True love conquered a blizzard!
Sally Faulkner and Adam Irujo had been eagerly anticipating their wedding day since Irujo proposed in August 2020. But, Mother Nature tried to throw an icy curveball at the excited couple’s plans for a ceremony at the end of January. Weather forecasters predicted a huge snowstorm and driving winds for New England on their big day, Jan. 29.
About 24 hours before the wedding, the couple from Rhode Island got a disappointing phone call from their event planner, they told The Washington Post. Due to the incoming storm, vendors had to cancel their services for the wedding.
But the happy couple was not going to let a little cold and snow stand in the way of true love. With a little creative thinking and a sense of adventure, the couple and their friends and family came up with an amazing Plan B.
“In an hour and a half, we replanned the whole wedding,” Irujo told The Washington Post.
While the formal festivities were moved from Saturday, Jan. 29, to the next day thanks to flexible vendors, the fact remained that Jan. 29 was still listed as the wedding day — it was on their marriage certificate.
As the snow piled up and blew around in 40-mile-per-hour winds outside the Providence hotel where they were now snowed in, Irujo’s father, who was already going to officiate the ceremony, came up with a crazy idea.
“My dad said, ‘We got nothing to do, do you want to do a ceremony?'” Irujo told Insider.
And so, the bride and groom, with some family members and wedding party in tow, bundled up and braved the elements for a walk to the steps of the Providence Public Library for a memorable vow exchange in front of a gorgeous archway.
The library tweeted later that they were happy to be part of their wedding day:
So thrilled to be a small part of your big day!https://t.co/w6lcGY4CoF
— Prov Public Library (@provlib) January 31, 2022
The bride wore a cream-colored skirt, a white sweater and a cream-colored hat to replicate appropriate wedding attire. She also stepped into some snow boots for the trek.
“I actually had snow pants on my way over for the first 10th of a mile,” Faulkner joked to Insider. But she took them off for the ceremony and replaced the hat with a veil.
Irujo sported his snowboarding goggles and a snowsuit for the walk, but when removed his snowsuit at the steps of the Providence Public Library, he revealed a stylish suit for the occasion.
The wedding ceremony was captured by Christine Irujo and shared on YouTube.
“It was just the bones of the ceremony,” Faulkner told The Washington Post. “’Do you take him?’ ‘Do you take her?’ There was nothing to overthink or stumble over. It was just perfect.”
Instead of throwing rice after the ceremony for good luck, a short snowball fight broke out much to the delight of everyone in attendance.
The next day, the formal wedding took place without a hitch. For the happy couple, the blizzard that could have wreaked havoc with their special day transformed it into a memorable weekend.
“We thought it was going to be really hard and it all came together,” Sally told WJAR 10 News. “The Providence Public Library worked with us so well. All of our vendors somehow were available today and I think it was just meant to be.”
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories.
