Southern Weddings

Arjola + Peter’s infused their celebration with family tradition and special meaning…  Arjola’s is originally from Albania an decided to pay honor to her heritage by having hydrangeas (a native flower in her home country) in her wedding arrangements.  The couple decided to wed on 08-08 not due to Chinese traditions of this being filled with luck, but to honor Peter’s grandparents who wed on the same day decades before. Catering by {Matthews Market and Catering}.  Wedding cake by {Etiquette of Chocolate}. For more, be sure to visit the Agnes Lopez Photography {Blog}.

The weather on our wedding day was: Partly sunny, partly rainy. We were able to get great pictures both outdoor and indoor.  You can’t worry about the weather too much because in Florida, it rains everyday in August.  That is why we got a tent!  
What was the design inspiration for your wedding? The simplicity, elegance and romance of a starry night.
Favorite design element of your big day: Aside from the big date: 08.08.08, the little sparkling blue twinkles in the bowl of the centerpieces filled with little beads. We were not allowed to use candles because of the art work in the museum, so we got creative on how to light the tables!
Describe your wedding flowers:  All white; hydrangeas, orchids, tulips, white tea roses.  I am from Shkoder, Albania and hydrangeas are abundant in my birth city, there is even a song about this gorgeous flower which in Albanian it’s called Lule Bore. It was important that we include this flower in honor of my heritage.
Describe your wedding cake: Awesome! It had champagne and raspberry fillings.  So amazing and captured the navy blue and simplicity we wanted.  We felt our cake was made with love.
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome while planning your wedding? Both being in school full time in Orlando and Winter Park, Florida and planning a wedding and dealing with vendors that are all in Jacksonville.  Peter had class from 7:30am-5:00pm also with an internship and I was finishing up my senior year at Rollins College and going through Graduate school auditions all while giving two piano concerts, one solo and one with the orchestra.  We both were very busy throughout our engagement, but this challenge was actually more of a blessing because we did not have time to sweat the small stuff and we had to make decisions pretty quickly.
Were there any special family traditions you included in the wedding? Yes, lots of Albanian dancing which all guests joined in and loved.  Peter and the rest of the crowd got down on one knee as I danced around him.
What was your most memorable moment about your wedding day? “Dancing Cheek to Cheek”.
Scariest moment? Peter: It was past time to go to the church and I was still fighting with tying my bowtie – youtubing how to tie it!  I thought I was going to be late or come without a tie!  –  I got it covered though.  Practice, practice, practice.
Funniest moment? As she was offering her champagne toast, the matron of honor started out by saying that the only way she could convey her love for the two of us was through an interpretive dance.
Three adjectives that describe the day are: Cherish.  True.  Fun.
What advice would you give to someone planning their wedding? Just have fun and spend time with each other as much as possible.  Don’t micromanage too much, remember, your vendors do this for a living! They know what they are doing, and that is why you picked them.  Trust them!
Best advice or most memorable comment someone made to you during the wedding celebration. In his toast, the best man said that he hoped and wished that each person in the room can experience, even if for one day, the way we love each other.  He said our love is eternal and he toasted to eternity.
The details:  We were married on 08-08-08.   According to
Chinese numerology, eight is the luckiest number.  We got letters from
all around, including our registry congratulating us on getting married
on the luckiest day of the luckiest month of the luckiest year.  I
guess that is why the Chinese started the Olympics on that day. All
this is great but the date has even more significance to us because the
reason why we chose it was to honor Peter’s grandparents who are no
longer living, but we now share the same wedding date.
What’s next for you as a couple? What are you looking forward to in the future? Everyday.
Vendor reviews:
{Agnes Lopez Photography}
I can’t say enough great things about Agnes. She is phenomenal to work with and does phenomenal work. We saw her work her magic at two weddings before ours, Peter’s sister and my best friend Ansley. Their pictures are breathtaking. There was no question in mind that we wanted her and she was the first vendor we booked! The pictures exceeded our expectations. She and her husband are such a wonderful duo and they truly made our special day awesome. She even taught us how to cut the cake, we had no idea what to do, also orchestrated our exit from the Cummer Museum. She made the most of her time with us, even though it started to drizzle and we were taking pictures outside, then we rushed into what was a room with just white walls, she was still working, not wasting any time asking us to pose and make the most of the situation. Agnes, thank you so much, we truly appreciate your artistry and amazing eye for beauty! Thank you for making our event that much more special, and thanks to you and your amazing work, we will have beautiful memories that will take us back to 08-08-08 each time we look at our pictures!!
{Glenn Certain Studio} (Flowers and Rentals)
Anything Glenn and Brent do is extraordinary! They are simply the best in Jacksonville (and I am sure it extends beyond.) They truly listened to our vision and turned it into a reality. Every time I called I was able to get a hold of them and they were ready with my file in front of them adding more and more details to our dream decor, while being conscious of our budget. You pay for what you get, but they are absolutely worth it! We didn’t even consider anyone else, Glenn Certain Studio was our choice from the beginning. Everything looked stunning!! Thank you guys! You are not just florists, you both are artists and you painted a beautiful picture with our wedding decor that depicts exactly who we are!
{Matthew’s Market and Catering}
We were treated with such care from day one until the night of our wedding. Elizabeth Van Nuys, the Catering Coordinator at Matthew’s is phenomenal! She is just amazing to work with, answered all of our questions, handled everything with such extreme care and attention to detail. The food was impeccable! It’s beyond belief good. We have had so many of our guests comment on how amazing the food was. Although new to the catering business, they had a superior performance at our wedding and we are truly grateful for them. The entire staff was incredible, the rentals and everything they did was superb. Elizabeth handled everything with such professionalism yet we felt like she cared so much about the two of us and our event. Matthew himself cooked for us for the tasting, that was quite an experience to have the chef extraordinaire all to ourselves. We made some great decisions in choosing our vendors for our wedding and choosing Matthew’s as our caterer was one of the top ones. Thank you so much for making 08-08-08 an amazing experience for us and all of our guests!
{Etiquette of Chocolate } (Cake and Favors)
We were planning our wedding from Orlando, so Jaycel was willing to meet with us anytime. We met him for the first time on an early Sunday morning because that is all the time we had in Jacksonville. I was just shocked that any business would be willing to be open for us at that odd time. He put on a great tasting for us and truly was constantly conscious about our availability. We were captivated by this young, hard-working, and creative entrepreneur. We wanted a very simple cake, that’s just who we are, and Jaycel really listened to what we wanted and sent us to appropriate websites to look to get ideas. He explained every step of the process and truly guided and listened to us as we made our decisions. We had our dream cake for our wedding! Not only was it beautifully done with refined artistry, but it was the best cake we have tasted. We have had so many of our guests and family members say that to us. We had the raspberry and champagne filling. We were not even planning on doing favors, and had even decided against them, but we were so happy with how we were treated and how budget conscious he was that we ended up ordering chocolates as favors and, also, we had guests say they were awesome!! I can tell you too, they are AWESOME!

