We’ve hosted a ton of cool, unique weddings and most all are fun in their own way. Lot’s of smiling brides and grinning grooms, yet every so often we’ll get the type of clients that spend most of their time laughing, actually enjoying themselves like they were spending the day at the amusement park. A cool thing about NOVA 535 Unique Event Space here in downtown St. Pete, is that we allow our clients to do just that. Create their own amusement park right here in our venue. Christi and Adams’s wedding here in June of 2014 was one of these especially enjoyable events. Their theme was “Love is a two player game”, so the pinball machines (I LOVE PINBALL), the Mario Brothers cookies, the COLORFUL brides maids dresses and son on were perfect for today’s festivities!
Christi’s friends, as you can already tell, were boring and unwilling to ham it up in front of the camera. These are the kinds of friends that never ever ever have a dull moment among them. I mean, who else takes their large stuffed Chewbacca to a wedding? =D
And the wedding hasn’t even started yet. This is just all part of the pregame show. Today is a bit rainy, but there is no dampening of spirits here. Soon we’ll be heading outside, where the rain has let up and it’s turning our to be a perfectly magical afternoon! There’s around 100 guests today, so we set up the ceremony site in the center of the north bamboo gardens outside in NOVA’s beautiful brick and bamboo courtyard. When we have larger outdoor ceremonies, for up to 300 wedding guests, we’ll face them longways west to east. Today though, we’re facing north.
Christo and Adam’s vows were, of course, extraordinary, and meaningful in each uniquely chosen word spoken. They truly know and love each other and there wasn’t a dry eye in the courtyard, though mine were wet from the rain…..really. ;-D
And like any good adventure story, there are laughs and tears, and their ceremony certainly provided lots of both. I’m sure that these two will be gaming together as long as they are both here on this planet….and likely even beyond that.
All of the bride and groom’s friends we’re dressed and acting appropriately for such a fun and unique wedding, spending the afternoon truly enjoying themselves, pinballing, laughing, and enjoying a Taco Bus lunch in the courtyard. Yes of course you can bring 1, 2 or even 3 food trucks right here into our private and secure courtyard. There’s even room for a 4th if you like, though the current record stands at 3. Who’s up for breaking that high score?
After lunch was over, then of course there was cake. Again not any old traditional cake expected here, and nope, Christi and Adam didn’t disappoint. Really really really cool Mario Brothers cookies, tons of hand sized ones plus a couple of massive ones too, from ButterWinks, with the delicious CUPCAKES, mmmm cupcakes from a local favorite Sugar Darlings.
The actual professional photographer (left) Ryan Vella, here with Adam, gave me the appropriate look seeing I was playing “photog” too today. Though his pictures will certainly be better than mine. Most of these photos were taken on my Cannon 6D, a few on my Samsung Note 2, so please excuse any graininess and such. I’m a guy with a good camera and am learning how to use it. A little bit at a time, though I’m not by any stretch a ‘real photographer’.
No Wedding is complete with our the DJ and today we were treated to the excellent musical beats and skillz of Mike Mendolusky, aka Tampa’s own DJ Blenda. It was great to have him back in the house here at NOVA. Blenda!!
So a big thanks to Christi and Adam and all of their pals, who came out and made a rainy morning turn into a gorgeously wonderful wedding afternoon. And a special thanks to the guys who took the time to load in those heavy, but oh so delightful pinball machines!!
Just another wonderful afternoon here at NOVA 535 Unique Event Space. People always ask “Is NOVA open to the public?” and I explain that 98% of the time NOVA is closed for private events, Weddings, Receptions, Mitzvahs, Film Shoots, Corporate Parties, Fundraisers, Birthdays and such. If you or a friend is looking to rent NOVA 535 for an event, please click here. Thank you and good luck to us all!
What about that 2% you may ask? Well we do open up occasionally for PUBLIC Events…some truly unique and amazing ones, like NOVAWEEN, NOVA NOEL, Sunscreen Film Festival and more.