I had so much fun at Disney’s Animal Kingdom for our styled shoot for Ever After Bridal‘s Veluz Reyes exquisite wedding gowns! Special thanks to beautiful Jen and her adorable husband Mike for making this such a great day. Featured here are the KAMIRA and HELENA gowns. Thank you also to Nikun Event Design and Cloud 9 Wedding Flowers for the perfectly vibrant bouquet and flower crown!
Ever After Bridal is the official US representative for the incredible Philippine designer Veluz Reyes. Vellum launched her first Ready To Wear line in 2013. Known for her exquisite details, stunning beadwork and unique designs there is nothing comparable to a Veluz Reyes gown in the bridal market today. Her work can be seen flooding social media, inspiration boards, blogs and bridal magazines. Ever After Bridal is honored to work directly with Veluz and exclusively represent her here in the USA.
Jackie and Jayson’s Orlando Science Center wedding started out at beautiful Loch Haven park on the lake. We loved their first look under one of the oldest oak trees in central Florida and their fun wedding party photos at the The Mennello Museum of American Art. Our friendship started out with their engagement photo shoot and continued on with some of our favorite wedding photo booth photos we’ve taken. Congratulations Jackie and Jayson! Thank you for including us ?
Catering – Puff’n Stuff- they did an amazing job. Everyone loved the potato bar on the salt block. DJ – DJ Tommy – He did a great job with the last minute changes that we made. Flowers – Julia’s Floral Design did an amazing job. She went with my theme & came up with amazing ideas. The flowers turned out even better than I had expected. Cake – Sprinkles did such an unbelievable job. The cake was so gorgeous that I didn’t want to cut into it. Wedding Dress – David’s Bridal – I found such a unique dress that I had never seen before. Shoes –DSW Bridesmaid dresses – David’s Bridal Menswear – Men’s Wearhouse
From Jackie: Describe your wedding day style in one sentence – Relaxing & full of emotion as we were able to bring our family together as one in front of our families & friends. Wedding day color scheme – Aqua & Gray Describe your wedding planning process – We started researching venue ideas & found the Orlando Science center which we fell in love with. With the help of Pinterest we were able to come up with great ideas to tie our love for the beach into the wedding. What advice would you give to future brides for their wedding day?Don’t stress over the small things. It’s impossible for everything to be perfect. Anything you would have done differently?I would have met up with the coordinator before the wedding to come up with an exact timeline for how the evening would go. Most memorable moment during the planning process – The most memorable moment was when I picked out my wedding dress & saw how happy this made my mom. What are you most looking forward to as a married couple?Enjoying all of our adventures that will come our way & expanding our family. Which moment are you the most excited to see in photos?I am most excited to see the first look photos. What was your wedding inspiration?My wedding inspiration was the beach & bringing everything together as if we were on the beach. Describe some of your favorite wedding details and how you came up with them.Some of my favorite wedding details was our cake. We found some great ideas on Pinterest & Sprinkles was able to expand on our ideas. I also loved the Dropbox guest book because it is completely different then what you traditionally see at a wedding. I found that on Pinterest as well.
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Ciara and Michael’s DIY wedding was a friends and family affair: her mom did all of the food on her own from BJ’s and Publix, their DJ was a family friend that did the music for the ceremony and their best man did the music for the reception based off of playlists on Spotify. They handmade all of the bouquets and boutonnieres. The cake came from their family friend, the girls hair was done by her maid of honor’s mom. Another friend made make all of the centerpieces and handled all of the decorations. The result was a beautiful morning wedding with a lovely park reception brunch in Langford Park. It really was a sweet, little backyard get together.
