AJ and Alecia’s sunrise wedding ceremony at Serenata Beach Club

AJ and Alecia - Love in the Time of Covid

We met at Marsh Creek Country Club. We ran into each other a handful of times and both enjoyed our conversations. Time passed and we didn’t see each other for awhile. We ran into each other more regularly and talked some and A.J. asked Alecia out one cold, wet February day.

After a few dates we knew it was something really special. Our love for each other grew stronger as dating continued and we knew we wanted to be together forever.

A.J. asked Alecia to marry him in early December 2019. Alecia happily accepted.

We briefly discussed going somewhere amazing and eloping but decided we really wanted to share our special day with family and close friends that are like family to us.

The first time Alecia watched A.J. surf they walked out at sunrise to start the day. When planning the wedding of course the beach was part of the conversation but Alecia also loves breakfast so she suggested a sunrise beach wedding. A.J. was on board and so the plans started to take shape.

With Covid-19 rearing it’s ugly head amongst our planning time and as the date was approaching we had to make some decisions. We knew we wanted to start our lives together, even if that meant our wedding day vision would be forced to change. We decided that if we could secure a marriage license and if someone would marry us we would precede getting married on our original planned date.

After calling 5 counties during the Florida quarantine time the 6th county said they were issuing marriage licenses! So the day after Easter, when there was surf potential but it was illegal to be at the beach we drove away from the waves and toward Palatka instead. Nobody was there except the friendly employees that secured our ability to get married within the next 60 days.

Now we had to wait and see where and how we could get married. At this time groups of 10 people or less were permitted to gather but the beach was closed and all restaurants were also closed. So A.J. and I started to plan ideas for a backyard wedding with hopes that we wouldn’t need to use them. As time got closer numbers and restrictions started to lift! There was hope!

The day went mostly as we originally planned. Of course we had family and friends that had planned to attend that could not due to their state and country restrictions. We so wish they all could have been there! A friend from Germany asked that we share some of the day. This was a wonderful idea that gave loved ones that weren’t able to make it a chance to share in our special day.

A few days after the wedding we left for our plan c honeymoon. We flew to Vegas and set out on a National Park and State Park experience. We enjoyed exploring a different part of the country together.

On one of the days leading up to the wedding Alecia’s dad told them he still feels like he’s on his honeymoon (they just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary). We decided we will try and live the same way, especially since we still have to have honeymoon A and B!

To view all of AJ and Alecia’s Sunrise wedding ceremony click here: