After storm prep, Florida residents wait, try to relax
Stephanie and Shaun Stief got married just before noon Saturday, pushing up the time of their Orlando ceremony by hours to avoid a potential wedding crasher named Irma.
“Everyone kept saying it’s good luck if it rains on your wedding,” Stephanie said. “I kept saying, ‘What about hurricanes?’ ”
The couple, married outside the historic mansion at Dubsdread Golf Course in College Park, said they’d spent a lot of time this past week worrying about the weather and what Hurricane Irma would mean for the wedding they’d been planning for almost a year.
They decided to move up the start time — the invitations said 5 p.m. — as the storm churned toward Florida. Irma prevented some guests from attending, but about 90 people celebrated with the Stiefs, who wore a traditional gown and tuxedo but sported coordinating sneakers with “I do” and “Me too” written on the tops.
Their honeymoon — planned for St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands — has been postponed because the island was heavily
damaged by Irma. But the couple, with five kids between them from previous marriages, didn’t want to be away from home during the storm anyway.
So their plans were to enjoy their reception — and a limousine ride back to their house. “Then we’re going to just relax,” Shaun said.
Other Central Floridians didn’t have so much riding on this Saturday, but they also were determined to relax — and get outside — after days spent preparing for, and stressing about, the storm. Plus, they knew Saturday’s mild weather might be the last they’d see in a few days.
“We decided to come out to the lake and let them run off some energy,” said Charlie Manfre, as his two boys ran around the playground at Lake Eola in downtown Orlando.
He and his wife, Christy, live in Clermont but are staying at a hotel in downtown Orlando because Christy is 38 weeks pregnant with their third child. They decided it would be safer during the storm to be close to Winnie Palmer Hospital, where she plans to deliver.
They packed a suitcase full of toys, coloring books and iPads to entertain Aiden, 6, and Nolan, 3, but Saturday morning the two Lake County school teachers were encouraging playground games, then a walk around the lake.
“Ths is the fun stuff to do before the boring stuff starts,” Manfre said.
Other groups of parents and kids, runners and dog walkers were in the park, too, though it was less crowded than usual for a Saturday.
“It definitely feels a little ghost-townish,” said Chantelle Johnson, who lives in Colonial-town and had come to get exercise and let her boys, ages 8 and 2, run around.
Babs Wade arrived in Orlando on Saturday morning from Key West, from where she’d fled under evacuation orders Friday evening. After nine or so hours on the road, she was happy for clear skies and Lake Eola’s grassy park, where she and her two dogs could stretch their legs.
“It feels so good to be here,” she said.
At the golf course at Dubsdread, a few people were on the putting green, including Adair Ziebarth and her father and brother.
She doesn’t golf but had joined them anyway.
“I just wanted to get outside before I get stuck inside,” she said.
A graduate student at the University of Florida, Ziebarth decided to return to her parents’ College Park home to ride out the storm. “I figured my mom is more prepared than I am,” she said, laughing.
Her brother, Tanner, lives in Tampa, in an area that was evacuated, so he was there, too.
Their father usually plays golf on Saturdays. His regular game was canceled when that course closed down, so he came to nearby Dubsdread for a little time outside. “I figure we’re going to be inside for the next 24 hours,” Mark Ziebarth said.
Restaurants that were open seemed to be doing a brisk business, as was the ABC Fine Wines and Liquor store on Edgewater Drive. Cars were pulling in and out regularly Saturday and most parking spots were taken.
Peter Triolo said he’d come for “something to treat ourselves with during the storm,” probably a Limoncello.
Robert Durrenberger, leaving with vodka, said he’d prepared his house, stocked up on food and water, checked on friends and taken in two cats whose owner was out of town and could not fly back home because of the storm.
His plans for later Saturday afternoon involved his couch and waiting.
“Flop down, take it easy,” he said.