In Ciara’s words: Describe your wedding day style in one sentence: We chose a very rustic, flower-filled, simple style for our wedding which blended with the gorgeous natural foliage at the park itself. Wedding day color scheme: Our color scheme was a light blush pink with hints of light blue. Describe your wedding planning process: Our engagement was around 10 months long, so we had plenty of time to plan. I liked to tackle most of the big stuff (dress, location, photographers, etc) early on so when it came down to crunch time, we would only have minor details like bits and pieces of decor left. I planned the wedding with the help of my fiance, mother, and a few other friends. What advice would you give to future brides for their wedding day? 1. Do a first look!!! Seeing your man before all of the nerve-wracking parts happen really helps. Because from that point on, you two will be together. 2. Whatever is going to happen will happen and most of it will be out of your control, so just remember, at the end of the day – you’re going to be married to the love of your life. Nothing that could go wrong (rain, missing clothing items, technical difficulties) can stop you from spending the rest of your life, from that day on, with your best friend. Plus, you have so many people on your team to make your day perfect as can be. Anything you would have done differently? Honestly, the only thing I can think of is I wish we would’ve had our ceremony videotaped. I know there’s a lot that happened that I missed because I was waiting to walk down the isle, haha. Most memorable moment during the planning process: I remember feeling a lot that there was no way we could get everything to come together as fast as we needed it to, all on our own. The day that we finished all of the planning was great because we were both so flooded with relief and excitement instead of anxiousness! What are you most looking forward to as a married couple? That we now have the freedom to go on trips together, spend our early mornings and late nights together, and just know that we always have someone to walk through life with now. Which moment are you the most excited to see in photos? Oh my goodness I can’t wait to see all of the candid moments that were captured. Posed pictures are super cute, but candids have a way of showing someones real feelings and their hearts. What was your wedding inspiration? I really loved our beautiful Langford Park is on its own, so we really just tried to play that up. Our decorations were all burlap, lace, mason jars, and lots and lots of pink! The white chiffon and pink flowers in the gazebo for our ceremony really complemented the nature and made us stand out in the best of ways right in front of it! We just really loved the simplicity of playing up the beauty of the park while adding a few touches (like my dress, the lightbulbs with flowers in them, and the yard games) that stood out just enough. We wanted our wedding to feel like a lovely, sweet, little backyard get together. Describe some of your favorite wedding details and how you came up with them. Some of my favorite details…hmm. Well, I SO loved our centerpieces, photo booth, and how we did our vows. Vows were my favorite so let’s start there, haha. We wrote our vows to each other and then read them to each other during the first look. It was so intimate and romantic, just the two of us. We also typed them up and framed them so anyone who wanted to read them could, but we still got to share such a special moment at the beginning of the day together. The photo booth was so fun.I had seen the idea on pinterest and then our friends Erica and Galina, our decorators, really picked a perfect place to put it. We love to have fun and many of our friends are straight up goofballs, so taking silly pictures at the photo booth was so fun. I can’t wait to get the cameras developed!
Last but not least, I had seen many different ideas for rustic/simple/DIY centerpieces. I finally sent the pictures to our decorator and then went out and bought the supplies and pretty much let her do what she does so well! She created beautiful centerpieces that were absolutely everything we could’ve hoped for. I LOVED them!
We loved Danielle and David’s beautiful coral and metallic Dubsdread Wedding! With amazing florals and lots of sorority sisters, this was one of our favorites. (See their engagement shoot here.) We started at the Grand Bohemian, photographed through downtown Orlando and to the Dubsdread golf course. Thank you Danielle and David! Here is to you new life together ❤️
From Danielle: Describe your wedding day style in one sentence: Our wedding style evoked the festiveness and colorful hues of springtime in Florida. Wedding day color scheme: Coral (3 shades) and metallics (gold and copper) Describe your wedding planning process: We used a bunch of different wedding planning tools – The Knot, Wedding Wire, several books, timelines, Pinterest boards. The biggest help was a 3-ring binder created by The Knot that had sections for each of the big wedding components – ceremony, food, attires, music, etc. We bought it at Barnes & Noble. Inside was a super detailed timeline of what to accomplish each month, questions to ask all of your vendors, note pages to stay organized, inspiration photos, and more. It helped us stay on track and make sure we didn’t forget something along the way. We also relied a lot on our moms, who are both in Central Florida. We set up phone calls with all of our vendors and then Danielle’s mom would meet them in person too. This was a huge help since it was hard to do certain things being all the way down here in Miami. What advice would you give to future brides for their wedding day? 1. Make sure you take a moment (or more if you’re lucky enough!) to really soak it all in. The entire day is going to pass in a flash. It’s going to be an exciting, overwhelming and hectic whirlwind of activity and there won’t be any slowing down once it starts. 