ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Every week, excited couples make the trip to Anna Maria Island for their dream wedding in paradise. This was the case for Rochelle Lewis, who was thrilled to make Beer Can Island the destination that would be the beginning of her new life with Matt Lewis on 2/22/22. Matt and Rochelle tied the knot on the beach with the stunning backdrop that can only be provided by the Gulf coast’s beautiful barrier islands.
“I married my sweetheart on Beer Can Island,” she said. “It was a magical ceremony, only we lost my beautiful ring somewhere in the process. We searched and searched, but sadly left the beach without it.”
Not one to give up, Rochelle posted on a local Facebook group hoping for a miracle, and little did she know, a miracle is exactly what she would receive. Jay Joy and his wife, Kimberly Joy, responded to Rochelle’s post. Jay has a metal detector and has been known to be a very skilled “finder of things.” The Joys met Rochelle and Matt shortly after sunrise and went to work with his metal detector hoping to find the tiny ring in millions of pounds of sand. Fortunately for Rochelle and Matt, Joy was successful in finding a real-life needle in the haystack.
“We are forever grateful to you both, Jay and Kim,” Rochelle said. “This was an amazing ending to this chapter of our love story.”
Thanks to the help of a friendly stranger, the happy couple boarded their plane back to Minnesota with her 22 beautiful roses, and the ring that almost didn’t make the flight.