Kimberly Laprad and Jayden Sink spent a year planning and saving for their dream wedding on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. They wanted to get married on the beach.
But just before their big day, set for Sept. 25 on Hatteras Island, the nor’easter cut off road access to the island, prompting officials to declare a state of emergency. The couple made it to the island, but most of their 45 guests did not. Their vendors — music, cake, officiant, photographer — began canceling one by one.
“It wasn’t just disappointing,” said Sink, 24. “It was defeating.”
The couple — who live in Roanoke — had been monitoring the weather since the week prior and knew serious rain was in the forecast. However, they had an indoor backup plan so they were not too worried.
“We always hear there are supposed to be terrible storms, but it often ends up not being too much of anything,” said Laprad, 24.
In this case, though, it was worse than they thought possible.
“You set a goal for something, and you spend all your time, all your money, every single thing you do is to fund this goal,” Sink said. “We got here and were excited to have it — and then boom.”
The couple looked into chartering a boat to transport their guests, but realized the conditions were too dangerous.
So, they decided to make the most of a bad situation. They planned to dress in their wedding outfits and take photos with their own camera.
“It would just have been a really expensive photo shoot,” Sink said.
Then Laprad had an idea.
“Let’s just invite the whole island,” she said to Sink the night before their wedding. “Why not?”
It started as a joke, but then they thought about it more seriously.
Sink’s friend — one of the few guests who made it to the island before access was blocked — started posting in local Facebook groups, inviting strangers to the wedding. In less than 20 minutes, hundreds of people said they would attend — and dozens offered to help with food, cake, photography, music and more. The couple was floored.
“We thought maybe 20 or 30 people would show up,” Sink said. “We didn’t think it would go viral.”
The couple initially planned to host their 45-person wedding at the beachfront property they rented for the weekend. With hundreds of new attendees, they needed to find a bigger venue. The island has about 4,000 year-round residents.
Stacey Saunders, the general manager of Frisco Woods Campground, reached out offering up the 38-acre property, which has a pavilion — for free.
“I saw their Facebook post, and I was like, ‘I have the place, I have the means; if they can get to me, I can help them,’” said Saunders, who is an ordained minister and offered to officiate the wedding, too. “If it were me, I would want someone to help me.”
Saunders, who has managed the campground for five years, said she was amazed — though not surprised — by the community support.
“Sometimes we get so caught up in our own life, our own stuff, that we forget that kindness goes a long way,” she said. “Everybody showed up. … We made it happen.”
Restaurants and caterers donated food and people brought multiple wedding cakes. Three photographers came, plus a DJ and a florist — all of whom gave their services for free.
“Twenty four hours ago, we were all strangers,” Saunders said while officiating. “Now, we’re not.”
The couple estimated that between 500 and 800 people attended their wedding. About 460 strangers signed their guest book.
“The people on this island have definitely restored our faith in humanity,” said Laprad, who grew up going on family vacations to Hatteras.
Gwenyth Airhart, a wedding photographer from Luray, Virginia, was vacationing on the island when she saw a Facebook post about the wedding. She decided to show up and take photos.
“I just felt really bad for their situation, knowing how special a wedding is, and then just these extreme circumstances,” Airhart said. “I felt like it would have been a waste for me to not at least try to do something for them.”
Airhart said everyone at the wedding was smiling.
“I thought it was the most beautiful thing,” she said. “It was so cool. You just don’t see that anymore.”
Airhart, who has been a professional photographer for five years, said this was by far the most memorable wedding of her career.
“I loved watching the outpouring of love that these random strangers had for this wonderful young couple,” she said.
Although the couple wished their family and friends could have been there, they said, in many ways, the wedding turned out better than that had imagined.
“I think it happened the way it was supposed to,” Laprad said. “We all had a great time.”
“We made a lot of friends,” Sink said.
They said they plan to return to the island every year to celebrate their anniversary.
“We’re incredibly grateful,” said Sink, noting that they started an online fundraiser to support a sidewalk construction project on the island. “We really appreciate what the community has done for us and we want to give back in any way we possibly can.”
Sink and Laprad were still stranded on the island as of Monday, and they’re hoping road access will be restored early this week. They said they’re planning to have a small celebration for family and friends back home who couldn’t make it to the wedding.
“Who knows,” Sink said, “it might storm again, and we’ll get all of Roanoke in on this.”
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The post The nor’easter disrupted their wedding. Hundreds of strangers came to help. appeared first on Washington Post.
