It was a nice day for a WET wedding when this bride hung her dress on the hotel room sprinkler – only to accidentally flood the entire room and soaking her wedding dress an hour before the ceremony.
Courtney Hovis and Josh Nye, from Chesapeake, Virginia, have always seen Las Vegas as “their spot,” having visited for the first time shortly after they started dating.
The city seemed like a natural choice for the couple’s dream wedding, Courtney, 37, said, and so they planned a small wedding of 40 guests and would be staying at Mandalay Bay.
On November 8, the day of the wedding, Courtney finished her hair and makeup, so her wedding photographer wanted to get photos of the bride next to her dress.
Courtney placed her dress on a hanger and hung it on the top of a closet door, but the photographer then pointed out a sprinkler above, asking her to hang it there instead for the best snap.
As this was 40 minutes before she needed to head downstairs, a frazzled Courtney “listened to the professionals,” but then disaster struck – the sprinkler system flooded the entire room.
In a dramatic few moments, Courtney and makeup artist, MaKall Garcia, scrambled to rescue as many items as they could – but the dress, bride, makeup, laptops and so many other items were soaked.
Courtney and MaKall captured some of the chaos on video: the alarm wailing, water streaming down from the ceiling to the floor, even flooding the hallway outside their suite.
Following the chaos, Courtney’s wedding coordinator took her to the hotel spa, where she redid her makeup, while others attempted to blow dry her dress.
Courtney said the dress remained damp and stained, but they made it work for the ceremony, and she changed into her only dry sweater and leggings for the reception dinner.
Despite the disaster, Courtney said she, Josh, 40, friends and family had a wonderful weekend in Vegas.
She added: “My friends and family were, of course, shocked at what happened but so kind about it.
“Some people on social media have been insulting my intelligence, which I understand, honestly.
“My brain was mush the last week or so before the wedding, and doubly so the day of – that’s the point of hiring professionals to tell you what to do.
“This was 40 minutes before I needed to be downstairs, and I was in the ‘listen to the professionals’ stage of preparation.
“I heard the photographer’s instructions and hung it on the sprinkler, which caused the sprinkler to go off and flooded the entire room.
“My hair and makeup, wedding dress, and all of our luggage was soaked.
“My wedding coordinator was the absolute best and quickly got me down to the Mandalay Bay spa to redo my hair and makeup while he tried to blowdry my dress.
“The dress was still damp and stained, but we made it work for the ceremony, and I changed into my only dry sweater and leggings for the reception dinner.
“We still had a blast the whole weekend with our friends and family, which was the main goal of having a Vegas wedding.”
