It’s February, and you know what that means – Cupid is flying around with his little bow and arrow, sparking matches made in Heaven in celebration of Valentine’s Day.
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They say Virginia is for lovers, however there are a multitude of Vero Beach locals who think that our very own area is for falling in love. With beaches, historical landmarks, and elegant restaurants all throughout our area, memories are made, stories are told, and families reminisce.
Vero Vine went out in search of couples who had proposal stories to tell and there were an assortment of unique situations that were discovered – from engagements to weddings and surprises, and a few in between’s that had happily ever after endings.
Enjoy these true tales of romance in Vero Beach.
Bryce and Alyssa Bronson & Victor and Hollyce Rosario
Bryce and Alyssa Bronson are high school sweethearts (they’ve been together since 2011) who have lived in Vero Beach for the last three years.
Still considered “newlyweds,” their engagement came at Humiston Park on Vero Beach on New Years Day of 2018, and the two married in their hometown in Ohio in June of 2019. It wasn’t just them who got engaged on that New Years Day in 2018, but their friends, Victor and Hollyce Rosario, did as well. The pair of couples had met in Central Florida and all made the move to Vero in 2017. The men planned their dual engagement in advance.
Victor and Hollyce are expecting their first child later this year, and will be celebrating their second anniversary in September.
David and Katie Cox
Photo by Matt Fulcher.
Fort Pierce residents David and Katie Cox are also newlyweds who were engaged on Vero Beach. Their first anniversary will be on May 18, 2020.
“My husband proposed on the boardwalk,” Katie said. “Ever since we first started dating, we’d always take walks alongside the water at night and on the boardwalk.” Their engagement was April 6, 2018. They were married at Cielo Blu Barn in Fellsmere, with photography done by Matt Fulcher of Sunrise Multimedia Productions.
Jerry and Donna Ferrone
Vero Beach resident Donna Ferrone loves to tell the story about how she and her husband, Jerry, met, fell in love, and eventually married on Vero Beach.
“Jerry and I met at a Dunkin’ Donuts when he dropped his business card out of his wallet while in line,” Donna began. “I was the band manager for Sister Rose Cornelius, in need of a guitarist, so I asked him if he would like to audition for the band. He aced the audition and we fell in love. On August 15, 2011, he made surprise reservations at Costa D’Este on Vero Beach, where he had champagne and a dozen roses waiting.”
Donna said she and Jerry enjoyed cocktails right up until closing time, when everybody left and the restaurant locked the doors, and that’s when Jerry took her for an evening walk along the beach where Costa D’Este is located.
“He then dropped to one knee, told me that he didn’t want to live without me, that he knew that I was the right one the minute he laid eyes on me,” Donna happily reminisced. “He then asked me if I would marry him. Of course I said ‘Yes!’ The next morning, when I looked out the window, he had written ‘I love you’ in the sand. It was so romantic.”
The couple married in January of 2012 at the Dockside in Vero Beach.
“We remain very much in love,” Donna said.
Shane and Michelle Felux
While this next couple didn’t have their proposal or their wedding in Vero Beach, they have a very romantic, almost unbelievable, anniversary celebration that took place on the beach in close proximity to Disney’s Vero Beach Resort.
Rosemery Hernandez, owner and operator of Details Event Planning, tells the story of a couple named Shane and Michelle.
“When I got the call, I thought I was being set up or scammed because it sounded just too amazing to be true,” Hernandez remembers.
She received a call from Shane Felux, who wanted to celebrate he and his wife’s anniversary in every romantic way possible. The two live out of state, and both had prior marriages, though their connection with one another was one out of a fairy tale. From a Disney proposal, to a wedding in Ireland, Shane and Michelle have all the ‘ooh’s’ and ‘ahh’s’ going for their memory bank, and Shane intends on making the memories special.
