Orlando Wedding

   Robert McClory Photography

I cannot stop looking at my wedding photos. Robert said to us that he'd never seen so many people access an album in such a short time, and he said it was because my husband and I are well loved. I think the real reason is that his photos were so fabulous. I love his portraits, but having taken a lot of advice that "a wedding is not a photo shoot", we got a fabulous balance from him: lots of beautiful, print-worthy portraits and so many amazing, unexpected shots that really captured the spirit of the evening. We had talked a lot before, but I'd not been terribly communicative in the weeks leading up to the wedding. It didn't matter, though; it was like he could read my mind. He got everything. Looking at our gallery, I can't believe these are *our* wedding photos! They're so wonderful!

He was also open to working with us to meet our budget goals, and was super flexible, even on the day of when I wasn't prepared for everything. He did an incredible job with the "photobooth" photos, as well! Hire him!

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   Walt Disney World

Jodi & Victor's Walt Disney World Wedding
Maximum Happy,
Minimum Stress, Great Value

We (Jodi Bucknam and Victor Nazarian) got married at Walt Disney World on Sunday 18 April 2010 at the Gazebo in the Rose Garden at Disney's Yacht Club resort and had our reception at the Atlantic Dance Hall.

The bride & groom laughed and cried and danced.

The critics raved:
It couldn't have been any better. - Bride's Mom
I want to do it all over again. - Groom
The best wedding I've ever been to. - Our minister, Tony Guida

If you've seen Molly Ringwald in "Sixteen Candles" or Steve Martin in "Father of the Bride" you may understand my state of mind in early 2009. I was worried and I wasn't sure we knew what we were doing. Marrying Jodi was a rock solid sure thing. I couldn't have been more positive of anything in my whole life. HOW do we get married?
HC SVNT DRACONES... (Here Be Dragons)

I asked Jodi to marry me on the Royal (pipe organ) stage at the Maryland Renaissance Festival on the last day of the Fall 2008 season. I was just back from an airborne Coast Guard Auxiliary patrol, still in my uniform flight suit. We'd been dating since the previous February and had known each other from swing dancing for about a year before that. She said yes, my friend Gary played Ode to Joy on the pipe organ and I was walking on clouds. Now we had to start walking those clouds in the direction of a wedding, somewhere.

We spent months, buying magazines, doing Internet research and talking to friends. We must have put in 200 hours on our MacBooks looking up details and reading reviews and comments on weddings and we probably put over 5,000 miles on Jodi's Honda Civic Hybrid traveling to interesting wedding spots. We wanted to stay out of debt and pay for it mostly on our own. It had to be fun, include dancing and have as many of our friends and family as possible. We knew we could save some money by doing our own invitations and ceremony programs and providing a few of our own special touches. We even got our friend Slash (Eric Dunn) to draw up some special graphics we could use in our invitations. We knew we'd probably spend quite a bit if we wanted a memorable event and we wanted to do it RIGHT, get a good value and have lots of fun for our money.

We had lots of ideas for themes including Victorian formal, steam punk, zoot suits, island/tropical and Jazz Fest in New Orleans, etc. I even suggested getting married by a ship's captain in period garb - a pirate wedding.
Jodi wasn't into the pirate wedding theme but getting married on a ship (in non-pirate clothes) stayed on the list. We considered several cities close to the water and also maybe staying close to home.

Even though Washington D.C. is beautiful in the Spring the sprawling nature and inflated costs of the D.C. metro area would have made staying close to home expensive and complicated.

Also, because Jodi's family is somewhat dispersed and would have to travel anyway it only seemed fair to have the wedding somewhere worth traveling to. This made a destination wedding much more appealing, at least to my logic.

We visited, Baltimore, Portland (Maine), Tampa, Orlando, New Orleans, Charleston and several other cities. One of the pilots in my Coast Guard Auxiliary aviation flotilla, even flew us out to Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay. Then we talked it all over, did the math and searched our hearts. All in all it came down to what would make the maximum happy with the minimum stress at a reasonable cost? Walt Disney World came up on top. It was more than just choosing a location, it was more like choosing a project management team with romantic show business experience.
I had just one tiny concern...
"I don't think I want a Mickey Mouse wedding."

Looking back that might seem silly. We had just about the best time anyone can have getting married. Before-hand however I had some real concerns. I didn't want to spend the price of a small, used airplane on something that might feel plastic and be regarded as cheesy. I love Disney and Pixar and I'm fond of the Sorcerer's Apprentice. We own every Pixar film and we both love The Muppets. Even so, I wanted to make sure our wedding would be a Jodi and Victor focused affair, special in its own right.

I was also worried I would talk Jodi into something she wouldn't love. I can be a real bulldozer when it comes to decisions. When the little voice in my heart expressed concerns about "Mickey Mouse wedding" I listened to it. I made sure to say something to both Jodi and the Disney folks. I also made a point of listening to everyone. I'm not always the best listener but for this, I tried to listen extra hard.

