Sapphire, white, and silver – the three colors that made up Mike and Amanda’s wedding. The couple opted the reception to be in a marina since the met at a Naval Hospital where they worked. The white calla lilies adorned with vibrant blue flowers matched the entourages outfit motif. It was lovely how the sapphire hues just popped off the white ones throughout the event. This kept everything youthful and bright, no doubt!
The couple clearly had fun that day, browsing their wedding day photos proved that to be true. It certainly does help when you have people you can count on to make your big day stress-free. It’s even better that you have such people taking care of the venue, beats, and memories! Great job you guys and congratulations, Mike and Amanda!
Our Story:
It was March 14, 2012, and at the time, I was near the end of nursing school. So having a boyfriend was the last thing on my mind because I was so consumed by my school work. I was in the pediatric rotation for school, and I had clinical that day at Portsmouth Naval Hospital. At the time, my husband Mike, was a corpsman in the Navy and was stationed here in Virginia Beach while working at a pediatric clinic at Portsmouth Naval Hospital. My teacher assigned me to go to the pediatric clinic that day and all I kept saying in my head was “Ugh, I don’t want to go to the clinic, it’s going to be so boring!” When I got to the clinic, the nurse there put me with Mike, so he could show me how things are done at the clinic. At first, I sarcastically was thinking “Great, a navy guy showing me things, this should be interesting.” But throughout the day, we started to get used to each other and ended up joking with each other towards the end of the day. The next day, we found each other on Facebook and have been inseparable since. Now that I think about it, I’m so glad that my teacher assigned me to him that day, or I would have never met him. We now have a two-year-old daughter, and we are loving every minute of being a family.
We Are A Perfect Match:
Mike and I are constantly joking each other. We’re both smart alecks, so we’re always coming at each other with jokes and laughing about it. Mike is the more laid back kind of person, and I’m usually more of the “freak out” easy person, so we kind of level each other out, which I think is great. Mike knows that I will always be there for him, and I know that he’ll always be there for me. We just have a great connection that most people don’t have, and I’m grateful for it.
The Proposal:
We lived in Jacksonville, NC for about two years because Mike was stationed there right after I graduated nursing school. We would come up to Virginia Beach maybe once a month to see family and friends. Well, one day of the weekend (October 13, 2013), my mom had invited family and friends to do Halloween cookies (it’s tradition in our household) at her house. In the middle of doing cookies, Mike comes from behind me and shows me this HUGE cookie that said “Will You Marry Me?” and he also pulled out the beautiful ring. And at first, I thought it was a joke, but when I looked at my mother’s, sister’s, and friend’s faces, I immediately knew it wasn’t a joke. Mike got down on one knee and asked again. I kept saying, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, YES!” Everybody clapped, and my sister immediately says, “OK! Let’s start the wedding planning!”
The Planning:
Since I lived in Jacksonville, NC at the time, it was hard to come up to Virginia Beach since I worked every other weekend. So I purposely gave a year in between the engagement and wedding day to get things done. We got engaged October 13, 2013 and had the wedding September 13, 2014. I thought it was a great amount of time; it worked out well.
Best Advice We Received:
The best advice I received during this time was from the woman at David’s Bridal while I was trying on dresses. The first time I went to go try on dresses, I brought all my bridesmaids and my mom. That was a big mistake. All my bridesmaids were coming at me in different directions telling me their opinion about different wedding dresses. When I was in the dressing room, the woman helping me said, “Word of advice, don’t bring your friends to a wedding dress trial. I can tell you’re overwhelmed and indecisive. It is your wedding day, so pick a dress that you feel most comfortable in and that you feel amazing in.” I didn’t pick a dress that day because it was very overwhelming. I went back to David’s Bridal a month later with JUST my mom and my aunt. I ended up buying a dress I loved!
Tips & Tricks For Future Brides:
One tip I have is that we ordered invitations online. They were a lot cheaper, and they came out beautiful.
Planning Challenges:
The only real challenge that I had was that I lived in a different state at the time. So trying to plan a wedding in a different state was difficult. I tried coming up every month to help plan, but I mostly relied on my mom and sister to help out.
