Alicia and Carlos are two of the kindest, most easygoing people I’ve ever met. And it’s a good thing they’re so easy going, because mother nature played a cruel trick on their wedding day – Red Tide!
Being fairly new to Florida (it’ll be 2 years in February!) Red Tide is a new thing to me. Apparently it’s some sort of ocean bacteria that becomes airborne when the ocean breaks at the shore. It affects people differently, but for a large majority of folks, it irritates the lungs, causes uncontrollable coughing, sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes. You get the picture. And it ain’t a pretty one!
I got to Cocoa Beach’s Lori Wilson Park early to scope things out. I found wedding coordinator Lisa Wongshue (who, by the way, did an incredible job with all the little details!) setting up for the wedding wearing surgical mask! I immediately noticed my throat tightening and it felt like someone was squeezing my chest!
Since I had about 45 minutes to kill before the wedding, I decided to do it inside in the air conditioning and away from the Red Tide. Being inside made me feel a lot better, but I knew I had to spend 3 hours outside. So I went first to CVS, who was sold out of the surgical masks, then to Walgreens where I was finally able to buy a box (hence the photo of me in yesterday’s stunning wedding attire!)
I drove back to the ceremony site thinking I was going to look silly, but if that’s what it took to get me through the wedding, well, so be it! However as the guests started to arrive, nearly every one was wearing, or eventually donned a surgical mask.
In spite of all that, it truly was a beautiful wedding. The ceremony was sweet and meaningful and it was such a tight knit bunch, it was hard to tell friends from family!
About 40 of their family and friends were joining Alicia, Carlos, and their children on a cruise leaving out of Port Canaveral for the weekend. Unfortunately for me, my time was up and it was back to Orlando.
Congratulations and bless your new family. And I hope you’re having a blast on the cruise!