Here's where the Disney folks really impressed me, Telepathy. Yup, Kristi Davis one of Disney's wedding sales representatives over at Franck's can read minds! She showed us the wedding chapel and the beach near the Grand Floridian and then, perhaps reading my body language or looking inside my skull suggested we go over to the Yacht Club and look at the rose garden and gazebo. Long before I met Jodi my best WDW trip ever was back in the early 2000's when I stayed for several days at the Yacht Club. It's cool, retro and wonderful and it's right by the water. Also, it's walking distance to both Epcot and MGM (now Disney's Hollywood Studios). Somehow Kristi must have known I love all of that. I love mind readers!

We were still not sign-on-the-dotted-line just yet. We made sure to finish up visiting the other sites we had planned and we double checked our hearts. We looked at numbers and talked with friends. We asked family members what they thought and then we did the smart thing. We talked with Jodi's mom.

Jodi's mother Anita is a saint. Really! She's a super smart, ultra cool professor over at Ohio State (Go Buckeyes) and not only was she happy to let us do the wedding any way we wanted but she also said she'd help us if we needed it. She agreed with us that WDW was a good idea and was very supportive. Likewise Jodi's father was very supportive as well and also offered to help if needed. Although we wanted to do this ourselves as much as possible we were relieved to know that help would be there if we needed it. We did "tap the rents" a little for money for photography, etcetera and my own mother even put up some money for the rehearsal dinner. They were all comfortable with Disney and helped keep our stress down a lot.

The due diligence and teamwork really brought Jodi and me closer together and made us more confident in our decisions. Some people have buyer's remorse about their wedding (the place, hopefully not the partner). I didn't want to ever have any feelings whatsoever that we could have done it better. By personally visiting lots of locations together and talking to lots of people face-to-face we bonded and we assured ourselves we were doing the right things. Then we chose Walt Disney World and Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings. Smart move, they were able to make it all happen with lots of happiness and without stress. They have, or can arrange for, almost everything you might need.

Walt Disney's company is much more than cute media icons and cultural fluff. He and his brother Roy established a creative business culture that revolves around family, friendship and taking good care of people. Disney has what it takes to make a wedding into a celebration:
1. Professionals who are capable and motivated to make things happen.
2. Customer service - feeling pampered should be part of any wedding.
3. Happiness, fun and smiles, for everyone - key to a good wedding.
4. Low stress!!!
5. Resources that are all close at hand.


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   Orlando's Classic DJs

I was a Guest at a friends wedding who utilized Chuck as their DJ. In my opinion, he did an excellent job. He kept the dance floor full and he had unique surprise touches that were nice. He did a great job calling attention to all important moments so that we didn't miss anything as Guests.

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   Atomic Entertainment

DJ Patrick Cullen (http://www.atomicweddingdj.com) was superlative. He really aced the gig with Master of Ceremony duties as well as great dance music DJ work. He showed up in great zoot suit style dance clothes which went well with several of our friends who also dressed up in '30's/'40's/'50's style. Everyone had a fantastic time and with Patrick's management of the up-beat mood, we all had tons of fun while burning lots of calories.

I got high praise from a pair of my friends who dance often, "He's trying to kill us!" they claimed. That was because Patrick was playing such good music no one wanted to leave the dance floor! Everyone was dancing themselves into smaller clothes sizes by the minute and smiling the whole time. He also played slow stuff for folks to settle down and eat and relax but always made sure the mood and pace of the music matched the needs and happiness of the guests.

We even had a conga line near the end that got almost every single guest up and dancing, again!

I never met the man before that day. He was specifically recommended to me by the Disney staff so I was willing to trust he was good. I had high expectations and he more than exceeded them. It also helped a lot that Disney has top notch sound systems. Quality equipment lets professionals do good work. Planning the reception music, Patrick was very good at communicating from a distance. I was easily able to stay in touch with him and plan the reception music & style completely from home. He made it all seem so easy. When we have our 5 year anniversary I'm going to hire him again. Patrick's genuinely a wonderful, fun guy. One other thing, Patrick and his wife can also take care of other wedding preparations and production if you need a non-Disney local person in the Orlando area. Oh, and he can dance too!

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   Jared - The Galleria of Jewelry

Love my engagement and wedding rings! Beautiful! I love going into Jared's. Almost everytime I go in this store, I come out with a new piece of jewelry. The quality is superior and I love getting my rings cleaned whenever I want (included on our service plan). My wedding gift from my hubby was a key necklace and it's gorgeous! I also got a Pandora's bracelet at my bridal shower form Jared's. AMAZING!!

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“ orlando florida reception areas ”

Hello Ladies,

Does anyone have any ideas for Garden Style Ceremony and Reception in Orlando Area.  Hopefully its not too expensive and overpriced.

If you have any good locations, please do tell.

Thanks

Claudette

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“ ORLANDO BRIDES ”

This is not to deliberately single out isolate the other brides but i thought it would be nice for us to share info on things going on in our city, such as the best venues, caterers and our different experiences with vendors if any. lets get acquainted, maybe we can share/learn a thing or two. i went to a bridal show in january @ the peabody hotel and my inbox & voicemail has been slammed with great offers and lists of vendors and ideas: maybe you can use some

a) where do you plan to have your ceremony &/or reception

b) any shared wisdom on vendors

c) any good or bad experiences

d) any good advice

Add more if deemed neccesary

thanks, nish

 

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“ Any Orlando girls here? I really need some advice. ”

Hi girls!!  I know this is not a wedding related question in any way, but I really need some advice about moving to Orlando.

