Sally Faulkner and Adam Irujo were walking their dog in a park near their Lincoln, R.I., home on Friday morning when their wedding planner called with some news that could upend their Saturday nuptials: A blizzard was coming, and some of the vendors had canceled.
Dozens of friends and family still arrived at the hotel in Providence by Friday evening, joining the couple for the rehearsal dinner. And on Saturday — as a severe storm pushed into New England, bringing frigid temperatures and as much as two feet of snow in some areas — the group’s only plans were to enjoy a hotel brunch and have a snowball fight.
But Irujo’s father, who was officiating the wedding, had another idea. Since the couple’s marriage license and favors were dated Jan. 29, 2022, he suggested they do a quick ceremony at the hotel and sign legal documents on their planned wedding day.
“I’m like, ‘Dad, we want to go play out in the snow,’ ” Irujo said. “He’s like, ‘Oh, let’s go do both.’ ”
With Faulkner, 30, in her veil and Irujo in snowboarding goggles, the couple — along with their bundled-up guests — paraded two blocks to their wedding venue, the Providence Public Library.
Standing on snow-coated steps before family, friends and a camera crew from WJAR, which first reported the story, the couple became husband and wife.
“It was just the bones of the ceremony,” Faulkner, an elementary school aide from Pennsylvania, told The Post. “'Do you take him?' ‘Do you take her?’ There was nothing to overthink or stumble over. It was just perfect.”
Since the beginning of their five-year relationship, Faulkner and Irujo have overcome other hurdles. A few months after meeting on the dating app Bumble, they began preparing for a long-distance relationship, as Faulkner was accepted to join the Peace Corps.
“It was really tough being three months into a relationship not knowing if you’re going to see the person you’re falling in love with for two years,” said Irujo, a line worker from Massachusetts.
But Faulkner later learned her acceptance was rescinded because her medical history disqualified her from the program.
“At first, Sally was pretty sad,” Irujo said, “and I was trying to hold back that I was happy.”
Soon after, Faulkner moved into Irujo’s Rhode Island home. They spent the next few years taking cross-country road trips and going on weekend hiking, camping and rock-climbing adventures. Irujo, who described Faulkner as caring and spontaneous, proposed in August 2020 on a beach in Narragansett, R.I.
The couple chose a date far in advance with hopes that the pandemic would be over by January 2022. The potential for a snowstorm upending their plans was always a possibility, and they had even joked about “the blizzard of the century” hitting on their wedding weekend. If it happened, though, they figured New England was equipped to handle it.
So, in the days ahead of their Jan. 29 wedding, the couple shrugged off warnings of heavy snow.
“We were like, ‘Every storm ends up being a dud,’” Faulkner said.
“They say a foot, and it’s three inches all the time,” Irujo added.
The panic only set in Friday morning after their call with the wedding planner.
“We were very stubborn at first, and I cried for 30 seconds,” Faulkner said. Then they started moving their plans to Sunday.
After the impromptu outdoor ceremony on Saturday, the group threw snowballs and headed back to the hotel to drink champagne, play games and relax. On Sunday, they returned to the library for the second ceremony and the reception.
In the end, the snowstorm gave the couple what they always wanted for their wedding — a few days of quality time with friends and family.
“Little did we know it turned into a three, almost four-day continuous party in a snowstorm,” Irujo said. “It could not have been better. We would not change a thing.”