By Liesel Schmidt

As co-workers at a local restaurant when they met, Kyra Tucker and Alex Schmidt saw a great deal of each other on-shift. The two later got to know one another even better by playing games... of the literal kind. “Alex was new and kept trying to get my attention through games like hangman in the small moments we had during our shift,” says Kyra, who is now a second-career nurse, while Alex remains in the restaurant industry as a career server, bartender and manager.

 

Over the next few years, the two became inseparable—and then their lives became even more intertwined. “During our vacation to Florida, Alex enlisted the help of our family friends, Bruna and Andre,” says Kyra. “Andre took us around St. Augustine, while Bruna prepared rose petals and candles in a gazebo. When we returned, Bruna led me out to the gazebo, where Alex dropped to one knee in khaki shorts and a tie-dyed shirt! It was very romantic.”

 

Wearing much better than a tie-dyed shirt and shorts, Alex waited patiently for Kyra as she walked down the aisle in the garden at the Mount Vernon Inn and Restaurant on October 22, 2022, resplendent in a beautiful gown with a lace bodice and a sparkle-laden, full tulle skirt accompanied by a lace cathedral-length veil. With their eight attendants—all of whom did a choreographed dance down the aisle—and 100 guests gathered, the couple exchanged vows and were pronounced married before joining their guests for the festivities at the restaurant. “The Mount Vernon Inn and Restaurant was excellent and everyone enjoyed their dinner,” says Kyra of the plated dinner served for the reception.

 

After dining, dancing and cutting into a pumpkin spice-flavored cake covered in cream cheese frosting and topped with bride-and-groom pumpkins, the newlyweds were sent off to honeymoon in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. The greatest souvenir from their trip—aside from the memories—is the baby they are expecting in July.