2. This is coming from a self-proclaimed procrastinator, don’t procrastinate! If you’re using a wedding planning timeline, like a monthly checklist from The Knot, stick to it. You may think you have 2 weeks to ponder every invitation style known to man, but you don’t. Something else on the list is going to side swipe you and you’ll run out of time. Also, be decisive. Make sure you like what you choose of course, but also be confident with your decisions and move on to the next one. 3. And most important, if you’re having an outdoor wedding, bring every single umbrella you own….and maybe even purchase a new one for good measure. That will ensure it doesn’t rain! 😉 Anything you would have done differently? Danielle – I would have asked for more help from the bridesmaids. I really could have used someone to play time keeper and make sure we stayed on schedule. Another good duty would have been to have someone be “the eyes” over everything. So when Kelsey’s dress ripped, they would have been responsible for getting that fixed, not my mom. David – Him and the groomsmen were drinking whiskey and relaxing before the ceremony. Nothing went wrong for them. 😉 Most memorable moment during the planning process: This happened really early in the planning process, but booking our venue was the biggest milestone. From that point forward, everything we thought about related back to Dubsdread. We were always thinking about the atmosphere, the scenery, and the feel of the space. It allowed us to have a point of reference for the rest of the planning process. What are you most looking forward to as a married couple? We’ve been together for over 7 years, so we’ve had a lot of fun adventures together. What we’re most looking forward to in married life are all of our continued adventures, but now they’ll be “firsts.” First official date as husband and wife, first move, first home, first pet. We’ve made it a point to continue to “court” each other, and all of these fun adventures are part of that! Which moment are you the most excited to see in photos? The moment we first saw each other at the ceremony. What was your wedding inspiration? The color inspiration came from the beautiful outdoor setting at Dubsdread and the colors of springtime. We wanted something fun and colorful that would compliment the green of the trees and golf course. We decided to use metallics to compliment the wood throughout Dubsdread’s. The sparkle added the right touch of color against the dark browns. We wanted our wedding to be a celebratory time that our friends and family would always remember and associate with us as a couple. Our wedding was classy and put together, but not stuffy or too formal. We really focused on the flowers and music to set the mood of the wedding. Describe some of your favorite wedding details and how you came up with them. 1. Our DIY projects – the cake topper, MR & MRS letters on the sweetheart table, the wine box used during the ceremony, the table numbers. We used Pinterest to find inspiration and then had a few crafting days the week leading up to the wedding. Surprisingly, the crafting was a good bonding experience for us. 2. The varying shades of coral for the bridesmaid dresses. We loved the burst of color the shades of coral brought to the outdoor ceremony. We came up with this idea while trying to decide on wedding colors. 3. The BEAUTIFUL flowers. The flowers matched the bridesmaid dresses perfectly. Each shade of coral was represented in a single garden rose. Our florist was just awesome. We trusted her completely and let her make a lot of suggestions. 4. Our handwritten vows. We didn’t love the script our officiant sent us, so we decided to customize it to us. Along the way, we decided to write our own vows. Instead of keeping them a secret and writing them separately, we wrote them together.
Veterinarians James and Sarika’s engagement shoot at the Sanford Zoo was one of my favorite of all time – so I knew their wedding at Oviedo on the Park was going to be a lot fun (check out the bearded dragon cake topper!) There was a perfect mix of cultures, so much beautiful color and amazing friends and family. Thank you Sarika and James for including us xo
From Sarika: Describe your wedding day style in one sentence:I wanted the style to reflect a cultural fusion of both Indian and American elements
Wedding day color scheme: Orange and White Describe your wedding planning process:The wedding planning started fairly early since I was determined not to be stressed out! It actually all came together quite smoothly and with minimal stress which I love. I don’t have any nightmare stories about anything being messed up or delayed etc…and no bridezilla or family-zilla moments. I pretty much put together a list of the major stuff I needed to get done–dress, hair and makeup, venue, food, decorations, guest list, party favors, cake, music, invitations–and got one item done at a time. The guest list probably was the biggest challenge since we both wanted a small wedding and nothing over the top. Initially we had about 40 guests on our list, but it ended up being about 100 invitees instead! The end head count was around 65 which was perfect so it all worked out beautifully. What advice would you give to future brides for their wedding day?I think the more time you give yourself to get things done, the less stressed you will be. It may sound crazy to start scouting a venue 8-10 months in advance but if it is a popular location, chances are there are already reservations in place close to the date you want. Also, once you have the venue figured out, everything else will fall in place around it much easier so get that done first (after figuring out the date you want, of course!). I would also recommend sticking to what YOU and your FIANCE want vs. what everyone else wants. Ultimately, this day is about the two of you and you can’t control if everyone around you is happy or not. Chances are, there will always be someone who has a different opinion about what you should’ve done so just expect it and accept it, but do what will make the both of you happy since it is YOUR DAY. Try to soak in the moments of the day as it will likely move at a fast pace and you will be busier than you thought. I never