How a community saved a Bemidji wedding after disastrous storm
Amy and Levi Chandler on their wedding day at Bluebelle Event Venue in Bemidji, Minn.
Courtesy of Amy Chandler
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Audio transcript
NINA MOINI: It's time for our series called "Thank you, Stranger," about the ways we make each other's lives a little lighter. For this week's episode, we'll hear about a wedding and an event venue called Bluebelle that was disrupted when severe storms ripped through Bemidji last month, NPR News Producer Ellen Finn has the story.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JESSA SOLHEIM: The storm came in early Saturday morning. And at The Bluebelle, we have double weddings a lot. So we had-- actually had a wedding that Friday night that ended at midnight, and then an upcoming wedding on that next Saturday.
ELLEN FINN: That was Jessa Solheim, an owner of Bluebelle Event Venue in Bemidji. And that wedding the next day, it was for Amy and Levi Chandler. They're a young couple from Lake Lily in Minnesota, and they were expecting 265 guests just hours after Bemidji lost power in water. The night before, they celebrated their rehearsal dinner in town. Here's Amy.
AMY CHANDLER: We went back to the hotel. And around, I would say, midnight or 1 o'clock, our phones started like sending out the emergency signal. I just kind of woke up in a panic, not exactly sure what was going on. But we looked out the window and all we could see was lightning like crazy. The sky was just lightening up and the waves were just crashing in.
And in between the lightning, could just see all of the water in the parking lot and light poles down, and that the hotel power went out. But still, in that moment, I wasn't thinking anything about tomorrow other than wow, it's like 3:00 in the morning, and I to be up in a couple hours.
ELLEN FINN: Jessa's mind was already racing about the wedding.
JESSA SOLHEIM: We were so anxious. Or I was, at least. I did happen to be like the personal coordinator for that day. And once we got through the tornado warning and we were able to come back up and try to go to sleep, assess the damage in the next morning, it was pretty much a sleepless night for me, just thinking about knowing that this was probably going to factor in their wedding day.
ELLEN FINN: It did factor in. Big time.
AMY CHANDLER: And so I woke up around 6:30, 7:00, and had a text from the hair and makeup artist that all the power in town is out. And so she was heading to the salon to see if they had power, which they didn't. I was panicking a little bit because I'm like, well, we don't have any power, so I can't even plug in a straightener or curling Iron.
ELLEN FINN: And that was just the beginning of the trouble that day. The person who usually cleaned up the venue couldn't make it. Plus, the caterers had no electricity or water to cook with. The florist was trapped in her house behind fallen trees in her driveway. And, of course, the wedding venue itself had no power or water. It was looking like a disaster.
JESSA SOLHEIM: Many people of our staff had trees down in their yards, down on our houses, down on our trucks. But we also knew that we had someone's most important day of their life going to be happening today, too. And so we were like, OK, go time. You know, just threw on clothes and left our houses in disarray.
We had to move my tree off my husband's truck so I could get out the driveway. People couldn't open their garage doors. If they were newer, they don't have an automatic switch to get their vehicles out of the garage. It's just that-- the little things you don't think about when you don't have power or water because we're so used to having it.
AMY CHANDLER: My family had kept getting texts saying, well, we can't come now. We don't have anywhere to stay. So the one hotel that people were staying at, the roof came off of, so they weren't letting anyone check in there. What I just kept thinking about was, is it still going to happen? And if that's the case, it's like 9:30 now. Where am I getting ready? I was totally lost. I was a spiral.
ELLEN FINN: Everyone in the wedding was pulling strings, trying to help in any way they could. One of Amy's bridesmaids had a work client she knew lived in Bemidji. He didn't have power, but knew his neighbor who had a generator did. The neighbor invited Amy to come over, no questions asked.
AMY CHANDLER: So two complete strangers allowed us-- me and my whole bridesmaids and my mom-- to come into their house and get ready there because they had power. My makeup artist, everyone. It was honestly amazing.
It just felt like such a relief because they also were only seven minutes from the venue, too. And so it was just like, we're already getting ready later, but it's so close to the venue. It just felt like the pieces were coming back together, like there's hope again.
ELLEN FINN: Then Amy got word that she would have flowers at her wedding after all.
AMY CHANDLER: The person who delivered our flowers had pine trees down throughout her whole driveway. So she had called, I think, her sister to come from out of town and pick her up at the end of her driveway. And she hurdled all of these pine trees with the flowers to get to her car and drop them off on time.
