Hurricane and October Storm Couldn't Stop This Wedding Gone Awry

When a young couple falls in love and makes a commitment, they know they will face challenges. Rarely though, do they imagine those challenges will begin so soon, and at the whim of Mother Nature.

This story began when Naugatuck resident John Davis proposed to Nicole Cammilletti. He planned a trip to Disney World, a destination they had visited six times before. His plan was to ask Nicole to marry him in front of the castle, and her parents, unknown to her, had also flown down to be there for the news.

"I had the ring in my pocket and thought I would propose in front of the castle," Davis said. "I looked at my phone and it had a single band of rain for the weather. It's Florida, it rains, so it didn't look too bad."

"We had dinner, and the rain stopped while we were eating but it started again when we got outside," he said. "We went on the Haunted House Mansion and when we came out it was pouring. We went on that ride three times in a row just to stay out of the torrential rain."

The evening's surprise had to be delayed until opening day the next morning. 

More rain was in store when Hurricane Irene, later downgraded to a tropical storm, forced the cancelation of their wedding shower.

Cammilletti, who also lived in Naugatuck, where the couple still lives, said her father laughed about the weather. He told her, "Only you would pick a date for your shower and we get a historic hurricane. What's next, snow on your wedding day?"

Yes. They had snow on their wedding day.

Cammilletti heard about the pending October snow storm earlier in the week from a friend on Facebook.

"I laughed and said, 'That's impossible'," she said. "I called my dad to tell him and he laughed, too."

Sitting at their dining room table in late November, the couple compared notes with their two maids of honor.

Cammilletti shook her head and said, "I thought it might snow a little, that it wouldn't stick. But then a friend called and said the storm has a name. Alfred. They were calling for 12 inches."

Loreen Perugini, a friend of many years and one of the maids of honor, took her maid of honor duties seriously.

"I didn't believe it," she siad. "I was focused on the day, not the weather. We were just getting ready and keeping Nicole calm."

Loreen and Danielle Cammilletti, a maid of honor and Nicole's sister, spoke at the same time, remembering details of the trip to the church. The couple were married at Sacred Heart Church in Southbury and had a reception in Wolcott.

"No one thought the snow would stick," Danielle said. "We were supposed to be at the church at 2:15 and we got there at three. No one could believe what was happening. Having to walk from the car to the reception, everyone was slipping all over the place."

"Our limos got stuck a few times," Cammilletti said, while showing photos of the ordeal. "The groomsmen had to push us out [see photos attached]. The limo drivers were told they couldn't pull into the reception because they would get stuck so they dropped us off at the top of the hill. The girls were walking down the hill, with the guys helping some of them. I was picked up and carried more times that day than I think in my life."

About 100 of the 130 invited guests made it to the wedding, though some got stuck at airports or on the highway.

"We had a lot of food left over, so we donated a lot of it," Cammilletti said.

Asked if there were any other events of the evening that offered a foreshadowing of the day, Danielle said, "Loreen was in a car accident the night of the rehearsal dinner and she couldn't make it to the dinner."

Some might think that with so many obstacles, the couple might have reconsidered their plans, but according to the two sisters, they have seen this kind of thing before.

"We have funny family luck,” said Danielle. "We blamed my grandmother. We went to her niece's double wedding and the bride got appendicitis."

"When it started snowing, we all said, 'Grandma's here'," Cammilletti said, laughing.

"At the end of the day we are thankful we got married, and we have this awesome story to share with people for the rest of our lives," Nicole said, with more optimism than many might feel. "I kept getting e-mails and text messages saying they've heard of luck if it rains on your wedding day but a fluke snow storm -- that's got to mean so much more!"

The photos in the gallery were taken by The Wedding Elites from Watertown and Christopher Anderson at  www.Facebook.com/IconographyBy