Beach wedding (stock image)
Credit: Getty
NEED TO KNOW
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Hundreds of high school students participating in their “senior skip day” accidentally ended up witnessing a wedding ceremony on a Florida beach
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Newlywed Dawn Moore said about 800 to 900 people were present on the beach as she was tying the knot
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“They got quiet and they were really respectful… it turned out to be really good,” the bride shared
A couple celebrating a beach wedding had quite a number of unexpected guests after hundreds of teens participating in their “senior skip day” ended up witnessing the ceremony.
Speaking with Jacksonville news outlet News4Jax, newlywed Dawn Moore shared that as she was getting ready for her nuptials to her now-husband, Zack Stover, at a beachfront hotel in Florida on March 27, her sister came into her room and alerted her to hundreds of people gathered on the beach outside.
The crowd eventually drew a heavy police presence (leading to several arrests, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office), and Moore’s photographer informed her that it was “senior skip day” — when high school seniors take an unsanctioned day off ahead of graduation.
“One of the cops had told our photographer that we might want to go down [the beach] a mile,” Moore told News4Jax. “I was like, ‘There’s no way that we can do that… we’re all barefoot… and I have on a really tight wedding dress.’ “
Beach wedding (stock image)
Credit: Getty
Rather than change their plans, Moore and Stover opted to proceed with their original wedding and headed down to the sand — where they were met with loud support and some respectful silence during their vows.
According to Moore, “all the teenagers just started cheering and clapping” as soon as the couple stepped onto the beach.
Video footage of the event shared on TikTok showed the teens cheering and clapping as Moore and her bridesmaids approached, as well as a hush falling over the crowd during their vows.
“They got quiet and they were really respectful… it turned out to be really good,” Moore recalled.
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According to the bride, she and her husband had expected about 140 guests — but Stover estimated that the crowd on the beach had grown to somewhere between 800 and 900 people.
Several of the teens later told Moore that it was the first wedding they had ever witnessed.
“I thought it was wonderful,” she told News4Jax. “I went through a lot of weddings when I was younger, and it made me know what I wanted when I got older, and I’m happy to have given them that.”
Speaking from her honeymoon at Disney World, Moore shared that the massive crowd was something she never could have anticipated on her big day.
“You never expect that at your wedding,” she said. “Thank you to all the seniors who were there on senior skip day. You all made it amazing. Very memorable.”
Read the original article on People
