Sacred Heart in downtown Tampa is one of the most beautiful churches to get married in. It is regal, dynamic, and historical. Weddings taking place here are often of the highest in elegance, excitement, and MONEY. While working at a bridal salon, I met a beautiful bride who was getting married here. After selling her a $4000.00 wedding gown, she asked if the salon would provide church based services for her and her bridesmaids. These services would include delivery of the wedding gown, dressing of the bride and bridesmaids, boutineer and coursage pinning, etc (you get the idea). As a courtesy to this bride, the salon agreed to do these services at no charge, and allowed me and one other girl (Amy) to go the day of the wedding. It seemed simple enough.... It seemed carefree and fun.....
The day of the wedding arrived, and Amy and I quickly set about our duties. The gown this bride was wearing was a large gown with a long train that could not be cramped in a car on the way to the church.
As a result, one of the other consultants agreed to allow us to use her Ford Expedition to transport the gown to the church. We loaded the gown, accessories, steamer, iron, etc, and off we went. Arriving at the church, we parked right in front to "unload" and planned to quickly move the SUV, park and come back in and get the bride dressed. The bride, of course, was already stressing, and therefore I left Amy with her to begin the process, as I moved the SUV. I quickly run out to the car, taking out and pressing the alarm key, and....nothing. For some reason, the alarm wouldn't work. "No problem," I thought. You just need to change your angle....nothing...push a different button....nothing...blow the dust out of the clicker....nothing. By this time, guests began arriving, and here I am...parked in practically a BUS blocking the church. Beginning to panic, I called the owner of the SUV. "The alarm key won't work, what do I do!" I exclaimed into the phone. "I'm not sure...never had this happen before," was the answer I was given. No kill switch, no ideas, NADA. At this point, 30 minutes had gone by of me attempting to solve this problem. I knew I couldn't open the door, risking setting off an alarm that I couldn't shut off before the wedding...I was at a loss. Then, adding to my horror, was a limo. The groom's limo....waiting for me to move so he can be let out and pictures to be taken. The limo driver put the car in park, and walked over to me, asking me to move. Embarrassed and panicked, I explained the problem. After he fiddled with the key for a few minutes, he made the decision to unlock the door, and risk it. So we unlocked it manually, opened the door, and...silence. No alarm. "Thank God!" I thought, as I hopped behind the wheel. I quickly slid the key into the ignition and....nothing (seemed like a pattern here). Because the alarm key didn't work, we could not turn off the alarm, and therefore it would not allow us to start the car. Panicking again, the limo driver called a friend of his who worked at FORD to ask if he knew of a way to disarm the alarm so we could get this thing moved. As he talked, I continued to repeatedly press the button. Suddenly, it chirped. SUCCESS! I jamed the key back in the ignition, started the engine, and flew to a parking spot across the street. Running inside to the church I had been out there for almost an hour! Amy had everyone dressed, and wanted to know where I had been, and I just wanted a drink!
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