Guests’ flights to Florida were canceled and the reception venue was forced to close
VERO BEACH — More than a week ago, Hurricane Irma looked like a distant speck on the weather maps and Jessie Weir was planning her wedding, scheduled for Saturday.
She joked at the time with some of the 140 guests coming to Vero Beach from 18 states for her nuptials that “we may get hit by a hurricane.”
But by Tuesday, it was no joking matter.
Guests’ flights to Florida got canceled and the reception venue was forced to close on because of the impending monster storm taking aim at the Sunshine State. As the couple worked on plan B, Hurricane Irma reports became more ominous.
But after a ceremony at St. Helen’s Catholic Church, Weir is now Mrs. Chouinard. She and her new husband, Christopher, bumped the wedding up a day to Friday. About 30 people were able to attend.
“Tuesday was an emotional roller coaster, ” she said. “But this was going happen. There was no question about that.”
The Chouinards were fortunate. Thousands of activities and events planned for the weekend were canceled because of Irma.
Weddings, particularly destination weddings, with people flying into Florida from other states and other countries, can be difficult to reschedule.
There are the vendors: Caterers, photographer, florists all have had to bail because of Irma. Many of the state’s beach areas were evacuated so the venues at those locations are out.
That’s what happened to Daniel Dillman and Ashley Atkinson. The Ohio residents desperately wanted to get married in Cocoa Beach on Saturday and local wedding planners Sherri and Dave Salisbury had details meticulously worked out for the couple.
But like the Chouinards, the guests for the Dillman-Atkinson wedding from Ohio and other states had their flights canceled. And then the beaches were ordered to be evacuated on Saturday.
“We felt very crushed, ” Dillman said. “We were focused on going down to Florida and beating the hurricane anyway. It would’ve been a fantastic story to be able to pass down to friends and family in Ohio.”
They may attempt another event in Cocoa Beach at some point, but the wedding ceremony will more than likely take place in Amelia, Ohio, where they live.
For the Chouinards, the ending was happier.
The two, who attended graduate school together at the University of Florida and now live in Richland, Washington, held the wedding in Vero Beach because that is Jessie Chouinard’s home town.
Despite bumping up their big day and losing most of their guests, the wedding went off without a hitch. Their photographer, Kati Rosado of Melbourne, thought about evacuating but she didn’t want to bail on the Chouinards.
“I just didn’t have the heart to say ‘Sorry, I can’t make it’, ” said Rosado, who has been shooting weddings for about seven years. “A wedding is such a special day and it’s the only chance to capture those moments.”
Some of the guests live streamed the ceremony and reception over Facebook so those who couldn’t make the trip to Florida could still follow the celebration.
Thankfully the honeymoon wasn’t planned for South Florida this weekend.
After the reception, the two planned to hop into a car and drive to Atlanta to catch a flight.
“We’re going on our honeymoon next year, ” Jessie Chouinard said.
Follow Wayne T. Price on Twitter @Fla2dayBiz.
