From the Owner Michael S. Novilla:
How cool is it to celebrate a new beginning, your new life with your soul mate on the most appropriate night of the year for new beginnings? That’s exactly what Nicole and Lawrence did here in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida at NOVA 535 Unique Event Space with their spectacular New Year’s Eve Wedding Celebration! Bravo to Nicole and Lawrence for such a beautiful, fun, classy and delightful celebration of their new life together! Cheers!!
The Proposal:
We had booked a trip to Hawaii to visit our very good friends Adam and Ada. Lawrence had been in secret talks with the couple for months leading up to our big trip. He had planned a surprise helicopter tour to Kauloa Ranch (where they filmed Jurassic Park & Lost). I was thrilled as it would be a first for the both of us.
So we took the tour and landed in a valley for a quick break to stretch our legs. I was hoping to see beautiful flowers, lush greenery and a waterfall. Boy was I wrong! There were nothing but dead trees, mud and old B-rated, half broken down movie props. Lawrence’s mood turned sour very quickly because this was not what he had been planning for almost a year for!
Luckily, he’s quick on his feet and whispered to the pilot, ‘I’m going to propose on the way back.’ And that’s how it happened! I was SO shocked and didn’t know what to do. I just kept looking at him and looking back at the ring. Finally, I snapped out of it and of course said ‘YES!’ When we landed, our friends were waiting on the beach with champagne and a glorious dinner of fresh seafood. What a great day!
Why did you chose NOVA 535 for your wedding?
We live in Tampa, but just LOVE St. Pete for its uniqueness and history. It truly was LOVE at first site when we saw NOVA 535. NOVA is such a unique event space. We really love the big city feel with the open loft floorplan and exposed brick.
Additionally, it was important to us that our venue not feel like a banquet hall or hotel (so no carpet/gaudy chandeliers). You can have gorgeous weddings at those venues, but again just not OUR style.
Fun fact: NOVA also has 10 bathrooms – we knew this would come in handy with an open bar!
How would you describe your theme? What made you choose it?
Rihanna meets James Bond – a very classy, chic party filled with dancing & fun. We choose this because it embodies who we are as individuals and as a couple.
How did you incorporate you and your husband’s personalities into the wedding?
EVERYWHERE! It was extremely import to us to make the day feel personal and not a cookie cutter wedding. We spent a lot of time together planning out even the smallest of details.
For example, the groom came up with a great idea to use vintage clocks stopped at a specific time as our table numbers. On the back of the clocks we added explanations of why they were set to those times.
As we are both huge sports fans, we had the DJ (DJ Jaey) create a mashup of “walk up” songs (like they do in Baseball) to allow each of our bridal party to have their own song to walk out to. Additionally, we had him create a mix of 2 John Legend songs for our first dance, because we simply couldn’t choose one over the other.
What made your wedding unique?
Incorporating our personality and the extra special personal touches without having it be too much. Our menu: food we love, the way we like to eat, but ensured it would still appeal to and fill up all of our guests (vegetarians, allergies, picky eaters).
The décor: we incorporated small touches throughout the venue. Things like hand painted black and gold frames that held “fun facts” about us as couple.
Our ceremony was truly collaborative effort between our officiant and us. It was a faith based service, but we added our personal vows and a three strand braiding unity ceremony to symbolize the importance of three people in a marriage: husband, wife and God. We also did a sparkler exit from the ceremony with 36” sparklers!
What were the most memorable moments?
Marrying my best friend! I truly have the most amazing husband in the world.
Our amazing families and wedding party – we are so truly blessed to have “a village” of loving and supportive people around us. They bent over backwards to help us execute the perfect day – always with smiles on their faces! We couldn’t have done it without them.
For the countdown to New Year’s Eve, my sister and brother-in-law arranged the most outrageous balloon drop in the ceiling. At midnight, everyone was covered in hundreds of black, white and gold balloons.
The overall vibe among our guests – despite the various ‘groups’ of friends, coworkers, families, cultures and age ranges everyone celebrated together as if they’ve known each other their whole live.
What advice would you give to other Tampa Bay Brides?
If you pick great and reliable vendors up front, it will save you tons of stress later on.
Make sure you and your groom make time for each other throughout the planning process. Go on dates where wedding talk is off limits.
When the big day arrives – be confident that all the hard work you’ve done planning will pay off. Don’t stress about the small stuff, be sure to eat, soak up every minute and enjoy the day!
Ceremony and Reception Venue: NOVA 535 Unique Event Space
Photographer: Rad Red Creative
Planner: Rubies and Pearls
Florist: Geoffrey’s Flowers
Caterer: Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion
Cupcakes: Mm Mm Delicious Cupcakes
Cake: Datz Dough
DJ: DJ Jaey
Officiant: Angel Oyola
Invitations: Invitations Consultants
Transportation: Martz First Class
Dress: Casablanca Bridal
Shoes: Gianni Bini
Bridesmaid Dress: Etsy
Hair & Makeup: Lauren (Lo) Edwards
Anna Coats is a wedding blogger from Marry Me Tampa Bay which showcases local weddings in the Tampa Bay area. Her 11-11-11 St. Petersburg, FL wedding was featured on USA Today.