When the Winds Changed Our Plans

Sometimes the most beautiful moments are the ones we never planned.

For months, we dreamed of a wedding beneath the trees.

A garden filled with flowers and candlelight.

Music floating through the September air.

Friends gathered beneath a tent.

Laughter, dinner, dancing and celebration under an autumn sky.

Every little detail had been lovingly planned.

And then...

the winds began to blow.

Just thirty-six hours before our wedding, a Nor’easter began making its way toward South Jersey.

The forecasts grew more concerning by the hour. Rain was coming. The temperatures were falling. And, most importantly, the winds were becoming too strong for us to safely gather beneath our beautiful wedding tent.

There comes a moment when you realize that no amount of planning can control the weather.

So, with disappointed hearts—but very clear heads—we made the decision:

The garden wedding would have to move indoors.

And then something rather wonderful happened.

Friends and family rallied.

Plans changed.

Flowers moved.

Tables moved.

Food moved.

Music moved.

Candles moved.

And somehow, in only 36 hours, our entire wedding found a new home.

Not just any home...

but the historic Salem Friends Meetinghouse.

Perhaps that was where we were meant to be all along.

On September 26, 2026, as the wind blew and the rain fell outside, the old Meetinghouse was bathed in the warm glow of candlelight.

The beautiful sounds of the Elegance String Quartet filled the room as the people we love gathered together in the simple, peaceful space where generations before us had worshipped, prayed, reflected and celebrated life's most meaningful moments.

Then came one of the most precious gifts of the day.

Chrissy's daughter, Christen, played a gorgeous arrangement of Morning Has Broken.

And somehow, surrounded by candlelight, family and friends, those familiar notes seemed to say everything that words could not.

A new morning.

A new beginning.

A new life together.

Our ceremony followed the beautiful simplicity of Quaker tradition.

There was no elaborate production.

Instead, there was silence.

Stillness.

Meditative worship.

And love.

One by one, friends and family rose from that silence to share thoughts, memories, blessings and feelings with us.

Some words brought tears.

Others brought smiles.

Every one of them became a gift we will carry with us.

And in the quiet of that historic Meetinghouse, we bonded together and exchanged our vows.

Then, gently, we slipped the wedding bands onto one another's fingers.

Simple.

Sacred.

Perfect.

Our dear friend Jim Wittman shared Scripture and spoke about the strength and beauty of building a marriage upon a foundation of both love and respect—words that seemed especially meaningful as we began this new chapter of our lives.

There was something in that room that afternoon that is difficult to describe.

An energy.

A warmth.

A palpable sense of love.

It surrounded us.

Perhaps it came from the candles.

Perhaps from the centuries-old Meetinghouse.

Perhaps from the music, the prayers and the beautiful words spoken by people we love.

Or perhaps it was simply what happens when a room is filled with people who have gathered for one reason:

to celebrate love.

The Nor’easter changed our wedding.

It took away our garden.

It took away our tent.

It rewrote plans we had spent months carefully making.

But it gave us something we never could have planned.

Intimacy.

It gathered everyone a little closer.

It quieted the world outside.

And for a little while, inside an old Quaker Meetinghouse glowing with candlelight, there was nowhere else to go...

and nowhere else any of us wanted to be.

Our wedding did not happen exactly as we had imagined.

It happened exactly as it was meant to.

And when we look back on September 26, 2026, we won't remember it as the day the storm changed our plans.

We'll remember it as the day that, despite the wind and the rain, those we loved came together...

safe, warm and close...

and witnessed the moment when Curt & Chrissy became husband and wife.

And what a beautiful beginning it was. 🤍