1. Real Weddings

Amy & Jason: A Spring Wedding in Orlando, FL

It was sunset at the Wyndham Orlando Resort and the lush greenery and tropical lagoon beyond made a stunning backdrop as Amy and Jason exchanged vows

It was sunset at the Wyndham Orlando Resort and the lush greenery and tropical lagoon beyond made a stunning backdrop as Amy and Jason exchanged vows on the 40th anniversary of the bride's parents' first date. The Bride Amy Becker, 33, a professional services marketer The Groom Jason Nix, 32, an irrigation specialist The Date April 12 The happy couple had been introduced by mutual friends a year before. Jason, ever the romantic, chose to surprise me by proposing at a local pub in front of about 150 onlookers, says Amy. Amy, of course, shouted yes, for she and Jason knew they were soul mates almost from the start. Or as we like to say, 'b'shert', says Amy, Hebrew for 'meant to be.'

Amy wore her grandmother's three-carat teardrop diamond and platinum pendant, vintage hairpins with filigree flowers and tiny seed pearls, and a hand-beaded, fitted sheath dress by Maggie Sottero.
The First Dance
Amy wanted the event to be traditional, yet modern and unique. Because Amy is Jewish, the couple agreed to have a rabbi officiate the wedding and to incorporate certain traditional elements, such as the breaking of the glass. They married beneath a huppah, a canopy that Amy and her father handcrafted using white pots filled with ivy, bamboo stalks as posts, and a luxurious, fringed green shawl. The music showed Amy's eclectic side: the processional was an instrumental from West Side Story, and the recessional, an instrumental version of Madonna's Like a Virgin.
The 100 guests who attended, expecting a moving affair with simple and striking details, were not disappointed. I am not a 'theme person,' but I did choose colors that would be reflective of the natural scenic surroundings, with lime, kiwi, grass and sage greens, says Amy. White was used as an accent throughout to keep a clean, modern palette. The bridesmaids wore sage-green dresses; the groom a black tuxedo with a sage paisley-patterned vest and matching silk tie.