wanted to be the bride who couldn’t enjoy her day because of the million things that were happening–and I wasn’t. I remember every detail and truly enjoyed the entire day. Anything you would have done differently? Not really; I guess it would’ve been nice to maybe have the venue for a couple more hours just because everyone was having such a good time socializing and catching up with family. Most memorable moment during the planning process: It was really exciting when we found the wedding invitation we liked–it seemed to make it more real all of a sudden. Also, getting our engagement picture location planned out was fantastic since we were able to incorporate our careers into it. The zoo was a pretty unbelievable location and the pictures were so unique and gorgeous. What are you most looking forward to as a married couple? I think just the everyday routine knowing that we will waking up together and going to bed together for the rest of our lives! Having each other as that constant in our lives is such a comfort and being able to share all of the moments whether little or large will be wonderful. Which moment are you the most excited to see in photos? That is such a hard question! I honestly don’t know since I’m excited to see all of them! I am always a fan of candid pics and natural photos because it’s almost like a challenge to see if you can catch that one fleeting moment that is unplanned, and when you do, you feel great! Since we ended up doing some ‘first looks’ I am curious to see how they turned out. What was your wedding inspiration?I really was just inspired to have a wedding that reflected simple elegance. Culturally, Indian weddings are so extravagant, lavish and over the top (in a good way). But even so, I never really wanted it to be such a huge affair and so I was inspired to keep it small, simple but still beautiful. I liked the idea of a day-time wedding because living in Florida, we get such beautiful light with the sunshine and weather, and it adds to the more casual tone I wanted overall. I can honestly say other than wanting it small, I really didn’t have any other ideas of what I wanted when I started planning. It all seemed to evolve and just come together as I tackled the tasks of getting the venue, food etc…Even finding my dress was an accident since I initially was going to buy it to wear to my brother’s wedding reception, but then found another one so I made the first one my wedding dress by default! Describe some of your favorite wedding details and how you came up with them: I think the bearded dragon cake topper is a favorite of both mine and my husband. Since we work with animals, we wanted to show that in small detail at our wedding. Initially, we were looking for a cute cat cake topper so we just started googling images of animal cake toppers. We ran across this bearded dragon bride and groom topper which was just ADORABLE!! Turns out this very talented lady in Canada makes them from her own custom mold and can customize them to reflect the wedding colors. The example online actually was exactly what we would be wearing in terms of colors so it was almost a given that that’s the one we settled on. It was also very important to me to have a representation of my grandfather who passed away a number of years ago, so I had my decorator make a special commemorative boutonniere for him and had a reserved seat for him during the ceremony in his memory. I also wanted to have his picture there so I placed one by the card box inside where the reception would take place and that way he had a place both during the ceremony and the reception. The party favors were a tough job to tackle since I hate clutter and usually these tokens are just something else to collect which I didn’t want. My husband and I ended up going with personalized mini mason jars because we figured at least they can be used after the wedding as well as be a memento. They turned out really nice and we filled them with some sweet and salty goodies so I think it was a great idea.
Libby and Scotty are the sweetest couple, she actually said of her wedding photos, ” I want photos of my friends having fun, not of me.” Their wedding was nothing but fun, with a live band, special beer bottle vases and wonderful family and friends. Thank you Libby and Scotty for including us xo
Whoever said courthouse weddings were not pretty or romantic, has not seen Lauren and Oliver’s beautiful day. I was so happy to be included in it! Such an amazing family with a sweet story. Their baby Stetson has been diagnosed with Sagittal craniosynostosis, which means he never really had a “soft spot” on the top of his head and the top part of his skull fused together too quickly. 3 days after their perfect little boy turns 1 he will undergo surgery to correct this problem (send prayers!) I asked Lauren to talk a little bit about their wedding plans…
Things about the three of us and our wedding. Where to begin!!!! Lol. For starters we planned 3 different weddings lol. A huge wedding in Jacksonville with 300 people for April 16, 2016 and then cancelled that because we decided we didn’t want a big wedding. We then planned a wedding for April 8 2016 in Savannah Ga with just our immediate family and were going to make it a fun family getaway with everyone but after Stetsons diagnosis we then had to cancel that wedding to throw together a new small court house wedding in a week! I will say it was better then I could have ever imagined. We wouldn’t have wanted our day any other way. My dress was from a boutique in Debra’s bridal in Jacksonville. My shoes were Christian Louboutins. The day of the wedding all of the jewelry I wore had some meaning to it. My earrings my in laws gave me that morning. My necklace had been worn by my 5 generations on their wedding days. My bracelet Oliver had bought me as a wedding present and it also matched the bracelet I bought as a present that day for my mother in law and mom. We have learned that you can’t always plan things but, in the end the spontaneous unplanned things turn out better. We adore our son and wouldn’t have our life any other way.
