Watermark's Wedding Bells: Maddie and Jennifer Love

When Maddie and Jennifer Love first worked together as LPNs at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in 2015, it took Maddie a while to learn the name of her future wife.

“I kept calling her Trish,” Maddie says, until she corrected her.

“From that day, we were really good friends and from there, more than just friends,” Maddie says. They were both going through rough breakups when they first met and relied on the other for support. During this time, they got closer and realized how much they had in common.

“We’re both critical care nurses,” Jennifer says. “We deal with trauma on a day-to-day basis. Other people don’t get it. They don’t feel what we feel … It’s great feeling that you can come home to someone who understands what you’re feeling and going through.”

It took a year and a half of friendship for them to start dating. Maddie had previously only dated men.

“It took that time for our good friendship to develop. Once it finally did, I knew,” Jennifer says. “It was instant fireworks when it all connected. It took life eventually figuring things out and the gears to align, but here we are.”

Still, it wasn’t always easy. Maddie’s family wasn’t accepting of her relationship with Jennifer at first.

“I’ve always kind of felt I wanted to marry a woman or be with a woman, but I was always too scared of my family,” she says. “I didn’t want to disappoint my family, but I wanted to be happy, too.”
After several years together, her family became more accepting – and when Jennifer was certain that Maddie was the one, she began planning a surprise proposal. She brought Maddie to North Straub Park, a spot that was special to her that she’d never brought anyone to. That’s where she eventually proposed in October 2019.

“It’s my hideaway. My hidden spot. I knew if I could feel so comfortable bringing this person here, this is meant to be,” Jennifer says. “My whole life I’ve looked for what I call home and I quickly found out and realized that home was in Maddie. So, I took her to the only other home-like thing that I knew – North Straub Park in St. Pete – and proposed.”
Maddie was completely surprised by the proposal.

“It was the cutest thing ever and I had no idea. We were walking and she hired one of her friends to be the photographer and creep on us,” Maddie says. “We sat on a bench, and she pulled out a journal and she was reading from the journal like we do. I thought we were just having an us moment. She ended with ‘Will you be my wife?’ I looked a hot mess, too.”

Maddie quickly said yes, but what Jennifer didn’t realize was that she had been planning a proposal of her own. She had even bought a ring so she could pop the question on their upcoming trip to Costa Rica.

“After she proposed to me, I was super starstruck and excited, and said, ‘You do realize I was going to propose to you in Costa Rica?’ Maddie says.

From there, they begin planning their wedding and decided to start trying to have a baby. The pandemic changed all their plans, though.

In 2020, when COVID-19 hit, wedding planning came to a halt – and when they thought their attempt to get pregnant had failed, the couple signed a three-month contract to work in New York. The city was hit hard by the virus and in need of medical professionals.

“It was the epicenter of everything when we were there,” Jennifer says. “It brought us closer together.”

They also learned while working in New York City that Maddie actually was pregnant.

“We thought it was unsuccessful, but I worked the entire pandemic pregnant,” she says. “Everybody that we were working with at the time was so supportive. They were excited to hear some happy news during all that. It brightened up everybody’s mood.”

Their daughter, Avery, was born at the end of the year.

When they returned to Florida, the couple, who lives in Riverview, resumed wedding planning. With the pandemic still affecting life, they scaled back their plans and put together a DIY ceremony in Phillippe Park in Safety Harbor, where they’d taken maternity photos.

They held their reception at Maggiano’s in Tampa. Their family and friends helped set up and decorate both venues.

“It was just the perfect day,” Jennifer says.

Maddie adds, “There were nature trails on one side, the beach on the other. It was so beautiful. We were still unable to get everybody there that we wanted because of COVID. Even some close family – my sister, Jennifer’s sister – couldn’t get there and we had to accept that some people close to us that we loved weren’t going to be there. But we didn’t want our wedding postponed any further.”