“They visit Florida every year and are Disney fanatics, and the two stay at the Disney Resort in Vero,” Hernandez explained. “Shane wanted to set up a special anniversary dinner for Michelle, very intimate, detailed, with remembrances from their wedding in Ireland.”
Hernandez set up a tent on the beach for the couple, set out over 150 LED candles, twinkle lights, arranged for a catered seven-course meal, light romantic music for the couple to dance to playing in the background, and little white owl salt and pepper shakers to signify the white owl that was released at their wedding in the forest in Ireland.
It doesn’t get much more romantic than a forest wedding in Ireland and an intimate, secluded, specially planned anniversary dinner on the beach in Florida. Add in Disney, and Michelle was likely the happiest woman alive during that vacation.
Patrick and Brenna Enlow
Brenna Enlow told the story of how her husband, Patrick, proposed to her on Vero Beach in a somewhat magical environment. While she was on a vacation in Vero Beach 17 hours away from her hometown in Illinois, her and her (then) boyfriend and friends of theirs didn’t get into town until 3 a.m. thanks to a broken A/C and mechanical issues along the way.
Brenna said since it was already almost morning when they arrived, they got settled and decided to walk down to the beach and wait for the sunrise.
Photo courtesy of Brenna Enlow.
“It was the perfect temperature out and it was great being able to walk along the beach in the dark listening to the waves and seeing all the crabs scatter around,” Brenna described. “We set up some beach towels right where the sun was going to rise. Once the sun was about halfway up, we saw a pod of dolphins jumping out of the water right in front of us.”
After seeing nature beautifully and intimately, the group of friends were ready to go back inside. Before doing so, Brenna and one of her friends walked down to the water to put their feet in one more time.
“When I turned around to go back, Patrick was waiting there on one knee,” Brenna reminisced. He proposed. She said yes. “It was absolutely perfect,” Brenna said. “He secretly set up a time lapse when we first got there and caught the whole morning on camera.”
Ryan and Trisha Culver
Trisha and her husband Ryan got engaged on Humiston Beach, and were married later on at a plantation in Vero.
“My husband and I met 10 years ago through mutual friends,” explained Trisha. “We had a child in 2013 and later got engaged in 2015. He took me to The Tides, and later over to the beach to propose. [Just over] A year later we got married at the plantation on 69th and 58th.”
They just celebrated their third wedding anniversary this year on February 4, and Vero Beach has special memories for the couple.
Trisha is a swim instructor at Mrs. Megan’s Swim Lessons and she owns Seahorse Cleaners.
Photo courtesy Sue Marshbanks.
Bob and Sue Marshbanks
This is a tale of a special place, a special couple, and many, many memories of dinners at Ocean Grill. Sue Marshbanks said her husband, Bob, asked her to marry him not once, but twice, and she said “Yes” in the parking lot of Ocean Grill one night, more than 49 years ago!
“I told him no the first time,” Sue said. “I was only 18. But he didn’t give up, and I later said yes, and now here we are.”
The Marshbanks dine at Ocean Grill as often as they can, and Sue’s mother was pregnant with her when she went to Ocean Grill one night and saw her OB/GYN, sitting at the bar.
Sue explained how the doctor told her mother how he didn’t have to worry about this one, motioning to her pregnant belly, and at 7:20 the following morning, Sue was born.
“I’m sure he wasn’t too happy about that early morning call,” laughed Sue.
Photo courtesy Sue Marshbanks.
I earned my bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Central Florida, and my bachelor's in nursing from Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, GA. I certainly embrace my experience as a nurse (and have experience as a firefighter and EMT as well), however my passion has always been in the field of journalism. I thoroughly enjoy writing and making words come to life.
When I'm not behind a computer screen typing or in front of a canvas painting, you can usually find me somewhere near the water with my two kids and my husky, Skye (who also blogs and has her own YouTube).
I think small businesses that are locally-owned and operated are far under appreciated so I support and recommend them whenever I can.
Oh, and I am fueled by sunshine, coffee, and pixie dust.
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