BRADENTON, Fla. — Emma and Chris Cox were just expecting to dance the night away and celebrate their marriage with family and friends. They weren't even expecting gifts.
And, they certainly weren't expecting all those gifts to be stolen out of Chris' truck hours after they said "I do."
"Every single card was stolen from their wedding...and it happened in a matter of minutes," said Brandy Harlan, director of marketing and events coordinator at Mixon Fruit Farms in Bradenton.
Harlan posted several videos on Monday to The Pavilion at Mixon Farms Facebook page. Two are surveillance videos showing someone - Harlan says it's a woman - taking the bag full of gifts and cards from Chris Cox's truck.
According to Harlan and the video, Emma Cox's father pulled up her husband's truck to the roundabout near the reception area around 11:19 p.m. The father then went back in to grab more things to take home for the couple.
Harlan said the woman, who had been waiting in her car in the parking lot, went straight for the back seat of the truck and took the bag of gifts. The woman even took the couple's marriage certificate.
The venue said the woman then ran through some bushes to her waiting car. Harlan said she drove out the backside gate and headed south on 26th Avenue.
"Whoever you are, and whatever it is you think you got away with, it's short-lived," Harlan said in the video. "Our hearts are broken for (Emma and Chris Cox)."
Bride Emma Cox said she and her husband found out the woman walked into the cocktail area around 9 p.m. Saturday. Emma Cox said the woman then sat in her car in the parking lot watching guests leave the wedding before taking the bag from her husband's truck.
"What we believe...is that someone told her to look for that bag," she said.
Emma Cox said since Saturday night, Harlan and the team at Mixon Farms have been "wonderful" to her and her husband.
"They've gone above and beyond to make sure we're okay, keeping us updated," Emma Cox said.
Harlan said the venue has turned over all relevant surveillance video and information to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office. She said the venue was also able to make out a license plate on the woman's truck.
10News has reached out to the sheriff's office requesting any information related to the investigation.
"In five years this has never happened," Harland said. "They just wanted to be married."
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