Jeff and Dana's Napa-Inspired Nuptials

I had the pleasure of coordinating a wedding this weekend for a very special couple. The bride, Dana, and her twin sister, Marcie, were sorority sisters of mine at the University of Florida. I was so honored when Dana hired me almost a year ago to be her day-of-coordinator. I also knew many of the bridesmaids which made it really fun for me. The wedding was held at the amazing Reunion Resort - this is one of my new favorite venues now. It is located about an hour east of Tampa in the city of Reunion, right before the Disney area. It's a gorgeous resort with beautiful scenic parks and of course their well known golf course. The ceremony was held in the Grande tent next to a beautiful waterfall, and it incorporated all the Jewish traditions and rituals including a ketubah signing prior to the actual wedding ceremony. Rabbi Arthur Baseman officiated under a breathtaking chuppah covered in curly willow, hydranga, and roses created by Botanica.

Because the couple chose to do a first look and all of their formal portraits before the ceremony, everyone got to relax during the cocktail hour and I got to give the bride and groom a sneak peak of the reception room before the guests came in. That was for sure one of my favorite parts of the night! Dana also got to show Jeff the surprise groom's cake which was adorable.

The reception was held in the Grande Ballroom with entertainment provided by Blue Stone Circle band. This crowd partied well into the night starting off with almost 200 people doing the traditional Hora dance and continuing with the dance floor packed til 1:30am! The Reunion staff put on an amazing event with great food and awesome personal details like monogrammed desserts and mini ice sculptures for the intermezzo (yes, every single guest received their own "Z" ice sorbet bowl). Their service really was top-notch and I can't thank them enough for their hard work and all of the care they put into this event. The 5 tier wedding cake and the "grill master" groom's cake were both made by Party Flavors bakery in Orlando and they came out great.



Many of the details had an underlying wine theme -- grapes in the centerpieces by Botanica, purple hues throughout, murano glass wine stopper favors -- because Jeff proposed to Dana during a trip to Napa.



Dana and Jeff, it was a pleasure coordinating this wedding for you both and I wish you a lifetime of happiness together. Thanks for letting me be a part of your big day. Here are some of my personal photos of the day and pro photos hopefully coming soon as well as a video highlight from DunnRight Video!!

Jennifer and Corey's Mahaffey Wedding

I started working with Jen and Corey in November of 2009 so it was bitter sweet to see them tie the knot at Mahaffey Theater on February 26th. They are such a fun couple and I am truly going to miss working with them!

Their ceremony was held on the first floor atrium which has floor to ceiling windows so it almost felt like you were outside. Jen had her little brother do a reading from Dr Seuss' "Oh The Places You Will Go" which had guests both laughing and crying at the same time. Their long time family friend, Rev. Landeen did a beautiful job performing the ceremony. Afterwards, guests enjoyed cocktails and appetizers on the second floor atrium.

The reception was held in the ballroom (which also had amazing views)and was decorated with navy table cloths, stunning floral arrangements from Dana Dineen and the largest cookie buffet I have ever seen! The cake from Let Them Eat Cake was adorned with the cutest cake topper that Jen found on Etsy.

Delectables catered the event and the food was delicious! Guests raved about how tender the beef was and the pasta bar was a huge hit! The Delectables staff were all very professional and the service was fantastic.

Rob Sword provided the music for the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception and, as always, did a wonderful job MC'ing. The dance floor was packed all night long! There was a very talented little boy (my guess is he was about 2) who had dance moves that most men don't have. He really stole the show! :)

Stephanie Smith and her second shooter, Carolina Araujo were there to capture all the smiles, the happy tears and the special moments. It was so much fun working with them and I can't wait to see their photos!

Now, back to that awesome cookie buffet! Many of the cookies were actually made by Jen & Corey's friends and family. You name it, they had it! There were too many different types of cookies to name - but the guests really enjoyed them throughout the evening and also loved being able to fill up goodie bags so they could enjoy them later.

Jen and Corey, it has been so much fun working with the two of you. The love you too share is so special and so inspiring. I wish you both a lifetime of love, happiness and many great memories. I hope to see you at a Rays game soon!

Here are some of the pictures I took, but hope to have some professional photos to post soon!















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This little man was quite the dancer!

A 70th Birthday Bash!

A few weeks ago, the mother of the groom from one of my recent weddings called me needing assistance for a birthday party she was throwing for her husband. But this wasn't just any birthday party.. it was a HUGE birthday party for over 400 guests. And that photo above is a piece of art depicting the birthday boy in his birthday suit, of course.

At the time,they only had their venue, the Sheraton Sand Key, and their favorite band being flown in from Colorado. They hired me to plan all the rest and pull together the remaining details... in just 2 weeks. I love a challenge though and this family was so great to work with. Lucky for me, Wally, the birthday guest of honor, was a UF alumni who loooves the gators. This was my kind of party.

A huge thank you goes to all of the vendors who were able to help me pull off this event in such short notice. Celebration Balloon Center provided the festive balloon centerpieces and The Bride's Bouquet designed a beautiful arrangement for the greeting table. The awesome Florida Gator ice sculpture was created by Arctic Ice. The guests were also raving about the delicious cake, cookies, and cupcakes from A Piece of Cake in Tampa. They looked just as perfect as they tasted. The guests were also treated to an ice cream bar to compliment the sweet treats. I really appreciated the assistance that Bonnie and the staff provided at the Sheraton - their service was excellent!

Here are some photos of the event shared with us by Hayley Jones of HJC Photography.. enjoy!!

Pro Photos and Video -- Alex and Max

I was so excited to receive a cd of images from Alex and Max's January wedding at the Vinoy. I love when photographers are so willing to share their photos. A huge thanks to Victor Junco, their wonderful photographer, for capturing these beautiful moments and details from this gorgeous wedding. I also received a video highlight from Ian of Movie Magic. We loved working with them again and the video looks fantastic - I love how the video shows Alex's huge smile the entire time. Thank you for sharing this with us Ian!!

Alex&Max from MOVIE MAGIC PRODUCTIONS on Vimeo.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to our wonderful clients and all of our blog readers. Did you get engaged this Valentine's Day? We want to hear your engagement story!! Send us an email at Shawna@FlawlessOccasions.com and tell us all about the proposal with a photo of you and your sweetheart...we'll pick our favorite and you'll win 10% off your planning package. Plus, we'll feature you on the Flawless Blog and hopefully inspire others to pop the question, too!
Send in your story by Sunday, February 20th, to be considered for the contest.

We would also like to with Meag and Ryan a very happy anniversary. We spent Valentine's Day of 2009 coordinating their beautiful wedding at the Mirror Lake Lyceum. They are now living in snowy Boston so we wish you a happy and hopefully warmer 2 year anniversary. :)