up to get some great detail shots. Julie hired an amazing company, Signature Events, to make her cocktail hour look Miami Chic with beautiful white lounge furniture. Signature Events also are responsible for beautiful touches to the reception room decor. We loved the details! We have tons that will come in the big reveal but here are just 2 for now:
My abstract take on the set up -
And a normal shot that showcases the entire set-up
We let Simon and his beautiful wife Becky shoot the party of the cocktail hour and we went on to get some other great detail shots of the ceremony set up and reception set up.
Fishawk Florists did an amazing job and lined the ceremony aisle with over 54,000 white rose petals. It truly was out of this world
As I mentioned before, the ceremony was very touching. This is one of my favorite shots. The evening light caught a tear as it fell down Julie's cheek and when I saw this image pop up on the back of the camera, it made me quite emotional too.
Staci Mandikas from Unique Event Design was the wedding coordinator for this marvelous affair. She kept everything running smoothly and pulled all of Julie's visions together and even infused some ideas of her own to inspire Julie to think bigger. She went out of her way to make sure time for set up shots was part of the wedding day schedule. We, of course, LOVE planners who do this because we love having time to shoot the amazing details that our clients work so hard to put together and spend so much of their wedding budget on!
We took many reception detail shots because there were SO MANY awesome details to shoot!!! Here are just a few for now..
The head table had over 30 seats and again Fishawk rocked it out with over 18,000 red roses on the head table alone! We like this abstract shot showing off the depth of field of the chairs lined up
No details went forgotten. Julie had her programs, thank you cards, menu cards and invitations all done by "Flamboyant Designs Couture" (www.flamboyantdesignscouture.com) and they did an amazing job and added that perfect elegant touch of BLING to each item
The Grand Ballroom at the Don Cesar is so stunning and beautiful. Quinn Noonan, the Don Cesar Catering Coordinator was so awesome to work with and really went above and beyond to make sure we were able to get some great detail shots and that her staff got out of the way when we needed the room for some set up shots.
The wedding cake was absolutely stunning and beautiful. Many photos of the cake to come but here is one I liked because of it's artistic value. I held the drape in my left hand and steadied the camera in my right to create the draping at the bottom. I just adore it! The amazing and talented Pastry Chef, Tara Bishop of the Don Cesar is responsible for this beauty!
Julie and Flo got to come into the reception room and see it before their guests were allowed in. Her reaction was a huge smile followed by many tears of joy. In that moment, we got to see her dream wedding come true before our very own eyes. The wedding coordinator, Staci and I were both in tears. It was beautiful and special and most importantly, it was genuine. I'll never forget that moment as Julie grabbed Flo's hand just a little tighter, looked at him and a tear fell down her face because all of her hard work and meticulous planning had finally paid off. Her dream had just come true with the man she has loved for a decade.
A touching moment where Julie's daughter was afraid she was going to be in my picture and was about to leave but I told her not to go because she was adding something special to the photos as Julie got her make-up touched up during the reception.
I must say.. I adore tattoos! I grabbed this shot of Julie while the make-up artist was changing brushes! LOVE IT!!
Natalie at Chic Sweets did an amazing job on the candy table. Everything was personalized to put the special "Julie and Flo" touch on it including the BLING factor and their monogram. More detail shots showing off individual parts of the candy table to come later! Did I mention it was quite tasty? Thanks Chic Sweets for sending us home with an awesome goodie bag!
That's all for now! We hope you enjoyed the photos we took at this amazing wedding and we can't wait to share the rest with you soon!
There were many other vendors who we would like to mention really quickly as well. We don't want to leave any of these lovelies out!
Breezin' Entertainment had beautiful music for both the cocktail hour and the ceremony. While we weren't there to hear them perform, we heard they did an amazing job!
The Don Cesar handled the bartending and catering as well as the wedding cake. Everyone raved about how delicious the food was and the drinks looked quite tasty! Their staff was on point, running all over the place to the very last minute to make everything just perfect.
Julie's personal hair stylists Lazzaro and Jorge were so much fun and of course, they made an already beautiful woman look magazine worthy!
Her make-up was done by Christy McDonie of Tampa Bay Makeup Artist. Stunning work Christy!
Arctic Ice brought out a beautiful ice sculpture for the cocktail hour.
Jose Orterro of "Just Outstanding Entertainment" had the dance floor packed before dinner was even served. His DJ rig was bigger than my living room! He had awesome lights and he played a rockin' slideshow that featured some awesome music videos as well as photos from Julie and Flo's first "I do" ten years ago.
Reverend Tom Green officiated and did a beautiful job. He really seemed to understand the special connection between Julie and Flo and his words were touching!
And last but not least, Celebrations of Tampa Bay came out and did the video of the wedding. I've yet to see any video but I am sure they did a great job. They were easy to work with and be around!
That's all folks! Until next time.....