Congratulations to Arjola + Peter!  We wish you a lifetime of happiness and joy!

Arjola + Peter are an amazing couple. The two met while in college doing volunteer work in their spare time. After several years of dating, Peter asked Arjola to marry him and she answered in her native Albanian tongue, “Po”… translation: YES! Together, the two planned their own unique and fantastic wedding while both finishing up school. (Peter was finishing his MBA and Arjola her undergraduate degree while applying to graduate school). The end result was a wedding that was filled with special details. Ceremony took place in {St. John’s Cathedral} in Jacksonville, Florida with a reception at {Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens}.  How gorgeous is Arjola’s bouquet!? Floral design by {Glenn Certain Studio}.  Special thanks to phenomenal photographer, {Agnes Lopez} for sharing these stunning images with us.  Happy Friday!

How did the two of you meet? While changing the world!  Volunteering at Jacksonville’s Prudential Youth Leadership Institute (PYLI).
Describe the proposal: It was on July 23rd, a romantic dinner over the Atlantic Ocean at the Cocoa Beach, FL Pier and a walk on the beach. It was a starry night and Peter stood up, took my hand, helped me up and as the nice ocean breeze whisked his curly hair, he knelt in the sand and he said “Jola, I adore and respect you and I will cherish you forever, will you marry me?” I said…”Po” (means YES in Albanian).
What attracted me to my husband was: His curly hair, his persistence, his wit, oh yeah and being a soccer player helped too!
Why do you love your husband: His love is patient, his love is kind. He is patient and he is kind.
What attracted me to my wife was:  Her amazing beauty that radiates from within and glows outward gracing all with genuine care and respectful deep regard.  Yeah, and she’s hot too.
A date we went on that we’ll always remember: Among so many to choose from one would be August 1, 2008, the night before Peter’s MBA graduation, exactly one week before our wedding.  We packed a picnic dinner and they were showing our favorite movie outside, Casablanca, at Leu Botanical Gardens in Orlando.  It was a gorgeous setting and gorgeous weather and as we watched our favorite movie under the stars and cuddling on a blanket, we would look into each other’s eyes and say “we’re getting married in a week!!”
Tell us about finding your wedding dress: This was one of the
easiest decisions for me.  Within the week of our engagement, my matron
of honor gave me Martha Stewart’s Weddings Magazine and that is where I
saw the Rivini gown I wore.  As soon as I saw it, it was the one and
only, I knew I would wear that dress.  I just hoped that it would not
look bad when I actually tried it on.  I was able to find it in Winter
Park, Florida and the day I went into Solutions Bridal to try it on,
the designer of the dress was there.  I was able to talk to him and
request more rushing at the top (as it was shown in the add) and do
little tweaks here and there so he instructed the ladies that worked
there to make notes for him and he would know what it means later, so I
felt privileged, it is a bit of a couture dress…The name of it is
Eros.  I had all my bridesmaids pick a dress THEY thought I should try
on and I did, but when I put on my gown they all agreed that it was the
one.  Jack, our one year old nephew, literally ‘gaa-gaad’ over it when
I tried it on, none of the others fancied him. So I knew I had made the
right choice.

Check back later to hear more from Arjola + Peter…