Hurricane Nate Can’t Stop Big Easy Weddings

NEW ORLEANS, LA — Hurricane Nate is powerful, but love is more powerful. An Athens, Georgia, couple who long ago scheduled their New Orleans wedding for Saturday weren’t about to let the storm sprinting toward southeast Louisiana disrupt their nuptials.

As the Category 1 storm churned toward the Big Easy, Mike and Kendra Groves did have to move up their wedding from the scheduled 7 p.m. time to 1 p.m. because the venue — the World War II museum — was closing early, the Times-Picayune reported.

Mike, 41, told the newspaper they never considered canceling their vows, despite the approaching hurricane. Kendra said she appreciated the city not making them leave before they could get married. (Sign up for newsletters and real-time news alerts from New Orleans Patch, or find your local Louisiana Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

With a 7 p.m. curfew in effect, the couple and their wedding party planned to celebrate their marriage at a hotel bar in New Orleans, which should make Mayor Mitch Landrieu happy. He said at a news conference Saturday that he was troubled when he learned some people in low-lying areas of the city were holding hurricane parties.

“We’re in the fight right now,” he said, adding that the storm will hit hard and fast. “The storm is on us.”
Hurricane Nate made landfall about 7 p.m. local time near the mouth of the Mississippi, carrying with it the threat of dangerous storm surges.

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