Having an extra day only happens once every four years and one couple chose to live that extra day to the fullest this year.

Megan and Brent Stokes were married at 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, on Louisiana Circle—an overlook of the Mississippi River off Washington Street.

Brent is an assistant watch commander for the Vicksburg Police Department and will be going to boot camp and officer candidate school for 9 weeks this spring in the Army Reserves as a commissioned officer.

“We were actually going to get married in May, but I’ll be going away in the military in that time frame so we decided to move it up,” Brent said.

He said Leap Day was the perfect opportunity to get married and the rare date lines up with their relationship.

“It kind of matches our life and the way we love each other,” Brent said. “It stands out as a unique special day.”

“He actually came up with this date just being creative and something different,” Megan said. “You can’t always have this date every year.”

Megan joked since their anniversary is only going to happen every four years, she’ll get to pick the date they celebrate every year.

“Someone was joking around with him about every four years, and I said ‘that’s not going to happen, I’m going to pick the date,’” Megan said in good humor.

Brent said they found Louisiana Circle by accident one day as he was driving and needed to pull over to take a phone call. He said they had been thinking about getting married in a location near the water so they could incorporate the beautiful aspects and sites of Vicksburg in the wedding.

“The flow of the water and the strength of the river is what we hope our marriage is going to be like,” Brent said.

Megan said they plan to take a cruise for their honeymoon. They haven’t chosen the exact location, but they definitely want to get back to the beach.

The couple, originally for Virginia, has been together for 5 years and has lived in Vicksburg for three of those years. They moved here to be closer to Brent’s two sons Zachary and Alecsander.

The Rev. Johnny Williams officiated the wedding—his 406^th.  Brent’s best friend and partner at the VPD Robert Arnold was the best man, and his wife Evette was the maid of honor. The Stokes’ daughter Ireland was the flower girl.

Brent’s parents, sister, niece and sons attended the wedding that overlooked the mighty Mississippi on a sunny but breezy February afternoon.