Me and my husband are moving to Orlando in August and transferring to University Of Central Florida. We just got our AA degrees and now want to go to UCF for bachelors.

Well we are going to check out some apartments at the end of March. It would be nice to plan and map out some apartments to look at before we go.

We really would like to find an affordable, and SAFE neighborhood to live in. Close to UCF would be great, but if it is 15-30 minutes away, it is ok too.
I have read so many scary things about some of the places, but they were from year 2007. I was wondering if anyone could please share some advice and experiences about some places. We would like to know what apartments/ streets we should stay away from and what are the ones you recommend. It would be nice to get some recent feedback.

Safety is the most important for us. I want to be able to sleep at night knowing that our car is safe and that it is ok to take the garbage out at 9 pm. I am sure you understand what I mean :)

I already did some research and this is what I found:

A web site called apartmentratings.com and to call local police dep. to find out where most of the crime takes palace.

I still would like to hear some personal feedback.

Thank you so much we really appreciate the time you take to answer this :)

 

 

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“ ~~~ *** Orlando and Daytona Areas Brides *** ~~~ ”

Hello girls,

Happy Wednesday.

My FI and I need your help. Our wedding will be in Deland. Between Orlando and Daytona. We still don't have our videographer or photographer and I would like to ask if any of you could recommend us any at an economic price.

We would really appreciate your help.

Thanks :) 

Karina.

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“ ORLANDO WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS ” by jwerneth


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“ Charter Jet to Orlando ” by havan11

Charter Jet to Orlando – When You Simply Need to Have the Best on Your Trip

Not all of us need to travel often. If you are the type who does not travel often but have the present need to do so, then you simply have to have the best this time. If you are planning to go to Orlando, then you can consider using a charter jet to Orlando. This can provide you comfortable travel accommodations, classy environment and excellent service on your flight. You do not have to worry about prices that are too expensive because you can find one that perfectly suits your budget. Using savvyjet.com, for instance, allows you to have your pick of aircraft and destination without the unreasonable price.

 

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“ scooter rental orlando ” by scooter542

Remember researching before renting your wheelchair will pay off.

Recently, I purchased a scooter to make short trips into town and save on gasoline.  I absolutely love the scooter and everything it has to offer.  I have reliable transportation with very good gas mileage (80mpg), and a fun fresh-air ride to and from my destinations.  I very rarely use my pickup truck anymore and people are starting to wave and even look on with envy when I scoot into town on my baby blue scooter.

I live on a fairly good-sized property with about 20 acres of meadow and some wooded trails.  The scooter is perfect for riding around my land and making quick trips to the barn to check on the farm animals.  Because I live off the beaten path, I don't have to worry about locking my scooter up and it sits in my driveway always ready to go when I need it.  I am a little worried about rust so I am considering getting a cover for my scooter.

I don't have to visit the gas pumps very often but when I do, I rarely put more than one or two gallons into the 3-gallon tank.  3 gallons will take me almost 250 miles so I always feel comfortable taking short trips and not worrying about filling up.  Sometimes it seems like the gas gauge needle never moves on my scooter.  My neighbors are always asking me about the gas mileage I get and I always tell them the same thing, "With a scooter, it's not the miles per gallon, it's the smiles per gallon."  They always laugh about that.

I wear a helmet when I take my scooter out on the state-maintained roads.  However, I don't usually wear it when I'm on my property.  The feeling is liberating and I enjoy feeling the wind on my face.  I do usually wear boots when I ride just for the comfort.  I don't recommend wearing flip-flops or going barefoot because there is always a chance you could take a spill or even burn your feet on hot pavement.

I find that I can keep pace with the traffic on the roads I travel with no problem.  45 mph is no problem and I love taking it slow when I can.  I usually don't have a problem finding a place to park because most places have motorcycle parking near the entrance.  I have two saddlebag baskets on either side of the rear wheel where I store things I purchase.  I can't carry anything big on my scooter but usually that is not a problem.

I found a good selection of 150cc scooters for sale online and that is where I purchased mine.  They come mostly assembled and it didn't take me long to have my scooter road-worthy.  Licensing and registration is at your state's discretion but I did have to get a tag since I drive it on the state roads.  Not very expensive in my state.

I haven't had any maintenance problems with my scooter and I have almost 2500 miles on it so far.  Oil changes and standard wear and tear come with the territory but other than that, it is very simple to keep up as long as you don't abuse it.
orlando scooter rental
I highly recommend traveling by scooter if you get the chance.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my scooter and I've even talked my sister into getting one.  I think she will like the feeling of freedom you experience on a scooter.  If you want to try before you buy, a lot of tourist destinations offer scooter rentals and you can't beat the veratility and economy of a scooter.

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