‘Whirlwind’ Greenwich wedding goes viral
A Stamford couple's wedding in Greenwich is getting some social media attention after an unexpected interruption by Mother Nature.
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A Greenwich wedding is going viral thanks to video clips of wild weather that briefly interrupted the event.
Ashley Smith and Rob Neagle, of Stamford, got married at a private country club in Greenwich on June 6. Everything was going perfectly on what was a beautiful, sunny and hot day until the end of the mother-son dance at the wedding. That's when a severe thunderstorm quickly came through. Video published to the New York Post shows the club's staff clinging to the outdoor tent to keep it from blowing away and chairs flying through the air.
“My maid of honor had said, ‘Don't turn around,’ because the sky was completely black all around me, and we're right on the water, so the waves are crashing,” Smith recalled.
“The lights they string up were suddenly really starting to fly,” added Smith’s friend, Alix Abbamonte, who attended the celebration. “And I was like, ‘Huh, this seems worrisome.’ And then one of the lanterns that was heavier got loose and flew between me and this other girl's head and we were like, ‘Okay, we're getting up.’”
Luckily, no one was hurt. Guests and the bride and groom all went into the clubhouse to wait out the storm. It took about 45 minutes for the weather to pass and the venue to clean up, according to Smith. Then the rest of the night continued without a hitch.
“I was thinking that I hope the bride and groom have a sense of humor about this cause it's going to be a really great story for them,” Abbamonte said.
Turns out she didn’t need to worry. Smith was a pretty low-stress bride.
“It was an unexpected intermission,” Smith told News 12. “People kept asking if I was OK. All the people I loved were together. We had to take a little break before dinner, but dancing resumed and once the storm had passed, once it was safe, once the staff had miraculously turned it around, so it looked like it did before the storm, it was right back to action.”
Video from an employee who worked the wedding started circulating online, showing just how crazy things got at the height of the wind. Smith said she couldn’t believe it when her parents told her it was up on the Post.
“I'm incredibly thankful for all the work everyone did, keeping us safe, turning it around,” Smith said.
