At 11 p.m. on a Friday night, Skyla Ann Welsch and Andrew Paul Shaternik danced wildly at The Point Bar and Grill in Montauk, N.Y., during their wedding after-party.
They had gotten married the evening of Sept. 25 during a nor’easter, a rare situation that required them to quickly change all of their plans from where the wedding would be held to how dinner would be served.
They were giddy about pulling it off. “I think the stress of everything falling apart and then everybody doing so much to put it back together made it so much more sentimental,” said Welsch, a 27-year-old bartender and social media manager for The Point.
Indeed, as their after-party continued late into the night, winds reaching up to 80 miles per hour howled outside, and 15-foot waves crashed two blocks away on the beach. A meteorologist, a producer and a photographer from the Weather Channel were among the crowd at the bar, toasting to the newlyweds’ success.
“You had the weather people, you had the locals, you had people dancing on the bar,” the bride said. “You could feel the energy.”
Welsch and Shaternik, a 35-year-old commercial fisherman and school custodian, both grew up around Montauk, on the eastern tip of Long Island. Welsch has a bachelor’s degree in film studies and visual arts from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a master’s degree in art education from Adelphi University.
Their families worked in hospitality, with Welsch’s family owning The Point, and Shaternik’s family owning Salivar’s Clam and Chowder House and Marlena’s Pack Out.
They did not meet, though, until the summer of 2021 when they were introduced by the bride’s uncle at The Point. They exchanged numbers and started going on hiking dates and out to dinner at seafood restaurants (the families also became close friends and now help one another in business).
They made their relationship official in February 2022, after Welsch returned from a long vacation in Thailand. “I was standing in the bathroom of my house asking Skyla how I should go about this, making her my girlfriend,” Shaternik said.
They got engaged on Aug. 14, 2025, on the cliffs of Ditch Plains, a surfing beach. “It was so funny because Skyla was being cranky, telling me we should turn around because we would get bitten by ticks,” Shaternik said.
“I was like, ‘Why does he want to make it to the top so badly?’” Welsch said. “I was so caught off guard.” She said yes, and they had a massive day of celebration starting at Welsch’s parents’ home and continuing onto Montauket, a bar overlooking the ocean.
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The couple had chosen Sept. 25 for their wedding date because it was the same day the groom’s grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousin all got married. “All the weddings were in Montauk, and they all had great weather,” he said.
Their original plan was to marry at the Montauk Point Lighthouse, near where the couple had a hiking date early on in their relationship, and then have a reception in a large tent on the patio outside Salivar’s.
“I thought even if it was rainy, everybody would be in a tent, so we would be fine,” Shaternik said.
“The Montauk locals are so used to rain and wind,” said Welsch. “We have extreme conditions all the time.”
But the afternoon before their wedding, it was clear a nor’easter, a rare storm for this time of year, was headed straight for Montauk. Local authorities canceled all outdoor tent permits, requiring the couple to pivot.
“I had my moment, of course,” said Welsch, after her wedding planner, Andie Obeid, broke the news to her at her ceremony rehearsal. “I cried a little bit, got stressed a little bit.” They didn’t know what to do since so many weddings were taking place that weekend in Montauk, and all indoor venues like hotels and restaurants were full.
Ms. Obeid came up with the idea to hold the ceremony at the Montauk Playhouse, a community hub with a newly constructed conference room. “We went to check it out, and the lady in charge came over and threw down a bottle of champagne, and said, ‘Let’s have a drink,’” Welsch said.
Another bride who was forced to move her outdoor wedding that weekend joined them and ended up booking the space, too. “I didn’t know her, but we hugged and had a glass of champagne together,” she said.
The couple decided to host their reception indoors at Salivar’s, which required moving around furniture to make room for a band and dance floor. They would also have to rearrange the seating plan since there wasn’t enough room for everyone to sit at once.
The community pitched in to help. “People who weren’t even invited to the wedding ended up helping us throughout the process,” Welsch said. Sole East, a hotel, delivered chairs to the Playhouse. Neighbors and family members moved furniture at Salivar’s.
The new plan went seamlessly, with the groom’s best friend, Logan Erb, whose father owns another Montauk restaurant, Harvest on Fort Pond, officiating the wedding, having received a one-day officiant license from the town of East Hampton.
About 170 guests were in attendance. Many were locals, while others made it to Montauk before the nor’easter moved in.
“The wedding was even more special this way,” Shaternik said. “It was amazing what everyone did to pull it off.”
The post As the Nor’easter Moved In, Their Wedding Plans Changed Course appeared first on New York Times.
