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Strawberry Festival Gives Away Wedding

Tribune photo by GEORGE H. NEWMAN

Angel Carter, left, Florida Strawberry Festival tent show chairwoman, surprised Jennifer Faircloth and Jess Lingerfelt with news that they won a free wedding from the festival.

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By GEORGE H. NEWMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 3, 2008

PLANT CITY - The Florida Strawberry Festival is treating a couple to a wedding with a berry theme – right down to the cake.

One couple in the east Hillsborough County area won the free wedding to be held during the 2009 festival. Couples had until Sept. 30, 2008 to submit a photo and a 300- to 500-word essay on why they would love to have a "strawberry wedding," festival officials said.

Jennifer Faircloth and Jess Lingerfelt won the prize.

The bride and groom had to live in east Hillsborough County, and it must be the first marriage for both.

Festival show tent chairwoman Angel Carter came up with the promotion after talking with her sister Amy Sumner.

"My sister and I started talking about a strawberry wedding sometime in June," Carter said. "The more we talked about it, the better it seemed. Then, sometime in July, I brought the idea to Sunny Smith [a festival employee], and we hammered out some of the details. We felt like we were really on to something. From there we passed the idea on to the festival administrative assistant, Ellany Johnson."

Johnson said she took the idea to festival officials in August. "Some of the officials were very enthusiastic. They saw the potential for a Florida Strawberry Festival wedding to catch on in a big way. It looks like a great idea," she said.

"This strawberry wedding might work, even on a national level," festival President Gary Boothe said. "Angel Carter and Sunny Smith have worked hard to make this a big event."

The wedding is set for 5:30 p.m. Feb. 28. The bride and groom will choose the minister, Johnson said.

The winner receives free entry into the festival for up to eight members of the wedding party and 50 guests; a strawberry shortcake wedding cake; photo package; and a one-night stay at the Red Rose Inn and Suites in Plant City, including brunch for the bride and groom the next day.

The wedding will be in the festival show tent, said Carter, who is a part-time festival employee.

"We are counting on local sponsors to help offset most of the cost," Johnson said.

Reporter George H. Newman can be reached at (813) 865-4451 or gnewman@tampatrib.com.

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