Groom rescues Antigonish wedding guests stuck in winter storm

A couple in Antigonish County had a very white wedding on Saturday when a snowstorm temporarily trapped people at their wedding reception.

Jeremy Landry married Sarah Isherwood at 2 p.m. Saturday and their reception was at the St. Joseph's Lakeside Community Centre, which is about 15 kilometres from the Town of Antigonish.

Dinner started at 6 p.m. and by 9 p.m., about 60 centimetres of snow had fallen outside. The idea of having everyone stay overnight at the centre was pondered, but ultimately decided against.

The heavy snowfall meant vehicles parked outside the community centre were buried.

"All you could see was just windows and mirrors. The rest of it was just covered," said Landry.

Groom to the rescue

Some guests got their cars stuck in the parking lot while trying to leave, while others made it to the road only to get stuck there. 

Even though it was his own party, Landry went home, got his pickup truck — which has a plow — and started plowing out his wedding guests.

"It was snowing that hard that we both had to put our heads out the window so we could see where we were going. It was coming up over the front of the plow, right over the headlights and onto the hood of the truck. It was that deep," said Landry.​

He cleared the parking lot and then plowed part of the road to the highway.

As the night wore on, neighbours came out and helped shovel and plow out guests, but there was just too much snow.

In the end, the families of the newlyweds took in relatives who couldn't make it back to their accommodations.

Landry spent all night driving people home in his truck. At around 4:30 a.m. Sunday, he was finally reunited with his new wife. 

"I was definitely worried about him. I didn't really have a phone on me, so I wasn't really in touch with him, but I knew everybody else was looking out for him," said Isherwood.

DJs stuck at hall 

Despite all that work, not everyone got home. The two DJs hired for the reception stayed the night in the community centre.

"We couldn't get their van dug out at the time. The road was filling back in. At that point, I had already plowed it twice and they just agreed they would stay there," said Landry.

Both DJ's spent the night sleeping in chairs in the hall. This morning after the weather had cleared, Landry plowed out their van.

The newly married couple doesn't seem disappointed by the way their wedding day ended.

"It didn't ruin anything. We had a great evening and everybody was in good spirits, not one person complained," said Isherwood.

 As for Landry, he's glad his wedding was memorable for everyone.

"I was out plowing all day today and I still got some more to do. I guess it's a good way to spend our first day of being a married couple, sitting in the plow truck all day," he said.