People who get married usually wish for their wedding day to be big, special and memorable. The families and the couple have a really hectic time running around and getting things done. But what happens when your biggest challenge to make the wedding happen is a fight against the nature?
Kate Fotheringham, a resident of New South Wales (NSW) had big dreams about her big day. However, little did she know that her wedding will become the talk of the town.
On Saturday morning, Kate woke up to a nightmare when rising flood waters on the New South Wales mid-north coast left her trapped at her parents’ home just outside the regional town of Wingham.
Soon, she realized that the water had also submerged the only bridge in the town where she and her fiance Wayne Bell were expected to get married at 3 pm.
While speaking to Wion, she said, “I had accepted the fact it was going to be raining and I was wearing gumboots, but I didn’t know how I was going to deal with a one-in-a-hundred-year flood and a natural disaster,”
Kate decided to not give up and instead of postponing or canceling the wedding she decided to swim through the obstacle.
“It took three months to plan the wedding, 12 hours for it go to hell and six hours for it come together again,” Kate said.
“I did have a bit of a meltdown – a bit of a cry – and said this just wasn’t funny anymore. This just sucks. Then I think I also said: we’re just going to have deal with this,” she added.
The two families first thought of getting Kate and her family to the venue through a boat, but safety reasons ruled out this option. After that, the two thought of getting the team bride on a high rail car and swish through the rail line that ran past her parents’ house.
In the end, the couple agreed on an emergency airlift. Kate decided to blast social media with requests for help and soon an Affinity helicopter confirmed its availability in 50 minutes.
While the couple had a lot to fix before the wedding, including the make-up and caterers, the ceremony finally happened when the bride walked down the aisle just 15 minutes late.
“Explaining it, it doesn’t even sound real,” Fotheringham told the media. “It’s like, how is this possible? You can’t make it up. I can’t believe that we pulled it off. My family is incredible. We’re not ones to back down from something difficult, we can deal with a challenge or 10 – or a massive flood,” she added.
Since being shared online, Fotheringham’s wedding picture has gone viral on social media and prompted happy reactions among netizens congratulating the couple for making the wedding happen.
If the couple ever has kids, this will definitely be one hell of a tale to tell!