Love Stories
People share their stories of falling in love in our beach town
By Margaret Abrams
Many people have experienced love in Seaside throughout the years. Whether it’s a first date, getting engaged, or getting married, visitors share some of their sweetest stories.
Julie and Brad Austin
Julie and Brad live in Grand Blanc, Mi., and met when they were in high school. Julie first came across Seaside when she saw an influencer that had shared her vacation and she immediately knew it was a place she wanted to visit. The couple spent their 20th wedding anniversary here.
“We had the best time together,” Julie says. “It was perfect, definitely the best vacation we had ever been on!”
Julie calls Seaside her favorite place on earth. “It’s so calming and peaceful, the perfect spot for the best memories. We always told one another that we would do something extra special for our 25th wedding anniversary,” she says. “Well now that we have found Seaside, that’s our special place. We will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary this year and I can’t wait to go back to Seaside.”
Brayden and Allison Hebert
Brayden and Allison met through a mutual friend in high school and took a trip to Seaside after they graduated.
“Fast forward two years, and we made an impulsive decision to pack up our three cats and our golden retriever to hit the road and move to 30A,” Allison says. “While living in town, we talked about marriage a lot and always sat on the beach talking about the day we would get engaged. Just about two months after living here, we went on a walk around and that’s when Brayden proposed. It was a dream, just us two, no one around. Right after, we went to celebrate in Seaside.”
The Louisiana couple recently came back to Seaside to reminisce and plan on returning many times to come.
Courtney and Michael Demperio
Courtney met Michael shortly after she moved to Atlanta when she was running along the Chattahoochee River.
“We were both out for a run and ran past each other the first time, both intrigued by the other,” Courtney says. “We both intentionally went back several more times before luckily ‘running’ into each other again. From there we made our introductions and the rest is history.”
Micheal introduced Courtney to Seaside, as it was somewhere he had vacationed growing up. He knew how much she loved the beach. The couple ended up getting engaged at the Pensacola Pavilion in September 2019.
While they originally planned on getting married at the Seaside Chapel in 2020, COVID foiled their destination wedding. Still, they vacation in Seaside multiple times a year, as it holds a special place in both of their hearts.
