An Early Wedding For Evacuees

Displaced Couple Moves Up Date When Strangers Come To Their Aid

(CBS)  After surviving Hurricane Katrina, one couple decided to begin their new life in a new city with a wedding. And, reports CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller, they were able to do it thanks to the kindness of strangers.

Thomas Sullivan, 25, didn't want to let the hurricane of the century rain on the event of his lifetime.

He and fiancée Michaella Boyd had planned to walk down the aisle a year from now but, after escaping New Orleans, they were convinced by Katrina to move up the date.

"We found out through the storm that time waits for no man," Sullivan says.

However, neither Sullivan nor Boyd had jobs or money. Then, fate landed them at a job fair at Sugar Creek Baptist Church.

"He said, 'I got to get a job man,' " Associate Pastor Frank Minton says. "And I said, 'Yeah, yeah.' He said, 'I got to get married.' "

So, Miller says, the congregation arranged for donations: the cake, flowers, gown — even the honeymoon.

"They took care of everything," Minton says.

Sullivan was touched.

"The life I've lived," he tells Miller, "you don't see people that just pour out and give to you."

A foster child since birth, the one thing Sullivan says he most regrets is that his adoptive parents can't share this day with him because they were separated by the storm.

"I know they're alright," Sullivan says. "I just know it."

And, after enduring so much, Sullivan and Boyd are charging ahead.

"Our concern is getting a job first," Sullivan says.

But not before they enjoy their honeymoon.

"We're going on the honeymoon," Sullivan says, sharing a laugh with Boyd. "Put the job on hold!"