Many couples planned their ideal Gulf Coast beach wedding before the BP oil disaster. Now, they’re either scrambling to find new venues or are determined to show their support for the region. Readers share how they’re coping with the oil spill disaster.
The day the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded was the same day I found myself standing on the Alabama beach I was planning to get married on. I remember taking a moment to stand still on the beach to stare at an oil rig I had never noticed until then. I stood there thinking how unnatural it would look in the wedding pictures. I think about that day often. How silly it was to care that an oil rig would ruin my wedding scene… We are constantly back and forth on whether to change our location somewhere further inland. We have heard that many people in our similar situation have already chosen to cancel their beach weddings. [My fiancée] and I are one of the few hanging on to our dream of getting married on the beach. We are trying our best to not get stressed over all the last minute changes we may have to make in the next few months. We know that this oil spill is much bigger than our wedding. We want the defenseless sea life to be spared and have our fellow Alabama [residents] get the peace they justly deserve. — Casey Boswell (Daphne, Alabama)
The day that I found out for sure that we were going to have to change our plans due to the oil spill, I cried the entire day. I felt like my childhood dreams of being a bride and having a perfect wedding had went out the window. I even got messages from my bridesmaids making sure that I didn’t have a meltdown. I am very stressed because it took me 10 months to fully plan my wedding and now I have one month and three weeks to re-plan the whole thing. We are also $400 short now because we lost our deposit for the wedding. My fiancé’s family lost $400 on their flights. My fiancé and I are having to work right up till the wedding to take care of all the expenses…. We have been very fortunate to have family and friends volunteer to helps us decorate and make food for the reception. If it weren’t for people like that we would be left with no choice but to forget a wedding and go to the courthouse. — Kendra Adcock (Murfreesboro, Tennessee)
Daily prayers
Since no one can guarantee that the oil won’t or will hit Fort Myers Beach and since many of the deposits were paid and friends and family had already booked flights and hotels, my fiancé and I decided that we would stick this out! We hope that our decision will encourage others as well because the people of the Gulf Coast need our support now more than ever and we can show support by keeping our summer plans in place and continuing to support their struggling economy. Granted, I still pray every night that I don’t have to get married amongst dead sea turtles and oiled up brown pelicans, but I also know that we are doing the right thing for us by continuing to prepare for our wedding in Fort Myers Beach… Plus if our love can withstand one of the worst disasters this nation has ever seen, then there is nothing that our love can’t conquer. — Kate Chapman (Sioux Falls, South Dakota)