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Scottish Photographer Saves U.S. Couple's Dream Wedding

June 25, 2022

A U.S. couple almost had to cancel their dream wedding in Scotland. Their photographer, with the help of local Scots, saved their special day.

Photographer Rosie Woodhouse with Amanda and Paul / Credit: Deadline News

Amanda and Paul Riesel flew over 4,000 miles from Orlando, Florida, to get married on Skye, an island in Scotland.

The couple had been planning this dream wedding for over 2 years.

But their dream began to fall apart after their plane was diverted to Philadelphia, a detour that led to three days of delays, with the couple stuck in different airports along the way.

"All of us had breakdowns along the way. It was delay, delay, delay," Paul said.

The exhausted couple eventually arrived on Skye at about 11pm on Monday, the night before their wedding, only to discover that their luggage did not make it.

"We got to the luggage carousel to see it was completely empty and our bags were not there. It dawned on me that we would have to cancel and there was nothing else I could do," Amanda told The Guardian.

They were ready to call the whole wedding off until their wedding photographer, Rosie Woodhouse, appealed to locals to help the couple out - with just hours to spare.

"I told them I was sure I could make this work," said Woodhouse. "Skye is an amazing place."

Credit: Rosie Woodhouse / Love Skye Photography

Woodhouse posted an appeal on social media in the middle of the night, and by 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday she had been flooded with offers of help.

Amanda had eight wedding dresses to choose from and Paul had a full kilt set. Makeup was provided by a local chemist and Woodhouse invited the couple to a friend's house for dinner to most of the restaurants in the area being closed.

"Rosie did all of this, I was oblivious to all the work that went on in the background," said Amanda. "In the middle of the night people responded, one woman even dropped off normal clothes to help. We woke up to this beautiful thing orchestrated for us. Because of her perseverance we got married.

"Every single person Rosie introduced us to and that offered to help will for ever have a place in our hearts," she added. "The people of Skye will be famous in Orlando because we will tell anyone who will listen that they are the reason our love was cemented into a perfectly imperfect wedding day. There will never be enough words for us to express how grateful we are."