Marija & Michael at the Tampa Bay Garden Club

Thanks so much for filling out our little questionnaire guys! Enjoy this sneak peek of your wedding images! Hope you’re having a blast in Barbados!!

– How did you meet
We have a very unique story on how we met! Just before Mike graduated from college, he began working as a bartender at my parent’s country club. My dad, Scott, came into the restaurant of the country club one afternoon and was served by Mike. My dad sat at the bar, had his drink, and chatted with Mike. It came up in conversation that Mike was interested in pursuing a career in sales. My dad then mentioned that my mom, Cindy, was a sales manager with Abbott Laboratories and he gave Mike her contact information.
My mom ended up interviewing Mike for a position she had available in West Palm Beach, FL and hired him.
I had an internship with the same company in Chicago, IL the summer just after Mike started working there. The entire sales group, including the interns, were brought to San Diego, CA for a national sales meeting in May 2003. The first day of the meeting, my mom introduced me to all her new hires, which included Mike. A group of us from the meeting went out on the town that night and we all had a great time. I think Mike and I quickly realized we had a lot in common and got along great!
We casually remained in touch a couple of times over e-mail that summer after the meeting. When I returned back to Florida for school in the fall, Mike came up to Gainesville to visit me. We continued to keep in touch and met up with each other periodically over the next 9 months, but neither of us were looking for a serious relationship at the time.
That June, I invited Mike and his friends to come to my friend’s going away party in Orlando, FL. We hadn’t seen eachother in several months, but Mike and two of his friends ended up driving from West Palm Beach and came to the party.
After the party, Mike asked me to come down and see him the next couple of days in West Palm Beach. I ended up driving down, spent the next couple of days with him and the rest is history! We have been together ever since!
Here’s one detail that makes the story really unique. The weekend my dad met Mike at the country club, I ended up being home visiting my parents. My mom mentioned that she had received a couple of calls from a bartender that my dad had given her phone number. My dad then said to me, “This is the type of guy I want you to marry.” So needless to say, my dad tells everyone, “I picked him out!”
I know it’s a long story, but the details (or at least to me), make it so great. It was fate

- Describe the proposal
Mike planned a long weekend trip for the two of us to Puerto Rico. On the way there he was acting very strange, he was not very talkative, took a separate security lane, etc. I just thought he wasn’t in a very good mood the entire day, which if you know Mike, you know that it is very rare that he not be in a good mood Once we got to the hotel and checked in, we got ready and headed down to the pool for a few hours before the sun set. While laying out, Mike mentioned we should have “authentic” Puerto Rican food for dinner. I said that sounded good to me! He laid there a bit longer and then said he had to go to the restroom. When he came back, he said he had stopped at the concierge and got a recommendation for a great restuarant we could eat dinner, but that it was a nice restaurant on a private beach, so maybe we should make that night our night to have a really nice sit down dinner. We had agreed before the trip that we would take one night and go have a really nice dinner and get dressed up, etc. We had originally planned for it to be our last night, but Mike wanted to make it our first night and I was perfectly fine with that He said he got directions and had the coceirge make a reservation for us, so we were all set! We headed back to the room and got ready for the night. When I was almost ready, Mike said he was going to down a bit early and get the car from the valet.
When we got to the restaurant it was a bit windy and I had on a dress so I asked if we could sit inside versus outside (eventhough I would have loved to sit outside, the tables were right on the beach). But we got a cute corner table for two. Once we sat down, Mike mentioned wanting to go on a walk on the beach after dinner, I agreed, but mentioned it was pretty chilly. We had an amazing meal, a great bottle of wine, appetizer, the meal and the best dessert. Mike really loved my plantains during dinner and mentioned we should take the leftover plantains back to the hotel with us (I thought this was really strange, but he had them boxed up before I knew it). He said he was going to go run the leftovers to the car so we could go walk on the beach. I finished my last sip of wine and met him just outside the restaurant. We took our shoes off and headed down the beach. After walking for a few minutes, Mike said he wanted to turn around and walk the other way because there was a group of people ahead of us. So we turned around and headed the opposite way down the beach. We walked for about 5 minutes and Mike said we should turn back around. Just as we did, it began to rain so I started to pull Mike a bit and run towards the car. As I did, he pulled me back and said “oh, it’s just sprinkling out, we don’t need to run.” So I slowed down and began walking again. We came up on a small boat that was sitting on the beach. I mentioned how it looked like a picture, the light relecting off of the boat, the sand, etc. He then said, “well let’s go sit down on it” (first sign). I got a little nervous and said, “Mike, it’s raining out.” But he sat me down anyway and just after we sat, he said he had a present for me but he said, “it’s not what you think it is.” He took out the box and it wasn’t a ring box and I began to open it, the whole time thinking that a ring would be inside. It wasn’t a ring, it was a bracelet that he had given me the first year we were dating that had broke and he got it fixed. So I was surprised, but very excited that he had taken the bracelet without me knowing and gotten it fixed.
This bracelet is a silver cuff bracelet and has a hinge on it that is suppose to look like an envelope. You can get small silver plates that you can engrave a little message on it, like a letter. It’s hard to explain, but when you see it, it’s really cute! The bracelet (envelope) holds 3 letters (silver plates) and he had already given me 2 of them a few years ago, so there was room for just one more.
Once I opened the box he told me to open the latch of the envelope to see what was in it. As I went to open it (reminder, the latch on the envelope portion was tight from getting fixed), it flew out of my hand and into the wet sand! Mike immediately became flustered and yelled, “pick it up, put it on…put it on your wrist, I’ll help you!” I began to clean it off, put it on my wrist (nervous now, because I began to know what was about to happen), and opened the envelope. I pulled out the newest letter (silver plate) and it read, “Will You Marry Me?” I looked up and Mike was on his knee, with the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen in my life in his hand.
It was the best night of my life and I now cannot wait until our wedding day on April 24, 2010 when I will officially become Mrs. Michael Johnson!!

- How did you choose your venues
I always knew I would get married in a church, so we decided to get married in my church, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. For the reception, we wanted to be indoors, but have water view and lots of windows, and also stay in the South Tampa area. The Tampa Garden Club immediately came to mind because I had been to a work event there previously and could definitely see our reception taking place there. It fit all our requests and was an obvious choice for us.

- What advice would you give to brides that has made your life easier
Hire a wedding coordinator, I met with 6 different coordinators prior to making my final decision and decided on Chrissy Craft at Ideal Design Events. Best decision I ever made and the best investment by far!

– What criteria did you use while picking your vendors
Cost was a big deciding factor, but I also needed to make sure I got all I was looking for out of the specific packages, etc. I also wanted to make sure they were reliable and all came highly recommended by Chrissy, so I knew since she would be working with them as much as I would, if not more, that they were a good fit as well!

- How did you come up with your decorating colors and style for your wedding
I saw a picture in The Knot of a wedding that took place in California and it had a mix of various colors. A few stood out to me right away, I always wanted black included, but loved how they incorporated mocha, raspberry and mango as well. They all just looked extremely elegant, but vibrant together and perfect for spring.

- Where are you going on your honeymoon
Barbados, for lots of sun, relaxation and just time alone! Mike also loves to surf and it is fairly close to home.