MINDEN, La. (AP) – A small Louisiana town that has teamed up to hold a wedding for a couple whose plans to get married in Houston were ruined by Hurricane Harvey.
Erin Smith and Jason Doyle of Shreveport, Louisiana, were married on Saturday in Minden, about 274 miles north-northeast of Houston, The Press-Herald reported.
Smith said the Houston hotel she was planning to stay at is home to evacuees. The hotel offered to remove hurricane victims from their reserved rooms, but she declined.
“We couldn’t take these rooms away from these people,” she said.
When Smith called a Minden bridal shop to have the dress replaced in Houston, the owner asked to arrange a ceremony in Minden, about 30 miles from Shreveport.
Smith had “decided she was going to get married this weekend,” said Alicia Adams of Hers Bridal. “She wanted to buy a brand new dress, so we asked her if it would be okay if we put a little ceremony together for her, and she agreed.”
Smith bought the dress, but Adams got the Minden companies to donate everything else from makeup – which Adams did – to hairdressing, venue and catering.
“It’s a blessing that this is my only Saturday off for the next three months,” said photographer Misty Swilley. “It worked out perfectly and I’m all about helping you. I firmly believe in paying it forward. “
Doyle said, “It’s nice to know that people go out of their way to do this, because there are more serious things than these. It is very humble for people to take this seriously for us. “
___
This story has been corrected to show that Minden is about 270 miles from Houston, not 240.
___
Information from: All Press-Herald, http://www.press-herald.com/