A bride-to-be who was forced to find a new wedding venue after a bushfire tore through her uncle’s picturesque farm was able to enjoy her dream day without a hitch thanks to the generosity of her friends and strangers.
Gemma Crawford, 24, met her now-husband Jesse, 25, through their church on the NSW Central Coast in 2017.
The pair enjoyed a whirlwind romance and two years later became engaged after Jesse proposed at the foot of an Obelisk monument in Newcastle – the location of their first date.
But when the happy couple locked in a date for their special day in November they had no idea about the string of unfortunate events that awaited them.
Gemma Crawford, 24, and her husband Jesse, 25, tied the knot in November after being plagued with bad luck during their engagement
The couple’s original venue – Mrs Crawford’s uncle’s farm in Taree, NSW – was hit hard during during the bushfires
Mrs Crawford told Daily Mail Australia the green hills and crops were completely burned in the fire
A few months before the wedding, Mrs Crawford broke her foot while playing a game of soccer after taking up the sport to relieve stress.
Just one week later somebody crashed into her car and the vehicle was written off.
‘This added stress because I needed to look for a new car, all while working five days a week and planning a wedding,’ Mrs Crawford told Daily Mail Australia.
She said the hardest part was her future husband was stuck working five days a week in mines almost four hours away.
Three weeks before she was set to walk down the aisle, Mrs Crawford’s cousin sent a terrifying photo of a bushfire raging behind his family’s property south of Taree.
The farm belonged to Mrs Crawford’s aunt and uncle and was supposed to be her wedding venue.
‘We had no idea how serious it would get. Over the next week, the fire surrounded them,’ she said.
‘Their house was saved, thanks to the firefighters who showed up in the nick of time, but they lost their crops and there was nothing green left on what used to be an outlook of lush green, rolling hills.
‘It took about a week for me to realise that we desperately needed a new venue and that’s when more stress set in.’
Mr Crawford briefly considered postponing their wedding after Mrs Crawford’s family had their property burnt in the bushfires
The couple had less than three weeks to find a new venue. In the end someone they knew found and paid for their new venue
Mr Crawford told Daily Mail Australia he considered postponing the wedding after the string of setbacks, but his wife-to-be was determined to get married on the day they had chosen together.
She said they’d been through so much in the lead up that she didn’t want to have her special day taken away from her.
The couple were working around the clock in order to pull off their wedding when they got some incredible news.
‘Someone we know found and paid for our new venue, which was identical to the wedding I had always dreamed of having,’ Mrs Crawford said.
‘We were surrounded by greenery, rainforest and lush fields and the venue came with so many extras that we didn’t have to worry about hiring things separately, such as furniture, lighting and decorations.’
Mrs Crawford said once the wedding venue had been secured she went to a florist in order to ask about a bouquet.
When the man asked why she was ordering flowers so close to the wedding date she explained to him what had happened.
The florist was so moved by her story he gave her the flowers for free.
‘He was incredibly kind and promised me all the flowers I would need to make bouquets for me and my bridesmaids, as well as enough for the arbour and table decorations,’ she said.
Mr and Mrs Crawford said their anxieties about the day went away when they saw each other
Mr Crawford proposed to his bride-to-be on the two-year anniversary of their first date
Event hire company Happily Hitched also offered the couple the items they needed for free while their caterers stuck by them through the venue change.
‘It was really overwhelming. For strangers to lend a hand at such short notice and to be so generous was simply amazing and I can’t thank them all enough,’ Mrs Crawford said.
Mr Crawford said it was starting to feel as though they would be able to pull the wedding off.
He said there was some lingering anxiety over how things would turn out but those thoughts and concerns went out the window when he saw the soon-to-be Mrs Crawford walk down the aisle.
‘I was extremely anxious about how everything would turn out and was simply blown away by how incredible it ended up being,’ Mrs Crawford said.
‘We had so much help and support from friends and family on the day that it was a real success.’
There were a few hiccups – such as a lack of cake knife and no pens for the guest register – but overall the day was a success.
The couple have now moved in together and are excited for their honeymoon across the United States in 2020.
The couple insist despite all the chaos and their wedding day being interrupted by the fires they are not the true victims of the bushfires that have been raging across Australia since September.
‘We really weren’t impacted as much as those who lived through the fires and fought to protect everything they’ve ever known,’ Mrs Crawford said.
‘We hope and pray that they will heal from this traumatic experience and that they will be able to rebuild what they’ve lost.’
Mr Crawford echoed his wife’s sentiments.
‘Losing our wedding venue is nothing compared to what others have had to endure,’ he said.
On Monday firefighters confirmed that 100 homes had been destroyed in bushfires in NSW over the weekend.
A further 86 homes were lost in the South Australian fires. Three people died in bushfires in 46 hours.
Florists and wedding companies who heard of the couple’s struggles pitched in and provided services for free on the special day