Nor'easter forces couples getting married in Massachusetts this weekend to pivot
It's that picturesque New England wedding with the flowing flowers, the brick buildings, and the fairy-tale backdrop. It's why couples choose to tie the knot in the region, but an impending nor'easter has couples scrambling to make changes.
"Our whole vision was a garden party wedding, but that's unfortunately not going to be the reality," said Katie Anderson.
Anderson and her fiancé Jesse Lauritsen will tie the knot this weekend even as the storm approaches.
"Monday, the peak stress I think for both of us, was the potential for travel interruptions," said Anderson. "All of our vendors are like this is not something you can plan for. You can plan for rain, but you can't plan for 50 mph winds."
They are getting married at Elm Bank in Wellesley, Massachusetts. The venue is now preparing for life inside.
"So Monday was a bit of a dark day when we were like we need a generator potentially both for the house and the venues," said Anderson.
They have a stack of chargeable lights ready to go, so she can get ready at home even if the power goes out.
"We've got a cousin that lives five minutes away, an uncle that lives five minutes away, and they've got three generators between them," said Lauritsen. "Today, it's my job to pick up a generator and make sure we are good to go."
Wedding planners say the key is to pivot. Only you know the real plan, not the guests.
"You just need to be able to think on your feet and be flexible about it," said wedding planner Roisin O'Rourke. "Anyone who is concerned, the best thing you can do is reach out to your vendors. They all have worked together."
O'Rourke is planning a wedding at Hammond Castle in Gloucester. It's a venue with an indoor capacity of 90 that now has to take in an outdoor wedding of 102.
"The clients when they realized it was going to be chilly, it was like OK well let's get some heaters and that was going to be fine," said O'Rourke. "When it turned out that it was going to potentially sweep them and their nearest and dearest into a furious Atlantic, OK things needed to change."
They are ditching the sit-down dinner for stations, so people don't have to sit at the same time. Johnny Burke Catering had to change the menu.
"So they were able to rework the menu that they had, and make it into something that would work for a different style of reception in under two days' notice," O'Rourke said.
That's how you find a way to change directions with the wind.
"At the end of the day, we've been reminding each other of all of the things we are excited about for the wedding that have nothing to do with the weather," said Anderson.
