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When it comes to destination weddings, we know going into it that its likely to be just a little bit stressful. When you travel with all the gear we have and you plan on shooting not just photos but video as well, it requires a lot of planning and careful execution. The challenge becomes even greater when a hurricane is involved……
Because Kelley and Bryan had such a crazy experience we are bringing you their “blog” in a mini series style and this is considered “Part One.” While I’m looking back on this and kind of laughing at this point, it was actually a pretty harrowing experience and the thought of two of my closest photo friends getting married without a photographer present gave me serious anxiety. We spent last weekend shooting the wedding of Amy and Zach which was why we were unable to make the flight that our bride and groom (Kelley and Bryan) took to get to the island of Curacao (near Aruba). Because of their early departure, they missed the hurricane cancellations and weather and were able to arrive safely without any issues. The same cannot be said about Doug, myself, and Kelley’s mom and step dad also trying to make the trip down. While we were shooting Amy and Zach’s wedding, I started to notice that Kelley’s mom was messaging us telling us that their Sunday flight had been cancelled along with those of the wedding party and family. I wasn’t too worried because we had pushed our flight to Tuesday and I figured after the hurricane came through on Sunday, pending no significant damage was done to the Miami airport, we might be ok. When they cancelled Monday’s flight also, I started to get worried.
I tried to reassure Julie (Kelley’s mom) that the Tuesday flight would go out as planned so we packed our bags and headed to St. Louis Monday night to stay and get ready for our very early morning departure. We had even made plans to hang out with our previous bride and groom Amy and Zach that evening as they were on the same flight out of STL. We got all the way to St. Louis and got a flight cancellation due to airport closure in Miami. No problem, we’ll rebook. We drove to the physical airport since we were already in St. Louis and got on Wednesday’s flight. This put us there later than we expected but we’d for sure make it before Saturday’s wedding and that’s all that mattered.
When we got ready to go out to eat with Amy and Zach, we received a second flight cancellation. After an hour and 45 minutes on hold, eating with Zach and Amy in between holding and trying to rebook, we finally got on a five city adventure that would require us switching planes 5 times in one day in order to get to our destination. That all went up in flames later that night when those flights were cancelled as well. Long story short- we went through 7 flight cancellations through American Airlines and after 2 trips to the airport in person, 7 phone calls all lasting over 2 hours on hold each, and zero assistance from the airport staff we realized there was no way we were going to be able to get there with American Airlines and still make the wedding. I went from ticket counter to ticket counter at the St. Louis airport for Delta, United, Copa and Jet Blue attempting to find any other way to get there. We attempted to find any flights at all heading there and when all were sold out, we started looking into ways to get to Aruba so that we could take a regional flight over to Curacao landing us there by Friday. While the thought of pushing it so close to the wedding made me nervous it was better than the bride and groom (wedding photographers themselves) not having wedding photos of their big day. Things got so bad with American Airlines that they even “booked” us on a flight they insisted was still good to go but that had been cancelled an hour prior to them booking us. Their system apparently didn’t update their staff that they were booking us on an already cancelled flight. We were furious. There was no way I was letting these two get married without a photographer, I knew I couldn’t give up even though it seemed the odds were stacked against us. This hurricane messed with the wrong girls, Honeybadgers don’t quit!
We woke up Wednesday morning to our final flight cancellation and as a last ditch effort I called Jet Blue and explained to them our situation as they had a direct flight out of JFK that up until this point had been completely booked. The woman I spoke to was ten times nicer than anyone I had worked with at American and was able to find ONE seat on the flight available. She held it for me as Doug and I debated what we were going to do. We both agreed that one of us being down there to document their big day and support them was better than none so I booked the flight. Jet Blue was AMAZING to us and they even discounted the flight significantly when they had heard about the hell we had been through with American Airlines. We knew it was going to be difficult and unfair to split up and only have one of us go but we really felt that it was the best decision we could make for our friends. Now I had to get to JFK by Thursday to make the Jet Blue flight. We hurriedly packed up my stuff, made split second decisions and headed to the St. Louis airport. Thankfully we had stayed in St. Louis another night thinking that we would get lucky and find a flight out and then we would be ready to go, this paid off because when I got to the airport they told me they could rebook me on a 9AM to JFK. Here it was Wednesday, I was trying to make it to JFK by Thursday morning at 8AM for my direct Jet Blue flight and then American Airlines started being difficult again. They claimed that even though I had been through 7 cancellations, they were having trouble getting me switched over from an international flight to domestic. It took them over an hour and a half to figure out and because of that, I missed the 9AM flight. After dealing with multiple unpleasant and a horrible ticket counter experience, I finally found someone on American Airlines call center to help me. With her assistance I was able to get booked on the LAST flight to JFK from St. Louis, routing through Charlotte and landed at JFK late Wednesday night.
The bride’s mom Julie had similar issues and when all looked bleak like they were going to be unable to attend her daughter’s wedding they tried one last ditch effort and were able to get a flight to Aruba with the amazing Jet Blue. Since they were also landing at JFK around 1AM I stayed around the Jet Blue terminal until they landed. We spent the night together in the JFK airport hanging out, ate pizza at 3AM and caught our respective flights out of JFK Thursday morning. While I landed at 2:00PM in the afternoon and was greeted by my awesome friends, the bride’s mom didn’t arrive until late that evening. We were so grateful to have finally made it in time for the wedding and that their families were finally able to arrive safely as well. Thanks to Jet Blue, that was made possible and they will forever have my business when possible because of this incredible service. We’ve been loyal to American Airlines for a really long time and we know that the situation with the hurricane was not within their control but they did absolutely nothing to try to help us, even after 7 cancellations and horrible treatment by the local airport counter at the St. Louis airport. They also didn’t hold up their word when they promised we wouldn’t be charged for baggage fees because of the cancellations and also because they put us on flights that were already cancelled. We’re horribly disappointed in the way we were treated by American and because of Jet Blue, the day was saved. While the hurricane also prevented a lot of guests and bridal party members to not be able to attend the wedding, Kelley and Bryan were still surrounded by their immediate family and their wedding photographer and they had a beautiful wedding.
Huge shout out to my amazing husband who had to stay behind and miss the wedding. He tried so hard to find another flight and make it down but the clock ran out and the flights were full, we didn’t want to risk him being stuck in JFK or St. Louis if we had split up on flights. Knowing our luck, that would have happened. He tried up until Thursday to find flights to make it but was unable to do so and I feel horrible he couldn’t be there to enjoy seeing our friends get married. He took one for the team and made the sacrifice so that Kelley and Bryan could at least have photos of their wedding day. He was supportive and amazing during the hard decision and although he couldn’t make it we were able to have him there with FaceTime at the reception. All in all we’re happy to be ready to soon bring you the REAL wedding blog of Kelley and Bryan but we wanted this part one of their mini series to explain to you all the crazy that went on leading up to their big day because every wedding has a story and theirs is for sure an unforgettable one. Everyone give Doug a big virtual hug for making the best decision for the situation and putting others first. He really is the most perfect partner in every way. We’ll make sure he gets to celebrate with Kelley and Bryan at their Illinois reception in the coming week 🙂
We’ll bring you the blog soon- stay tuned!
-Kate
