By Deanna Harris
Some say rain is lucky on the day of a wedding but what about an earthquake?
That was the question a Christchurch couple was left pondering when the magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck on the morning of their big day.
Phill and Ruakura Beattie had to get through rubble and police cordons to tie the knot on Saturday.
“If they can get through that they can get through anything,” says Ms Beattie’s sister Gemma Dixon.
Ms Beattie and Gemma were staying at their mothers house the night before the wedding.
“We woke up to the earthquake in the morning and first thing we thought was the wedding.”
Ms Dixon says they were straight on the phone to find out what was still possible.
“The reception venue still had power and water but the problem was the church had suffered quite a bit of damage. So we shifted the ceremony to the reception venue.”
She says the flowers came from the supermarket and they had to get through the police cordon to get the cars from a rental business in the middle of town.
“He (the groom) was like ‘I don’t care where we get married, as long as we do'. All they wanted to do is get married,” says Ms Dixon.
Around 70 guests made it to the wedding.
“About 20 couldn’t make it, some because they were meant to be flying down from Wellington that day.”
“Everyone was pretty tired at the wedding. Obviously everyone had been up since the morning but everyone was really pleased that everything happened to work out and that love conquered.”
The earthquake did help to create some unique wedding photos.
“We took photos in front of block of damaged houses.”
The couple left for their honeymoon yesterday, a little tired and shaken after their dramatic day.
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