Wedding Weather Contest Finalists

It has been a long process, but it has been fun and yielded a “winner”. Last fall we rolled out the Farmers’ Almanac Worst Wedding Weather Contest. It was based on the premise that every bride and groom wants a warm sunshine filled day for the exchange of their nuptials. But, sometimes (actually, many times) the weather makes the day gloomy and/ or downright nasty/ disastrous.

So, we asked couples, young and old, to submit a 350 word description of their wedding day experience and heard from 500+. Each 350 word story carried passion and it soon became clear that while the weather was less than cooperative, it was the one thing that everyone remembered about their day.

Our experts narrowed the list down to the “Top 10″ and then America voted for their favorite. On February 29th a press release was sent to the local media and couples were interviewed as local human interest stories. So after 6 weeks of voting, our home page reports on the winners. But, all of the stories were engaging and I thank all 500 couples for touching our lives with their very personal and sometimes funny stories of woe.

The winners:

Marianne and Joe Trovato of Bensalem – A record 21 inch snowstorm (February 1983) couldn’t put a freeze on their wedding day plans. This young couple got more than 2 years worth of snow all in one day but they were determined to get married and 25 years later they will celebrate on a Royal Caribbean ship for 7 nights. Congratulations.

Stacy and Clifford White of Petersburg, Indiana – Talk about wedding weather disasters, this couple faced death as a F-4 tornado tore into their wedding reception on June 2, 1990. As the reception started a tornado warning was issued. Everyone rushed to the church basement as the stormed hit and leveled much of the town, parts of the hall and many vehicles in the parking lot. The bridesmaids were nurses and started treating the injured. They are the recipients of a gift card from LL Bean.

Christine and Otis Hoffmann of New Braunfels, Texas – October 17th, 1998 was not only the day for their wedding but for the greatest flood in San Antonio history.Some guests made it while many others could not navigate the waters. Eventually, a trip to the local gas station provided the “food” for the reception. We are treating Christine and Otis to a romantic dinner for two in a favorite restaurant.

Each of our couples have a story of survival. And, each has a marriage that has stood the test of time. Be sure to go to our website and read about how even the worst weather cannot undue the best laid plans of young couples in love. Congratulations to all who participated.

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