This venue was perfect for Heather and Dale – orange and purple details and everything wood (including Dale’s wedding ring!) We hit it off right away at their engagement session through historic downtown DeLand (see it here) and loved everything about their wedding, orange and grape soda toasts, lots of family and friends and a lip-sync sing-off that was too fun. Thank you Heather and Dale for including us ?
In Heather’s words: Describe your wedding day style in one sentence – Rustic Vintage with a splash of country! Wedding day color scheme – Purple, Orange and neutrals Describe your wedding planning process -Prayer, Pinterest, YouTube, more Prayer, more Pinterest and TheKnot Planning GuideWhat advice would you give to future brides for their wedding day? Hire a day of Coordinator – I am a bit of perfectionist and I knew the only way I would be able to “let it go” was to have someone else be the one in charge that day. Anything you would have done differently? Nope! Most memorable moment during the planning process– When we decided on our “special” gift to our guests! We performed our BEST lip sync performances ever!! What are you most looking forward to as a married couple? Building a family together! Which moment are you the most excited to see in photos? From Heather – Dale’s reaction when the doors opened! From Dale – Photos from the lip sync battle What was your wedding inspiration? – Focused on God and making the day fun and memorable. Describe some of your favorite wedding details and how you came up with them. One our favorite’s was our toast. We had seen some pinterest posts with old fashioned soda bottles and thought it would be fun to incorporate them in to our wedding. So instead of the classic champagne toast, we had Orange and Grape glass soda bottles. Using wood throughout our theme – a reminder that our relationship is built on a firm foundation with deep roots!
Chelsea and Joe have been planning their beautiful wedding for a long time – they booked us early and set off to find the perfect tree to get married under. We talked a lot about trees and ended up the theme of their engagement photo shoot as well! (see it here) The tree they got married under at The Estate on the Halifax was covered in gorgeous flowers. A navy and silver wedding with sequined dresses and a “crazy hour” of dancing with glow sticks and masks made this winter wedding so fun to photograph! Thank you Chelsea and Joe ?
From Chelsea: Describe your wedding day style in one sentence: a sequin winter wonderland Wedding day color scheme: navy and silver Describe your wedding planning process: We planned our wedding for over a year and divided the tasks so that we wouldn’t feel overwhelmed in the end. I kept myself organized with many lists 🙂 What advice would you give to future brides for their wedding day? Eat and make sure that you find a way to relax before walking down the aisle. And remember that if something goes wrong, it’s still your perfect day and there’s absolutely nothing that can ruin that. And my biggest was to remember I couldn’t control the weather! Anything you would have done differently? No. The day was perfect in our minds Most memorable moment during the planning process: There were many great moments but finding my wedding dress was the best day ever. And finding our perfect venue under the tree I’ve always dreamed of. What are you most looking forward to as a married couple? We are looking forward to doing some traveling, growing together as a married couple, and expanding our family when the time is right. Which moment are you the most excited to see in photos? First look pictures! What was your wedding inspiration? We were looking for a winter wedding due to colder temperatures in Florida. I’ve always wanted to get married outside and I love the romantic and simple atmosphere of giant oak trees. When I found the tree we ended up getting married under it was fate. Our bridesmaids wore a silver sequin dress that I had envisioned in my head for months and finally found, and we wanted to incorporate lots of sequin/glitter to give the romantic winter feel we wanted. Describe some of your favorite wedding details and how you came up with them. Our bridesmaid dresses were definitely a favorite and thankfully my vision was finally found on Etsy. We had a crazy hour that is part of my husband’s culture and our guests are still talking about the fun they had. I also really loved the sand ceremony we did and came up with idea of getting the custom navy and silver and I think that was a nice touch for the ceremony.
I was so happy when Chelsea called me to tell me she was getting married and – oh by the way – it’s next week and it’s just going to be us. She and Colin got married in beautiful Loch Haven Park in between the Orlando museums. Even though it was a stormy morning, they got married outside, in the rain. They were not paying attention to the weather – just each other. Thank you Chelsea and Colin for including us in your beautiful intimate wedding ?
