Nuptials tied close to nature

The first wedding at the Florida Botanical Gardens goes on without a hitch after playful breezes quiet down just before it starts.

By JULIANNE WU

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 5, 2001

LARGO -- Staffers at the new Florida Botanical Gardens wanted everything to be picture-perfect for the wedding Saturday of Richard Maccani and Christina Culbreath, both of Holiday.

After all, it was to be the first ceremony in the botanical gardens' much-touted wedding garden since the park opened last December as a part of Pinewood Cultural Park.

But, in the hour before the event, a playful wind kept overturning the white plastic chairs set up for the 40-plus guests in front of the gazebo. A plastic runner for the bride to walk on had to be secured by rocks.

"Would you believe the chairs have been knocked over seven times?" said a flustered Vernon Bryant, horticulturist for the Pinellas County Cooperative Extension Service.

Bryant; Judy Yates, director of the botanical gardens and the county's Extension Service; and their staff were present to make sure everything went smoothly in the gardens, just north and west of the Gulf Coast Museum of Art on Walsingham Road.

"We expected a few kinks but are delighted to be helping out today," Yates said. "The sun is shining and it's a perfect day for a wedding."

Then, as if someone threw an "off" switch on the wind, it subsided and the wedding went on as planned.

First, the bride's 3-year-old niece, Samantha Culbreath of Hohenwald, Tenn., walked down the aisle, strewing rose petals. She was followed by the maid of honor, Sandra Giannotti of Temple Terrace.

Finally, Christina Culbreath, dressed in a floor-length white gown and beaded veil, walked toward her beaming bridegroom and the best man, Cliff Gimlin of Clearwater. She came in on the arm of her grandfather, Huel M. Culbreath of Tennessee. Maccani and his bride joined hands and giggled as their Holiday neighbor, John Reinholt Jr., pastor of the Bible Baptist Church in New Port Richey, performed the ceremony.

Before the wedding, Maccani, 32, and Culbreath, 22, explained why they selected the botanical gardens for their wedding.

"We first read about the gardens in the newspaper," said Maccani, a product manager at FACTS Engineering in New Port Richey.

"What attracted us was the beautiful landscaping and variety of flora in an open and relaxing atmosphere," he said. "Also, the wildlife that make their home at the gardens are free, unlike the animals in cages at other gardens we looked at."

Culbreath, who works at TGI Friday's in Tampa, agreed. "We like things natural, and besides, this garden is pretty centrally located."

After the ceremony, guests congratulated the couple, then walked around the various gardens within the wedding garden including rose, jazz and topiary gardens and a cottage garden reminiscent of an old English garden.

The wedding guests were joined by a few curious onlookers who were also touring the gardens Saturday.

"We've lived in Pinellas County 12 years," said Christine Gimlin, the best man's wife, "but we didn't know about this place. I like it. It's beautiful."

A reception was held for the couple at the Holiday Inn Harbourside in Indian Rocks Beach.

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