Tampa “Mission I Do” Free Military Dream Wedding Giveaway

by Charmaine Doumanian News

On Sunday April 5th, I had the honor and pleasure of officiating the wedding ceremony of Timothy and Anh as part of Old McMickey’s Farm “Mission I Do” Free Military Dream Wedding Giveaway. The ceremony was in honor of and to raise awareness for the services and sacrifices of all our military, past and present. The wedding was a contest giveaway. A team of vendors donated their time and products to make the wedding special to this deserving couple. Couples submitted their stories and were selected by on-line voting.

Timothy served two tours of duty in the 26 Gulf Company, 2nd Battalion 6th Marines. Tim stepped on an IED and lost his left leg and incurred severe damage to his other leg as well. He has a prosthetic leg and canine dog. Tim also sustained a traumatic brain injury. His best man lost his right leg, one of the groomsmen lost both legs, and yet another groomsmen was shot in the neck. Timothy met his now wife, Anh, while seeking treatment at the VA hospital.

It was a picture perfect day for a wedding. The Marines all wore their dress blue uniforms. The bridesmaids wore blue dresses with red shoes. The wedding was a such a patriotic event. The barn for the reception was decorated with red, white and blue. At the end of the ceremony full sword arch ceremony by other Marine’s was led by Timothy’s retired canine who also acted as the ring bearer.

Timothy had everyone in tears as he read the most beautiful vows to Anh. “When fate put four walls around us, four representing the four chambers of the heart that I give to you, four representing the four seasons I will spend with you, and four representing the four directions I will travel with you. Our souls become one, when you breathe out I breathe in.” He continued with some humor and after each piece of his vows he would say “when you breath out I breath in.” Anh was in tears and couldn’t say anything a big hug was all he needed. Timothy broke the emotion with a prank when I asked for the rings having is best man hand me an empty box!

Officiating Timothy and Anh’s dream wedding ceremony.

The ceremony was videographed and made available via live stream.

Anh and Timothy were so pleased. They thanked me so much. Ralph Zuckerman from Old McMicky’s Farm also thanked myself and all of the vendors for their support and contributions. I was so touched and thankful myself to have had the opportunity to give back to this deserving couple.

With the happy newlyweds

Wedding at the Tampa Museum of Art

by Amanda Doumanian Reeves News

Last week, Amanda and Cody had their wedding at the Tampa Museum of Art. The wedding ceremony was held under the covered terrace overlooking Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park and the Hillsborough River and University of Tampa. It was a beautiful evening. The park had a Christmas tree lit up adding to the prettiness of the evening.

A perfect night for Amanda and Codys wedding at the Tampa Museum of Art in downtown Tampa Flroida

Amanda and Cody both have very busy schedules and asked about our Florida Marriage License by Mail service. I let know how it works and also advised them that since they are local they could go to the court house and get the license themselves. With their busy schedules they found it more convenient to do mail away services. Once I received what I needed to process the mail away license I dropped by their home and took care of notarizing the marriage license before submitting the license to the county to obtain the actual valid marriage license. It gave us a chance to meet before the wedding and helped them out with the license. They were delighted not to have to go out to get the marriage license and found our Florida Marriage License by Mail service to be so convenient.

Amanda and Cody have been together for a few years and have a beautiful nine month old daughter Scarlett Marie. Both Amanda and Cody love art and wanted to show their love of art as a part of the wedding ceremony. In addition to having the wedding at the Tampa Museum of Art, they performed a unity heart painting ceremony. It’s like a unity sand ceremony except they painted a heart together on a canvas as part of the ceremony. I read, “What’s in your minds and hearts will be yours to share so at this time I ask you to paint together as one with the love in both of their hearts.” After they painted the heart I held up the canvas to show all the guests. It was a very neat unifying ritual for these two art lover to do during their ceremony

The finished heart pained by Amanda and Cody during their wedding at the Tampa Museum of Art

The reception was held at the Tampa Museum of Art lobby. A fun evening of dinner, dancing and desserts!!

Reception in the lobby was setup with all sorts of treats

Amanda and Cody thanked me for a wonderful job.

The newly married Amanda and Cody

Backyard Wedding Ceremony Tampa

by Charmaine Doumanian News

Summar contacted me about performing a wedding ceremony for her daughter Lindsey and son in law to be Brett. The wedding was going to be held in their backyard at her home in Tampa. She wanted me to put together a package with an arbor, officiant, music and table with cloth covering for sand ceremony.

I put the package together for her and corresponded with her Lindsay about the ceremony and music.

The wedding day was a gorgeous fall day. The backyard was setup beautifully for the wedding. White chairs were setup and hook lanterns were placed on outside of chairs lining the aisle. The ceremony was between two beautiful trees on the lawn.

Backyard wedding ceremony Tampa setup with arbor and unity sand ceremony

Lindsey selected a beautiful vow piece that was full of emotion and love. She also wanted to include where she and Brett would be giving roses to their Mother’s. Lindsey and Brett said vows to each other.

Officiating Lindsey and Brett’s beautiful backyard wedding ceremony Tampa

Both had tears in their eyes as they said their special words. We performed a unity sand ceremony with Lindsey, Brett and his son Gabriel.

The unity sand ceremony and arbor that we setup for Lindsey and Brett’s backyard wedding ceremony Tampa

The ceremony was so beautiful. Lindsey and Brett at the end of the ceremony wanted to start celebrating and chose “Highway to Hell” by AC-DC to be played as they were walking out. A truly fun couple. They pulled out sunglasses and put them on and kicked up their legs and danced down the aisle.

Photos were taken after the ceremony and a backyard reception was setup for all to enjoy.

Me with the newlyweds at their backyard wedding ceremony Tampa Florida

The following week after the wedding Summar submitted the following 5 Star Review through WeddingWire.com.

Summar said… I got in touch with Charmaine when I decided to have a back yard wedding for my daughter. I read her reviews and thought she would be a good fit with what we were looking for. She was very responsive in emails and phone calls. She did a great job in her delivery of the ceremony and the sand unity ceremony was great. She brought the table and I also rented a bamboo arbor which looked fantastic. I would highly recommend her services.