Wedding at the Clearwater Beach Recreation Center

In March, I ran into my orthodontist, Dr Chris Butchart, when coming out of Delectables Catering in Palm Harbor. He introduced me to his fiancé, Dawn. Dawn was delighted when I mentioned that I was a wedding officiant, because that was one thing they didn’t have yet for their upcoming wedding at the Clearwater Beach Recreation Center.

Clearwater Beach Recreation Center

I always enjoy a wedding at the Clearwater Beach Recreation Center, because couples have room to decorate the venue as they wish. I’ve seen everything from homemade beach decorations, an arch with origami hanging birds, and fancy fancy decorations put together from a wedding planner. Many wedding venues on Clearwater Beach can be expensive. If you are looking for a place right on Clearwater Beach that won’t break the budget and gives you the ability to pick your own vendors and decorations be sure to check out the Clearwater Recreation Center.

Two weeks before Dawn and Chris’ wedding, Dawn called me hoping that I was still available and fortunately, I was! The wedding was to be held on June 13th at the Clearwater Beach Recreation Center. Charmaine “Saved the Date” and immediately sent Dawn vow pieces to look over right away. With three offices, Dr. Butchart has a very busy life. They had a few family situations come up and hadn’t been able to look over the vow pieces. Three days before the wedding I hadn’t heard back from them with their vows so I contacted Dawn and offered to put the ceremony together for them. Dawn and Chris really liked this idea so I talked to Dawn about about what she wanted in her ceremony and then I put together a nice ceremony for them.

On the day of the wedding shortly before the ceremony was to commence dark clouds started rolling in. The wedding was scheduled to be outside on the lawn overlooking the water. Brad Hall Studios was setting up the music and sound system, as well as, doing photographs. All the vendors, including myself, were prepared to move inside if the weather didn’t hold out.

We all decided to wait a few minutes with the hopes that the storm would pass. As we waited, I could see that Dr. Butchart was nervous. He’s such a perfectionist (definitely a good trait for your orthodontist to have!) and really wanted everything to be right so I talked to him and it seemed to calm him down a bit. His two sons were holding the rings, but they had never been to a wedding before! I spoke with them and guided them through their roll in the ceremony. Luckily, the storm blew over and we were able to have the wedding outside! Dawn & Chris performed a sand ceremony, as well as, spoke their own vows from their hearts.

Sand ceremony

They were both very emotional in their own words to each other. After the ceremony they complimented me for a beautiful ceremony and all I did to help them out. All in all, it was a great wedding day! I truly enjoyed being a part of Dawn and Chris’ wedding and appreciate all the hard working vendors that made the day happen for them.

Here are some of the details on their wedding at the Clearwater Beach Recreation Center: