Sailor and nurse get married on stage at Coastal Country Music Festival

A Sailor and a nurse, got married June 9 in front of tens of thousands at the 2022 Carolina Country Music Festival in Myrtle Beach.

Benjie Vitasolo, 32, and Mark Searcey, 37, had been engaged for a year, and were ecstatic about the ceremony the day before. The two are visiting Myrtle Beach for the first time and live together in Tampa, Florida.

“This is a once in a lifetime experience. And we’re just very blessed and excited for this wedding tomorrow,” said Vitasolo, the bride.

The couple met in 2020 during a frontline workers appreciation event at Clearwater Marine Aquarium, and have been dating ever since. While Vitasolo and Searcey were excited for all of the headlining artists, the couple were able to see Jason Aldean in 2021 and were excited for his performance Sunday.

Searcey said that the song, “I got what I got,” by Jason Aldean was important to the two.

“What I have here is important. It’s special, there’s nothing that’ll replace that,” Searcey said.

The ceremony was held on the Coors Light Main Stage late afternoon at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. While family members and friends were unable to get tickets in time, the groom’s son was present.

The CCMF has traditionally showed heavy support to troops and veterans, with discount tickets that give reentry all weekend, access to all four main stages, and free activities. Searcy is currently an active member of the US Navy, and Vitasolo works as a nurse.

Eric Hunt, the wedding officiant, said their service was a factor in the selection process. In order to be considered, willing couples had to fill out a form on the CCMF website, explain their love story, and mark whether if either person was a member of the military or a veteran.

“We just thought this would be a great way to celebrate them and honor them to be able to say I do and get hitched on stage at the Carolina Country Music Festival,” Hunt said.

Hun, who runs a marriage planning service, has been partnering with CCMF officiating couples on stage for seven years, and has been planning weddings in the Grand Strand for over 13.

Hunt also said that 2022 is already shaping up to be a huge wedding year, despite finishing up his last COVID rescheduled wedding in May.

“I serve about 450 couples a year. For this year, it’s probably already over 200,” Hunt said.

The Florida couple said that they were extremely nervous beforehand to be married in front of such a huge crowd. However, Vitasolo said they could not be happier with how it turned out.

“I am very overwhelmed and very thankful to Eric for making this possible. Never have I thought of getting married this way. It’s just amazing how everything turned out,” Vitasolo said.

This story was originally published June 11, 2022 at 7:30 AM.