This couple celebrated the Chinese New Year with an epic wedding full of tradition and elegance! With flawless florals in all shades of red and pops of gold, the evening fully encompassed romance and love. Every single detail of the day of captured perfectly by Amalie Orrange Photography. Read their sweet love story below, told by the groom!
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From the groom… We first met in college at the University of Florida. I thought that Nicole was fun, outgoing, and beautiful. As they say, the rest is history. We lived together in downtown Orlando. I was starting a new job and Nicole was finishing up Physician Assistant school. Her dad, George, came to live with us for a while and brought Nicole’s childhood dog, Burrito, with him. We had a good era with George and decided to adopt Burrito. Now we have a 15 year old “savage” chihuahua.
When Nicole’s job took her to The Villages, we decided to move to Winter Garden to shorten her commute. We have settled into this charming old citrus town about 20 minutes outside Orlando, which has a nice downtown area in which we live. Nicole, Burrito, and I are a happy family! Our story started in the fall of 2015, when I knew I wanted to propose to Nicole. She had hinted about rings and what type she wanted, but I had kept saying “next year”, and we hadn’t actually been to the jewelry store.
At Thanksgiving, I spoke with George and asked for his blessing, which he gave. I talked to Jeff and Matt too, who were both excited. I planned to propose on Christmas Day when we were in Atlanta with my side of the family. On Christmas morning I was really nervous. Nicole kept asking me why I was acting weird, and I tried to brush that off. I had the ring wrapped up in a box, ready to go. I attached it to our dog, Burrito, and tried to get him to walk the ring over to Nicole. Burrito, of course, got scared and went to go hide in a corner. My family (who all knew what was happening) kept saying that Burrito had a gift for Nicole and then he finally made it over there. Nicole didn’t know it was coming, since we hadn’t actually looked at rings and that we had been talking about “next year”. When she opened the box, I took it from her, said some words, then got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.
My parents, G’Pa, Uncle Steve, and Aunt Laura were all there and had the champagne ready. We FaceTimed with Nicole’s family, and it was a beautiful day.
January 28th, 2017 is New Year’s Day on the lunar calendar. When we saw that Chinese New Year came on a Saturday in the window that we wanted to get married, we had to choose it as our wedding day. It is an auspicious day. We had a traditional Chinese tea ceremony with both of our families as well to tie into our heritage. We will be celebrating the year of the rooster. If you were born in 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, or 2005 then you are a rooster!
Photography: Amalie Orrange Photography | Videographer : Seltzer Films | Event Planning and Design : Big Day Celebrations | Floral Design : Flowers By Lesley | Wedding Dress: Pronovias | Cake : Party Flavors | Invitations : Minted | Ceremony : Mission Inn Resort | Bridesmaids dresses : Amsale | Hair & Makeup : Makeover Station | DJ: Our DJ Rocks | Officiant : Our simple ceremony | Bridal Boutique: Calvet Couture Bridal | Candy Buffett: Florida Candy Buffets | Draping : Classic Event Decorating | Linen: Over The Top Linen | Mirror signs with Calligraphy : Two peas Designs | Photo booth : Photo Booth Rocks | Rentals: A Chair Affair | Wall draping : Classic Tents and Events | Wedding rings : Bay Hill Jewelers