White Wedding
Carbonear couple didn’t let the storm of the decade stop their wedding day
HARBOUR GRACE — When a record-breaking snowstorm hit Newfoundland on Jan. 17, it ground the Avalon Peninsula to a standstill.
States of emergency were declared, plows were pulled from the roads and people were told to stay inside unless it was an emergency.
Chris Butt had an emergency, his wedding on Jan. 18.
“I told Brianne no matter what, I would be lying down that night next to my wife,” Chris told the Compass on Jan. 19. “I promised, and I told her I’d keep that promise.”
When they woke up that morning the first bad news was that the reception would have to be rescheduled as the venue couldn’t dig themselves out. Chris said he told Brianne, fiancé-now-wife, that the reception didn’t matter, the wedding itself was the important part.
He began to dig out their car with the help of neighbours and once it was done they headed up to Brianne’s parents’ house, next to St. Joseph’s Church in Harbour
Grace where they were to be married. Then the next bad news struck.
They were getting ready and got a call from the priest that there was damage to the church from the storm so they couldn’t be married in the church.
“He told us we could do it in the parish basement so he went and dug it out,” Chris said. “He said if we were so determined to get married he wasn’t going to get in our way.”
Brianne said they had to make a lot of changes, but in the end she thinks it was better.
Family members made their way through the mess to get there and a neighbour took photos for them. Chris’s sister was stuck in a nearby town and couldn’t make it so they live streamed it to her so she could see the ceremony.
Chris had to leave again to get the best man and a bridesmaid out of a snowdrift but got them there in time.
“The adventure we had, that’s not something you can buy,” Chris said. “It’s going to be something burned into our minds and we’ll never forget it. If we made it through that, we’ll do alright, I think.”
Brianne said they had a beautiful ceremony, and it’s ‘unbelievable’ the amount of effort her new husband went through to make sure it happened.
“I didn’t think it was going to happen, she said. “But he was so sure of it, I said, ‘alright, I’ll follow your lead’ and it happened.”
Chris and Brianne said they’d also like to thank the friends and family who braved the snow to help make their day so special.