The Announcement

Samantha Linn Cooksey and Patrick Andrew "Andy" Strickland were married on December 25, 2008 under the Christmas night stars at the home of the bride's parents. Reverend Andy Creel officiated the ceremony. The bride's cousin Morgan Linn served as the flower girl and the groom's nephew, Jonah Bennett, was the ring bearer. Special music was performed by Sarah Creel and Lloyd, Melanie, and Daniel Monroe. The bride is the daughter of John and Carolyn Cooksey of Lloyd, Florida. The groom is the son of Richard and Linda Strickland of Elkview, West Virginia. The bride graduated from Florida State University with a degree in communications in 2005. She is employed with the Florida Department of Health as an interstate preparedness planning coordinator. The groom earned his master's degree in fish and wildlife science from Virginia Tech in 2002. He is employed as a biological administrator with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The couple will honeymoon in Ocho Rios, Jamaica in the spring. They will reside in Waukeenah, Florida.

The Story...

The Sunday before Christmas Andy and I went shopping and ended up in the jewely store trying on wedding bands; dilegently trying to check things off the long wedding to-do lists. We left the store with two shiney new rings and headed to the car. Andy, who has been trying to convince me to elope in Vegas for months now, said "Well, we have everything we need now. Let's just go ahead and get married." To his surprise, I said "Okay. Let's do it at Christmas".

Once he finally started to believe me, he got on the phone with his family to see if they could make a spur of the moment drive down from West Virginia and I called my mom to see if she could pull off a wedding in four days. Needless to say, everything fell together.

Four days laters, Andy and I got married in a beautiful outdoor night ceremony at my parent's home. I had always wanted a night-time winter wedding and it was perfect.