Most couples may possibly have wondered no matter if the forces of nature had been against them soon after moving their wedding 3 instances due to the fact of the pandemic and two hurricanes that hit nearly the precise identical spot inside weeks of 1 one more.
But Emily Kitfield and Taylor Pascale had been even more determined than ever to tie the knot. And in a compact ceremony Dec. 5 surrounded by close close friends and family members, Emily ultimately got to put on her lace-covered wedding dress and marry Taylor.
“What better time than now, I guess? I mean, we finally reached the end of hurricane season. So it’s not like another storm could get in the way of it,” Emily stated.
“Come rain or hell, we were getting married,” Taylor stated.
Taylor, 22, and Emily, 23, had been initially going to get married in October. The young couple has been collectively for practically 4 years and have an adorable 1-year-old son, Kayson, who toddled about the wedding ceremony obtaining into mischief.
But Taylor stated worries that there may possibly be one more coronavirus-connected lockdown triggered them to move the ceremony to Aug. 28. Then Hurricane Laura, a Category 4 storm, slammed ashore just miles from Taylor’s parents’ dwelling exactly where the couple lives. Instead of obtaining married, the family members evacuated to Texas.
Taylor remembers coming back with his two higher college-age brothers to place a tarp on their broken roof and acquiring his neighborhood of 20 years nearly unrecognizable. Taylor’s family members had to gut a massive portion of their property and obtain a trailer.
Some members of the family members are now living in the trailer when other individuals, such as Taylor and Emily, are staying in an addition to the property the family members constructed ahead of the hurricane that survived. Emily’s dress, which had been in the addition, came by means of Laura unscathed.
They rescheduled the ceremony for the October week that turned out to be when Hurricane Delta hit the Louisiana coast just a couple of miles from exactly where Laura had created landfall.
Then they viewed as February — on the anniversary of when they initial met — but with coronavirus instances climbing once more, they decided not to delay any additional and pulled collectively a ceremony in a matter of days. In the finish, they invited a compact circle of about 20 family members and close friends to collect at the Pascale dwelling as they tied the knot in between two oak trees on the family’s house.
“They wanted to get married this year … no matter what. And we were just like, ‘OK, we’re supporting you. We’re doing this,’“ said Taylor’s mom, Julie.
A high school teacher who has taught all the Pascale boys and is also an ordained minister, performed the ceremony as three bridesmaids in maroon dresses and groomsmen in jeans and maroon button-down shirts watched.
The ceremony was a bright spot in what has been a tough year. Taylor has Type 1 diabetes, which has made him and Emily especially worried about the virus. He stayed home from work for three months at the beginning of the pandemic. Taylor’s grandmother also broke her hip during the Hurricane Laura evacuation.
Taylor’s mother looked through the small crowd assembled for the ceremony and ticked through the damage to everyone’s homes. Houses gutted. Families staying with relatives. She said that at a time of so many challenges, it’s important to find the beauty in moments like the wedding.
In the end, an intimate ceremony at home felt right, Emily said.
“It felt more natural for it being here. I mean, we met here. It feels like home here,” Emily stated. “Honestly … we couldn’t have picked a better way or place to do what we did.”