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Rising above wedding diversions

Area residents and businesses make sure the wedding goes on for a couple forced to land in Tampa.

By MARY JANE PARK
Published September 21, 2005

	[Troy Battle Photography]
	Regina Caldwell and Kevin Heatherly got married on Tuesday at Sunken Gardens. They planned a wedding in Key West, but their plane was diverted because of Hurricane Rita.

ST. PETERSBURG - Regina Caldwell held onto her wedding dress, tears streaming down her cheeks.

She and her fiance, Kevin Heatherly, were en route from Arkansas to Key West on Sunday to be married. But with Hurricane Rita barreling toward the Florida Keys, the airline said anyone who didn't live there had to get off in Tampa. No return flights were available.

That's when another traveler at Tampa International Airport overheard the couple's plight. She called Sarah Woosley, St. Petersburg's marketing and public relations coordinator.

Woosley is also a veteran wedding planner. But could she pull off a wedding in little more than a day?

"I planned this from my family room sofa in three hours on Sunday," Woosley said. "Just me and my Palm Pilot and a telephone."

Caldwell, 38, and Heatherly, 40, were married in St. Petersburg's Sunken Gardens on Tuesday morning, against a backdrop of pink water lilies and a waterfall, with doves fluttering into the sky as they kissed.

Lola Jane's Beauty Lounge near BayWalk opened early to do Caldwell's hair and makeup. Delma's the Flower Booth arranged a bird-of-paradise bouquet for her, an orchid boutonniere for him. Rose Marie Ray, a notary, officiated. Photographer Troy Battle of Riverview in Hillsborough County captured the special moment, and the Sirata Beach Resort on St. Pete Beach offered a suite.

All of the businesses discounted their services, said Woosley, whose own gift to the couple was a Publix wedding cake topped with bougainvillea from the gardens and a bottle of Korbel.

The Heatherlys, both of whom have married before, met on the Internet. The bride works for Zales in Jonesboro, Ark., where the couple purchased their rings; the bridegroom, from Newport, Ark., drives a Pict Sweet delivery truck.

"Now we can breathe," the bride said Tuesday afternoon from their room at the Sirata. "It was chaos the last two days."

They had planned a sunset cruise, but it was canceled. Somebody mentioned Hurricane Rita.

[Last modified September 21, 2005, 04:58:07]