ELLEN FINN: Word got out around town that there was a wedding scheduled at The Bluebelle, and support started to pour in.
JESSA SOLHEIM: The neighbors in the area just are so willing to come and check in, see what's going on. So a few of them just knew that there was probably going to be some craziness there. And they just drove in ready to work to see how they can help.
So we were cleaning the inside from the wedding the night before. Cleaning, flipping tables, changing the seating arrangements. People were cleaning with flashlights. My brother-in-law and my father went to the local lake, which is about a mile away with a huge, 40-gallon trash cans and filled it up with lake water. So we had water to mop the floors, clean off tables and stuff because we couldn't get anything anywhere else.
ELLEN FINN: And the wedding caterers were doing their best despite no electricity or water.
JESSA SOLHEIM: So they could fire up their stoves, but they had no electricity or lighting. So they were cooking by lantern light.
AMY CHANDLER: And I think they ended up driving like an hour, an hour and a half to another kitchen to get all of the food prep for her to do that with everything going on. Not knowing the damage of their own kitchen, driving that hour and a half, still making it exact-- like, everything that we had wanted. She didn't have to leave anything out. It was just amazing. And the food was some of the best food I've had.
JESSA SOLHEIM: It was really kind of amazing because the local vendors all live in this area. So for everyone to be willing to drop whatever, what was going on at home after sleepless nights of worrying what was happening, being in the basement, sheltering and just kind of being able to leave their houses to come and pull together for this couple to be able to have their day was very selfless. And our neighbors and families to just be able to do that, it was really cool.
ELLEN FINN: Eventually, the power came back on at The Bluebelle and the wedding got started.
JESSA SOLHEIM: It turned out to be a day that I think everyone will never forget, for sure. If people didn't how the morning went, they would have no idea there was anything wrong. It just speaks to our community and how people are willing to help each other out in a time of need.
AMY CHANDLER: I'm forever grateful to them that they worked so hard to still make it happen.
NINA MOINI: That was Amy Chandler from Lake Lillian and Jessa Solheim from Bemidji talking to MPR News producer Ellen Finn. You can see a picture of Amy and her new husband, Levi Chandler, on their wedding day on our website. Congrats to them.
And if you have a story about the kindness of others, we want to hear it for our "Thank You, Stranger" series. Submit your ideas at mprnews.org.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JESSA SOLHEIM: The storm came in early Saturday morning. And at The Bluebelle, we have double weddings a lot. So we had-- actually had a wedding that Friday night that ended at midnight, and then an upcoming wedding on that next Saturday.
ELLEN FINN: That was Jessa Solheim, an owner of Bluebelle Event Venue in Bemidji. And that wedding the next day, it was for Amy and Levi Chandler. They're a young couple from Lake Lily in Minnesota, and they were expecting 265 guests just hours after Bemidji lost power in water. The night before, they celebrated their rehearsal dinner in town. Here's Amy.
AMY CHANDLER: We went back to the hotel. And around, I would say, midnight or 1 o'clock, our phones started like sending out the emergency signal. I just kind of woke up in a panic, not exactly sure what was going on. But we looked out the window and all we could see was lightning like crazy. The sky was just lightening up and the waves were just crashing in.
And in between the lightning, could just see all of the water in the parking lot and light poles down, and that the hotel power went out. But still, in that moment, I wasn't thinking anything about tomorrow other than wow, it's like 3:00 in the morning, and I to be up in a couple hours.
ELLEN FINN: Jessa's mind was already racing about the wedding.
JESSA SOLHEIM: We were so anxious. Or I was, at least. I did happen to be like the personal coordinator for that day. And once we got through the tornado warning and we were able to come back up and try to go to sleep, assess the damage in the next morning, it was pretty much a sleepless night for me, just thinking about knowing that this was probably going to factor in their wedding day.
ELLEN FINN: It did factor in. Big time.
AMY CHANDLER: And so I woke up around 6:30, 7:00, and had a text from the hair and makeup artist that all the power in town is out. And so she was heading to the salon to see if they had power, which they didn't. I was panicking a little bit because I'm like, well, we don't have any power, so I can't even plug in a straightener or curling Iron.
