Strangers Go Above and Beyond to Get Bride and Groom to Their Wedding After Highway Closes

October 14, 2026

A stranger's quick thinking and determination helped an Idaho couple make it to their wedding after a crash shut down the highway, turning what could have been a stressful day into an unforgettable adventure.

Erich Thalacker and Kyla Dickey had spent months preparing for their wedding at South Fork Lodge in Lowman, Idaho. But on the day they were supposed to say “I do,” they found themselves facing a problem no amount of planning could have prevented.

A fatal crash had closed Highway 21, cutting off their route back to the lodge. With the ceremony approaching and an estimated four-hour wait, the couple needed a way around the closure.

Fortunately, a stranger was about to step in with an unusual solution.

An Unexpected Wedding Day Hero

Thalacker and Dickey, who first met in a high school composition class about 12 or 13 years ago, had planned a wedding surrounded by the natural beauty of Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains.

“We wanted to feel wild and adventurous and whatnot,” Thalacker said of their plans.

They certainly got an adventure, just not the one they had envisioned.

Enter Garrett Kerr, an Eagle, Idaho, native who was returning from a 10-day elk hunting trip. He had a large elk in the back of his pickup truck when he noticed helicopters flying overhead and realized something might have happened on the highway.

Then a man wearing a three-piece suit approached him.

“He's asking, ‘Hey, do you know how long this closure is going to be? I've got to get to my wedding in an hour,’” Kerr recalled.

Kerr soon realized he was talking to the groom himself.

“We're not going to be able to get through with the vehicles, but I'm going to get you to your wedding,” he promised.

And he meant it.

A 16-Mile Ride to Say 'I Do'

Kerr had a small electric pit bike that he had used during his hunting trip to help get the elk out of the woods. He also enlisted the help of a woman named Jessica, who had an all-terrain vehicle.

Together, they helped the couple find a way around the road closure and back to the lodge.

The journey involved holding on tight and navigating a 16-mile route around the crash. Kerr later compared the scene to something out of the comedy film “Dumb and Dumber.”

“I mean, I'd never been on a motorcycle, let alone this thing is like, it's not a two-seater, right?” Thalacker said.

It wasn't exactly the grand entrance the couple had planned, but it got the job done.

And there was one casualty along the way: the bride and groom's hair.

Thalacker is known for having particularly nice hair. Dickey's hair was also noticeably messy when the couple arrived, leaving guests with little doubt that something unexpected had happened.

“They also saw my hair all messed up and knew, like, ‘Oh, yeah, this was not probably planned,’” she said.

But the important thing was that they had made it.

The Moment That Made It All Worth It

Despite the chaos, the couple reached the lodge and got to celebrate the day they had been looking forward to for so long.

For Dickey, simply being there with the man she was about to marry mattered far more than sticking to the original schedule.

“It was a huge weight off of my shoulders, just knowing that I was there with Eric,” she said. “And so if we were together, it didn't really matter if we were late or not.”

Kerr's unexpected act of kindness had helped them overcome an obstacle they never saw coming, giving them a wedding story they will likely remember for the rest of their lives.

And when Thalacker finally stood at the altar, looking at his bride with the mountains behind her, the stressful journey faded into the background.

“I remember just, like, looking at her and seeing the mountain backdrop and just being like, ‘This is awesome! Like, this is my wife. We're gonna live a long, awesome life together. We love each other, and it's gonna be great,’” he said.

Kerr took something meaningful away from the experience, too. Life doesn't always go according to plan, but the way people respond to unexpected challenges can make all the difference.

“They'll take those bumps in the road, and they'll put a smile on their face, and they'll get through it together,” he said.

For Erich and Kyla, that lesson became part of their wedding day in the most literal way possible. A highway closure stood between them and their ceremony, but a stranger's willingness to help made sure they didn't have to face the detour alone.

They may not have arrived with perfectly styled hair or according to schedule, but they made it to the altar together. And thanks to Kerr and his helpers, they gained a remarkable reminder that sometimes the best part of an unexpected detour is the kindness you encounter along the way.