Storm pushes couple's wedding from golf club to New Jersey gym

A nor'easter that flooded a New Jersey couple's home forced Francisco and Grace Weisser Vasquez to move their wedding Saturday from Cruz Golf and Country Club to Life Time Middletown-Red Bank, ABC7 Los Angeles reported.

The last-minute change came after family members had traveled from Canada, Australia and Brazil, making a postponement difficult, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

Grace Weisser Vasquez, who works part time as a chef at Life Time Middletown-Red Bank, had planned an outdoor-style celebration at Cruz Golf and Country Club. "We had a Brazilian barbecue, so we picked the Cruz Golf and Country Club because they had the perfect setting for a Tuscan wedding in the woods. They have beautiful trees. The landscape is phenomenal," Grace Weisser Vasquez, the newlywed bride, said, according to ABC7 Los Angeles.

The nor'easter brought flooding to the couple's home in Highlands and disrupted the plan. "We wake up in the morning and of course it's a torrential rainstorm and he said, 'Grace our basement's flooded. There's water everywhere,'" Grace Weisser Vasquez said.

Alex Armiento, general manager at Life Time Middletown-Red Bank, said the idea came through a message from his Life Café manager. "Chris my Life Café manager, he shot me a text and said, 'call me. It's not an emergency but call me.' I called him up and the first thing he said is, 'can we plan a wedding here?' After a couple of seconds, I thought about it and I said, 'sure let's do it,'" Armiento said.

Chris Pica of Life Time Middletown-Red Bank said staff prepared the space quickly. "Five hours we were set and ready to go. Ever since the first day I interviewed here and walked the space, I said I want to do a wedding here. Was this the way I wanted to do a wedding? No, but I can officially say we've done it," Pica said.

Karen Hennessy of Life Time Middletown-Red Bank said the family travel made the timing important. "She had family that had come in from all directions or we would've just rescheduled, but they were all leaving to go back to Canada to Australia to Brazil and you know I had gotten married a year and a half previous. Her husband came and saved the day for me. I had construction that was half done family coming in, and he finished all the work for me. Grace made all the cupcakes for my wedding, so it kind of felt like I have to make this happen for her. She did the same thing for me," Hennessy said.

Grace Weisser Vasquez said the new site worked out. "I was still distraught and everything, until I got here. Everything was perfect. I couldn't have done it better myself," she said.