Hurricane Florence Ruins Their Dream Wedding, Then Friends Replan Everything in 48 Hours
Hurricane Florence has been a devastating experience for many. For the families of Dean Lally and Rosie Duchelle, it became their worst nightmare.
Lally and Duchelle had been planning their dream wedding for a year and a half. The week-long event was set to take place at the Outer Banks in North Carolina.
The couple’s wedding website boasts a reception and ceremony at the The Mark Twain, a beachfront vacation home.
They dreamed of sand beneath their feet and waves behind them. It was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives.
The couple hails from Pasadena, but the Outer Banks was their dream destination for sentimental reasons.
Duchelle visited the islands on vacation growing up, and Lally had previously been stationed nearby during his service as a Marine.
The two also met at East Carolina University. But it would seem the place that meant so much to them would not be where they would say, “I do.”
Not unless all of their family and friends could plan another week-long get together for another date when the digs weren’t so soggy.
The couple hoped for the best but shortly after their arrival, it was made clear their wedding would either have to be moved or be called off all together.
After being told to evacuate, everything seemed hopeless. That’s when Lally got his sisters in on a conference call.
“We knew it was bad because he’s never put us on conference before,” Lally’s sister, Kim Holmes, told The Baltimore Sun.
Lally and Duchelle had planned to cancel, but Holmes and Lally’s other sister, Sarah Lally, had a different plan in mind.
The sisters put their heads together and decided they’d try to pull off the last-minute wedding plan of the year.
“Initially, I couldn’t even wrap my head around it,” Dean Lally shared with The Baltimore Sun. “I didn’t think it was possible to get everything in line in time.”
But never underestimate what a pair of determined sisters can do on short notice. It took some effort and a lot of phone calls, but eventually they pulled it off.
From calling 150 guests and asking them to switch their travel arrangements to Baltimore to reaching out to every vendor in the area until they’d secured everything, the wedding was back on!
The other bridesmaids helped too. What a tribe of fabulous women this couple has behind them! “They were nothing short of amazing,” Duchelle said.
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?? BRIDE TRIBE ?? #LallysGoWithTheFlo #RallyWithTheLallys #rehearsaldinner
The couple’s wedding hashtag, #RallyWithTheLallys, took on a whole new meaning as everything came together for the new location at The Villa in Beltsville.
The sisters even added a new hashtag, #LallysGoWithTheFlo, which speaks volumes of how this family tackled what could have been a heartbreaking disaster.
Lally and Duchelle were officially married on Sept. 14. Holmes posted a huge “thanks” on her Facebook page to everyone involved in the last-minute planning.
“The amount of love and support that surrounded our families this week is beyond words…” Holmes wrote. “We have so many incredible people in our lives and everyone came through in a really huge way this week.”
What an amazing family! I’d certainly want them by my side in an emergency. No doubt the newlyweds will look back on their special day, not with regret, but with full hearts and happy memories of the love they were shown when they needed it most.
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