In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, a Houston couple was heartened to find their pre-wedding dinner shared with those impacted by the hurricane’s devastating floods.
Dayna Skolkin and Josh Tillis had planned a pre-wedding dinner for family and friends at Aishel House, a charity meaningful to the pair, ahead of their wedding on Sept. 3. But after Hurricane Harvey made landfall, the couple had no choice but to cancel both the pre-wedding dinner and their wedding.
“[O]nce we saw the damage that happened … we knew that there was no way that we could continue on with the wedding,” Skolkin told CTV New Channel on Sunday.
But by the time the couple cancelled their pre-wedding dinner, food for meals had already been delivered to Aishel House.
Once the roads were accessible and the couple could safely leave their apartment, Skolkin and Tillis went to Aishel House and saw their pre-wedding dinner being prepared for those affected by Harvey.
“We didn’t realize how they got the food, we didn’t realize it was the food that was originally intended for our dinner,” Skolkin told CTV News Channel. “Once we did, it was a very emotional and really heartwarming realization.”
The couple joined in on the preparations.
“It was very therapeutic and nice to be able to do something constructive for other people,” Skolkin said.
Cancelling the wedding was a difficult decision, Tillis added. But after stepping outside to see Harvey’s catastrophic impact, the couple said they immediately felt the loss of those around them.
“[W]e were obviously devastated and felt terribly for ourselves, but once you get out and you see what the houses look like, it’s pretty easy to forget about yourself and start feeling for others,” Tillis told CTV News Channel.
After rescheduling their wedding, the couple says their countdown has “restarted.” Tillis and Skolkin now have a new wedding date to look forward to: Dec. 17, 2017.