ELLEN FINN: And that was just the beginning of the trouble that day. The person who usually cleaned up the venue couldn't make it. Plus, the caterers had no electricity or water to cook with. The florist was trapped in her house behind fallen trees in her driveway. And, of course, the wedding venue itself had no power or water. It was looking like a disaster.
JESSA SOLHEIM: Many people of our staff had trees down in their yards, down on our houses, down on our trucks. But we also knew that we had someone's most important day of their life going to be happening today, too. And so we were like, OK, go time. You know, just threw on clothes and left our houses in disarray.
We had to move my tree off my husband's truck so I could get out the driveway. People couldn't open their garage doors. If they were newer, they don't have an automatic switch to get their vehicles out of the garage. It's just that-- the little things you don't think about when you don't have power or water because we're so used to having it.
AMY CHANDLER: My family had kept getting texts saying, well, we can't come now. We don't have anywhere to stay. So the one hotel that people were staying at, the roof came off of, so they weren't letting anyone check in there. What I just kept thinking about was, is it still going to happen? And if that's the case, it's like 9:30 now. Where am I getting ready? I was totally lost. I was a spiral.
ELLEN FINN: Everyone in the wedding was pulling strings, trying to help in any way they could. One of Amy's bridesmaids had a work client she knew lived in Bemidji. He didn't have power, but knew his neighbor who had a generator did. The neighbor invited Amy to come over, no questions asked.
AMY CHANDLER: So two complete strangers allowed us-- me and my whole bridesmaids and my mom-- to come into their house and get ready there because they had power. My makeup artist, everyone. It was honestly amazing.
It just felt like such a relief because they also were only seven minutes from the venue, too. And so it was just like, we're already getting ready later, but it's so close to the venue. It just felt like the pieces were coming back together, like there's hope again.
ELLEN FINN: Then Amy got word that she would have flowers at her wedding after all.
AMY CHANDLER: The person who delivered our flowers had pine trees down throughout her whole driveway. So she had called, I think, her sister to come from out of town and pick her up at the end of her driveway. And she hurdled all of these pine trees with the flowers to get to her car and drop them off on time.
ELLEN FINN: Word got out around town that there was a wedding scheduled at The Bluebelle, and support started to pour in.
JESSA SOLHEIM: The neighbors in the area just are so willing to come and check in, see what's going on. So a few of them just knew that there was probably going to be some craziness there. And they just drove in ready to work to see how they can help.
So we were cleaning the inside from the wedding the night before. Cleaning, flipping tables, changing the seating arrangements. People were cleaning with flashlights. My brother-in-law and my father went to the local lake, which is about a mile away with a huge, 40-gallon trash cans and filled it up with lake water. So we had water to mop the floors, clean off tables and stuff because we couldn't get anything anywhere else.
ELLEN FINN: And the wedding caterers were doing their best despite no electricity or water.
JESSA SOLHEIM: So they could fire up their stoves, but they had no electricity or lighting. So they were cooking by lantern light.
AMY CHANDLER: And I think they ended up driving like an hour, an hour and a half to another kitchen to get all of the food prep for her to do that with everything going on. Not knowing the damage of their own kitchen, driving that hour and a half, still making it exact-- like, everything that we had wanted. She didn't have to leave anything out. It was just amazing. And the food was some of the best food I've had.
JESSA SOLHEIM: It was really kind of amazing because the local vendors all live in this area. So for everyone to be willing to drop whatever, what was going on at home after sleepless nights of worrying what was happening, being in the basement, sheltering and just kind of being able to leave their houses to come and pull together for this couple to be able to have their day was very selfless. And our neighbors and families to just be able to do that, it was really cool.
ELLEN FINN: Eventually, the power came back on at The Bluebelle and the wedding got started.
JESSA SOLHEIM: It turned out to be a day that I think everyone will never forget, for sure. If people didn't how the morning went, they would have no idea there was anything wrong. It just speaks to our community and how people are willing to help each other out in a time of need.
AMY CHANDLER: I'm forever grateful to them that they worked so hard to still make it happen.
NINA MOINI: That was Amy Chandler from Lake Lillian and Jessa Solheim from Bemidji talking to MPR News producer Ellen Finn. You can see a picture of Amy and her new husband, Levi Chandler, on their wedding day on our website. Congrats to them.
And if you have a story about the kindness of others, we want to hear it for our "Thank You, Stranger" series. Submit your ideas at mprnews.org.
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