1. Real Weddings

Carlyn & Brian: A Traditional Wedding in Tampa, FL

While Carlyn and Brian both went to the University of Florida, they didn’t meet until years later. Carlyn had just moved to Tampa from New York, and t

While Carlyn and Brian both went to the University of Florida, they didn’t meet until years later. Carlyn had just moved to Tampa from New York, and to try to meet people she volunteered to be social chair for young adults at the Tampa Jewish Federation. The Bride Carlyn Silber, 27, lawyer The Groom Brian Neuman, 34, physical therapist The Date November 17 As Carlyn remembers it, she spotted Brian from across the room and under the guise of her official mingling duties as chair, introduced herself. Carlyn developed a major crush, but Brian claims she was always too busy socializing with everyone else to talk to him -- which was too bad, since he also had his eye on her. It was weeks before the two began exchanging text messages -- Carlyn got his number from a friend and took matters into her own hands -- and finally made a date. After dating a little more than two years, the couple was on a weekend trip to Chicago when Brian asked Carlyn to marry him at Buckingham Fountain.

As guests entered Carlyn and Brian's ceremony space, they picked up copies of the couple's program. The simple, elegant programs were accented with chocolate brown to tie in the wedding colors.
Carlyn and Brian celebrated with their guests in the third floor ballroom, which featured a gorgeous fresco ceiling. “The space is so beautiful that it hardly needed decoration,” says the bride. Each table held a centerpiece of a gold candelabrum with tall, lit candles and arrangements of lilies, hydgrangeas, and roses in ivory and white.
Carlyn carried a lush bouquet created all in ivory and white that included roses, hydrangeas, lisianthuses, and greenery.
Gold pin-tuck linens covered Carlyn and Brian’s reception tables, and at each place setting guests found a gold charger and hand-calligraphed menu card. Guests sat in gold chiavari chairs tied with chocolate brown sashes.
Carlyn and Brian’s guests found their seating assignments on the club’s second floor foyer, where a large gold urn filled with ivory and white flowers, as well as curly willow, stood. The hand-calligraphed escort cards were placed around it in a circular pattern.
Carlyn and Brian cut into a six-tiered wedding cake covered in ivory fondant with gold beads lining the base of each tier. A cascade of chocolate and ivory sugar flowers cascaded down the sides of the confection.