Wedding Decor Inspiration:
I’ve always wanted sapphire, silver, and white colors for my wedding. And especially since Mike’s birthday and my birthday were in September, I thought it all made sense to have sapphire because that is the birthstone for September. All of my bridesmaid’s dresses were sapphire, and most of the reception decor was blue. My favorite flower is white lilies, so Black Iris Florist did a great job arranging the bouquets with the lilies and decorations.
Money Matters:
My parents told me $20,000 was the budget. But they weren’t too happy about it. It was all worth it in the end, though!
We saved most of the money in alcohol. We provided our alcohol and mixers and got it from the package store on base where it’s a lot cheaper. And also, just saying “no” to unnecessary things like photo booths, because we had a great photographer (Timeless Memories), and like a candy bar. Some of those stuff are way too expensive and not important.
The biggest expense was the reception dinner. Cuisine and Company did an excellent job on the food. They also made little plates for the kids that didn’t eat the buffet.
You Are Cordially Invited:
We invited about 130 people. About 95-100 people came to the wedding. We didn’t want a huge wedding. 130 people may sound a lot of people, but we both come from large families. So we still had to limit the number of friends we invited. We only invited people we were close with, not just someone we knew on Facebook.
The Songs:
When the DJ introduced Mike and me for the reception, we came out to “Crazy in Love” by Beyonce. One, I love that song, and two, it worked perfectly! Our first dance was to “I Love You This Big” by Scotty McCreery. My dad and I danced to “My Little Girl” by Tim McGraw. While everybody was eating, I just had the DJ play slow love songs. But when everybody was done with the food, the DJ played hit songs from today’s music. And also, he played “Electric Slide”, “Cupid Shuffle”, and “Wobble” so everybody can get on the dance floor. I also made the DJ play songs from when I was in high school so I could reminisce with my high school girlfriends. It was a blast.
Our Honeymoon:
Mike and I couldn’t decide on one place to go. So I came up with the idea to go on a cruise so we could go to different places in one vacation. We had never been on a cruise before, it was an awesome experience.
The Next Step:
I’m most excited about having another child with my new husband and also buying ourselves a house! I’m glad I have someone to do this with and I wouldn’t want any other person to do it with.
Advice For Couples:
My advice is, don’t listen to what everybody has to say unless you absolutely need their advice on something. It’s your wedding day, definitely do what you want to do. This a day you’ll remember forever so doing things your way will make it perfect!
Wedding Outfit Inspiration:
From what I said earlier, I always wanted a sapphire theme. The bridesmaid dresses were beautiful because they were all sapphire and the groomsmen had some sapphire in them too. Mike wanted the men to wear all charcoal slim fitting suits with suspenders. All the groomsmen looked very handsome!
Favorite Part Of The Day:
My favorite part of the day was when Mike and I were at the altar together about to say our “I Do’s”. I was so nervous, and Mike could see it. He kept whispering, “I love you, it’s going to be okay.”
The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Projects:
I’m not really the crafty type of person. We mostly bought everything that we needed online. I wish I was craftier, so I could do things on my own.
The Highlights From The Ceremony & Reception:
The highlights from the reception was when the DJ made us do a dance off between girls and guys. Everybody was tearing up the dance floor!
The Theme:
We didn’t have an actual theme reception. It was basically just sapphire, silver, and white. And it was on a marina, so the boats in the background made everything beautiful.
Most Memorable Moment:
The reception was definitely the most memorable. We had our families there, and since Mike’s family is from Missouri, it’s always great to see them. I had friends there that I’ve known since high school. And Mike had friends there from when he was in the Navy. It was just the combination of friends, family, dancing, and alcohol that made the evening an awesome time. I will never forget it.
In Addition:
Marina Shores Yacht Club did an amazing job on my wedding day. They made it stress free for me and my family. Kristen Livingston (Timeless Memories), did an excellent job taking memorable pictures. I could not have asked for anything better.
VENDORS
Photographer: Timeless Memories By Kristen
Floral Designer: Black Iris Floral Events
Dress Store: David’s Bridal
Bakery: Incredible Edibles Bakery
Location: The Yacht Club at Marina Shores
Event Venue: The Yacht Club at Marina Shores