Couple has wedding in basement shelter despite tornado warnings

By Ottilie Von Henning via SWNS

A couple had their first dance in a basement shelter after a tornado interrupted their wedding reception.

Alex and Sarah Schilke, both 25, hosted their wedding at the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa hotel in Lake Geneva, Wis., on June 22.

But as the reception was getting underway, a tornado warning was issued for the area.

The wedding party and the rest of the hotels guests took shelter in the venue's basement.

A group of strangers heard that the newlyweds hadn't had their first dance and offered to sing and play the guitar.

Heartwarming video shows Alex and Sarah swaying to their first dance with wedding and hotel guests shining their phone flashlights.

Sarah, a software engineer from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, said: "I feel very grateful for all the people that were there to make it so special.

"That moment of having our loved ones and strangers come together to create this beautiful moment and share it with us was so important.

"It restored my faith in humanity."

Alex, also a software engineer, said: "We could feel the care and compassion from all the people in the room.

"There was a big cheer and applause when we were done but everyone was crying as well.

"After the dance I remember walking out into the crowd and I saw one of my groomsmen.

"We just fell into a hug and both started weeping. It was all very emotional."

Alex and Sarah met four and half years ago when they were studying computer science at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire.

Alex proposed to Sarah and the couple tied the knot after 15 months of planning.

She said: "When we were first told everyone was moving to the shelter, I was so shocked that I didn't even process what was happening around me.

"And of course, there was a moment of grieving the wedding reception that we had spent 15 months planning."

As the 181-strong wedding party moved to the basement shelter, they were joined by members of every other ongoing party at the resort.

Things went from bad to worse for the couple when the basement was plunged into darkness when power went out.

Sarah said: "It was pretty stressful when we first relocated to the basement because no one really knew what was going on.

"And once the power went out, chaos ensued.

"A few people from our party braved the storm and went upstairs to grab some drinks so we had some comfort."

As Sarah was losing hope, a group from a family reunion in a neighboring room offered one of their own to sing and play the guitar for them.

The couple agreed and professional singer Jack Jones sang a rendition of Ed Sheeran's "Perfect" as wedding guests shone phone flashlights at the couple.

Sarah said: "A bunch of strangers came up to me and asked if we'd had a first dance yet.

"They said a member of their family attending the reunion is a professional singer and offered for him to sing us our first dance."

Alex said: "I was going around yelling 'Anyone from the Schilke wedding, we're doing a first dance!'

"Sarah was doing the same in the other direction so we could cover the most ground.

"We got a good amount of people crammed into a room in the basement and I could hear people chanting my name.

"I walked in to a sea of flashlights and it almost felt like walking through stars.

"I saw Sarah standing in the middle of a circle of people looking quite anxious.

"Jake then starts playing 'Perfect' and we danced."

An hour and a half later, all guests were permitted to leave the tornado shelter.

Alex said: "We were really surprised that about 75% of our guests wanted to continue the party after all that.

"We ended up continuing on the reception, finally began the speeches and enjoyed a few more dances throughout the night."

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