ANNA MARIA – Hurricane Irma almost played spoiler for one Indiana couple who had been planning their Monday evening wedding at the Sandbar restaurant for a year.
But with a lot of prayer and a boost from Mother Nature, the wedding went as planned.
For Cara Camm and Josh Lowery, of Jeffersonville, Ind., last week was a nightmare that didn’t pan out.
The couple has known each other for six years and got engaged in June 2016. They didn’t know where to have their wedding until a relative volunteered Manatee County.
“My grandma lives in Bradenton, and she suggested we look at Anna Maria Island,” Camm said. “She said it’s beautiful and affordable, so we made some inquiries.
“The first call I got was from Patti (McKee, retired Chiles Group wedding coordinator),” Camm said. “She was very helpful and gave us a great price. It was perfect so we stopped looking.”
Camm said they got to see the restaurant in February and to meet with McKee, who set them up with a place to stay.
She said she was glad the search was over.
“We decided to get married on a Monday because it’s the start of the week, and the cost was a little lower,” Camm said. Then came the storm.
“It was the first test of our marriage,” she said. “We all kept the faith and prayed that the wedding would happen.”
Camm said they were overjoyed when they learned there was no storm surge, and they knew their wedding would be perfect. Of course, they had to wait for the power to return.
“We had no power after the storm and when the power came back, we had two weddings Saturday and this one on Monday,” said Chiles Group’s Wedding Coordinator Christine Greene. “We wanted to make sure all of the weddings were perfect.”
Camm said they look forward to spending vacations and anniversaries on the Island in the future.
“We just love it here,” she said. “It’s so laid back and beautiful.”
