With the damage from Hurricane Harvey estimated to be worth $180 billion in Texas alone, residents and businesses owners are scrambling to repair their livelihoods and bring their life back to normalcy.
The most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in 50 years threatened to ruin Shelley and Chris Holland’s wedding day.
And it almost did. However, there were several kind souls who weren’t about to let Harvey take away the most important day of their lives. Just like most brides, Shelley Holland had been planning her wedding for months. But the hurricane quickly demolished those plans.
“My husband and I completely lost every plan we made over the last 6 months surrounding our upcoming wedding on September 2nd due to Hurricane Harvey,” Holland wrote in a social media post that is on the Love What Matters Facebook page. “This included our wedding cake, the venue, the chapel the catering and so many other small details.”
Shelley was crushed. Not only was she heartbroken over the fact that she would not be able to walk down the aisle with her beloved, but there were so many around her that were affected by the storm.
“This was such a heartbreak not only for me as a bride, but more importantly for the devastation it left on the pastor of the church we chose to have our wedding at,” Shelley wrote. “His home was completely destroyed, his church was flooded with several feet of water.”
Despite the personal devastation, he was going through, her pastor made sure that Shelley and Chris would have their wedding.
“And yet Pastor Jorge Cardeas and the wedding coordinator Evelin at Church on the Rock Katy Texas, found us a new Chapel so that we could continue with our wedding ceremony,” Shelly explained. “They were a tremendous blessing and even came to check on us on the day of the wedding. WOW! We are so grateful to these sweet people.”
They even had Jim and Andi Davis of Twos Company Photography out in the flood waters to capture their stunning wedding photos.
“The past two weeks have been one of the most trying times for us as a family, and we have strived hard to continue working. However, the past two days have been overwhelming for us,” Jim wrote on Twos Company Photography’s Facebook page.
But that all changed when they got to shoot the Holland wedding.
“Then…. we got to cover this day of the newlyweds Mr. and Mrs. Holland,” Twos Company Photography wrote. “They have had to change venues, decorations, just about everything you can imagine, all in a days notice. They were a great reminder today of who cares what life throws at us, the important thing is to love one another, and these two did exactly that.”
The photographers were inspired by the couple’s determination.
“Braving the floods in the Houston and greater Houston area, these two were determined NOT to let ANYTHING keep them from being married TODAY!!!” the photographers wrote. “Thanks to my awesome wife Andi, for getting in the water today to get this shot, what an awesome day we had here in the Houston/Katy area.”
And the results of their photo shoot were absolutely phenomenal.
“Such a testimony of God’s faithfulness!” Shelly wrote on Ellen Degeneres’ Facebook page. “Harvey we WON!”
The Hollands’ breathtaking wedding photo is proof that even a hurricane can’t stop love.
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