Sorry, We've Closed Early Due to Inclement Weather!

From LoveToKnow Weddings

A Cold and Snowy Wedding Day

I don't know what we were thinking when we set our winter wedding date for January 7th. Here in East Tennessee we have a saying, if you don't like the weather just hang around a day or two; it will change! Sure enough, the first few days of January 1977 were cold but by no means frigid. Then late afternoon of the sixth it started snowing. And it snowed and snowed and started accumulating on the roads. By the time we were supposed to be at church for rehearsal there were two to three inches on the ground. The snow continued to fall steadily and by the time we were ready to go to the rehearsal dinner another inch had accumulated. Sidewalks, parking lots, roads, everything was covered with snow and ice and was perilous.

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Off to the Rehearsal Dinner... Or Not

The wedding party and family members loaded up in their cars and headed to the restaurant where my in-laws had made reservations. When we arrived there were no cars in the parking lot - not a one. From the car it looked like there weren't any lights on inside. My future father-in-law got out of his car, went up to the door of the restaurant and tried the door to no avail. Then he noticed a sign on the inside of the door. It read: 'CLOSED EARLY DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER'.

Now, this was a nationwide chain restaurant, not a local Mom & Pop joint. My mother-in-law had made reservations and had even had flowers sent to adorn the tables. Yet they locked up and closed the doors on our rehearsal dinner. Needles to say, the in-laws were furious! Here were eight cars idling in the restaurant's parking lot, and in the cars were thirty-odd people waiting to eat!

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(Wedding) Party of Thirty for Dinner

Back then there were only three other restaurants in our small town that could accomodate that many people. The time of reckoning had come: 9:00p.m. on a blustery night, thirty-odd people to feed, please let us find one of these restaurants open! So here we go, an unlikely 'wedding procession', tooling precariously down the highway to the nearest of these eating establishments. Thank God, when we arrived and told them of our unfortunate situation, they were more than willing to accomodate us. They saved the day, (actually, the night!), and we enjoyed good food and great fellowship!

Several years passed before my in-laws and others of the wedding party would patronize the errant restaurant. Although management offered apologies, nothing could restore our confidence in them at that time. To the contrary, the restaurant that saved the day... they gained thirty-odd thankful and appreciative patrons.

Posted by Boatwoman2

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