A newlywed Edmonton husband and wife are saluting emergency workers for helping guests reach their Marten Beach wedding through severe flooding.
Jesse Cummings and Ashley Swyck had planned their ceremony at a group campsite near the hamlet just north of Slave Lake for Saturday, July 27.
But three days before, heavy rainfall washed out sections of Highway and cut off road access.
The water flooded dozens of properties and prompted an evacuation order for Marten Beach.
The storm stranded the best man, maid of honour and officiant, but emergency responders stepped in to help.
“They were doing everything they could to let us forget that we were in the middle of a disaster zone,” groom-to-be Jesse Cummings said.
He said crews from the Lesser Slave Rive fire department and workers with the Alberta Transportation and Alberta Environment and Parks helped shuttle guests through the wet conditions.
“They promised to get the officiant out there even if they had to fly her out there by helicopter.”
By late Saturday, crews installed a temporary bridge over one of the highway washouts, allowing a few hundred other campers who had been trapped since Thursday to leave.
The couple of more than 20 years hosted a reception-like party Saturday night, but wound up postponing the ceremony.
Cummings and Swyk are still going on their honeymoon to British Columbia this week.
They’re targeting Labour Day weekend for a second attempt at the ceremony, “somewhere local” according to Cummings.
“We’ll try to keep it where everyone can drive home…you know multiple access routes, that sort of thing.”
