Guests and staff help couple wed after Helene cancels wedding plans at Biltmore Estate

Jansen and Travis Putnam planned to get married on Sept. 28 surrounded by over 170 friends and family members at the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina.

The couple’s original wedding plans were foiled once Hurricane Helene swept through the southeastern United States, devastating communities, families and businesses. As of Oct. 5, the hurricane's death toll had risen to 228.

In Asheville, where the Putnams planned to host their wedding, many of the couple’s loved ones were forced to evacuate, including those staying at the property’s Biltmore Village.

The couple remained at a hotel on site, The Inn, and once guests got wind of their canceled wedding plans, the guests sprang into action.

That day, filled with disappointment and chaos, ended with the Charleston couple entering holy matrimony as nine loved ones, kind strangers and hotel employees looked on.

Jansen’s mom, who was celebrating her birthday that day, was also there.

They’d been staying at The Inn and kept an eye on the weather before their ceremony. She’d been worried about it all week, she told USA TODAY.

By Friday, they knew they’d miss their rehearsal dinner but most of the locals they’d spoken with assumed the weather would blow over by Saturday, the day of the ceremony.

“We were getting in contact with a lot of our family and friends that had to be evacuated on Friday as well,” Jansen said. “That's kind of when we were picking up on how serious this situation was.”

They soon began canceling events, eventually sending Jansen into tears. That’s when Katie Kasben got wind of what was happening.

Biltmore Estate’s staff and guests planned wedding

Kasben works concierge at The Inn and saw Jansen crying Friday night.

“I just gave her a really big hug,” Kasben told USA TODAY.

Kasben assured the bride that they were going to make her wedding happen.

“We're going to figure something out to make this magical if we can,” Kasben recalled saying. “I know she was just devastated.”

There was another couple at the Biltmore with wedding plans whose party had gone from hundreds to about six people altogether, Kasben said, adding that she wanted to make their special day happen as well.

According to Kasben, the Biltmore has “an incredible little banquet staff” that jumped in to help. Their chef was also there and ready to help, she said.

For the Putnams, they found rose petals and set up a nice rehearsal dinner or cocktail hour.

As they celebrated, Kasben headed over to a small spot where someone had discovered Verizon users had cell service. There, she got ordained just in case she needed to officiate either of the weddings that weekend.

“All the people who were working there, we were a skeleton crew,” she said. “Everyone was so, so amazing.”

Making a wedding happen in dire conditions

With little-to-no power, water in places it's definitely not supposed to be and downed trees, Biltmore staff and guests had to get creative so the wedding could go on.

“They rearranged the entire courtyard for us,” Jansen said. “They moved flowers that were elsewhere in the hotel or elsewhere on the property. They moved them so it kind of looked like we had an aisle and everything. They had an idea where the guests would line up to kind of add to that being an aisle.”

They also ran an extension cord from the lobby to power up a curling iron, allowing a family friend to do Jansen’s hair.

Hotel guests found flowers to make bouquets and boutonnieres, wrapping the stems in napkins, securing them with pins.

“I was so overjoyed when they had approached me with it, because we were still doing my hair at that time and she was like ‘How do you like this?’” Jansen recalled. “I didn't even expect a bouquet, so it was a really nice surprise.”

The wedding kicked off at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Kasben said.

A professional photographer, Sarah McQuilkin, just so happened to be there and took photos of the ceremony with her iPhone, Jansen said.

Groom wanted to get his parents’ blessing to go on with wedding

Jansen and Travis met in 2020 on Bumble, started dating six months later and got engaged on Sept. 12, 2023. They spent over a year planning their wedding. She knew she wanted to get married at the Biltmore because it is “absolutely beautiful,” she said.

Their ceremony was supposed to be outdoors, closer to the Biltmore house.

Loved ones were coming from New York, Florida and other parts of the U.S., Travis, her groom, told USA TODAY.

Hurricane Helene wiped out cell service for many people, making it difficult to contact them. Earlier during the week, the couple was initially able to use their wedding website, The Knot, to let guests know Friday’s rehearsal dinner and welcome party were no more.

When Jansen’s signal wasn’t working, she had her bridesmaid log in and let everyone know the wedding itself had been canceled due to weather.

She and Travis were upset when they realized their wedding plans had to be canceled, but then a Biltmore employee told them guests wanted to help and they found out Kasben was ordained.

But before they gave the other guests and hotel employees an answer, they had someone important to check with first: Travis' parents, who had evacuated due to the hurricane.

“I didn't want to get married without their blessing,” Travis said. “They were super happy that we were going to get married that day, so it all worked out.”

When they finally did marry, guests from Utah, Florida, midwestern states and even international guests were there to support them.

After the wedding, they grabbed dinner. Another guest began to play the piano, allowing them to have their first dance. Jansen was also able to dance with her father, she said.

Jansen said she and her husband are grateful for everyone who stepped in to make their wedding day happen, especially since many of the staff members who helped out were local and weren’t sure how their own families were doing.

“They don't know what's going on outside the gates,” she said. “Is their family OK? Are their friends OK? Is their house still there? They were able to do this for us not knowing what's going on outside the gates of Biltmore.”

Kasben said her husband called to let her know a tree hit their car but he was OK, as well as their kids and pets. The phone went dead and after that, she couldn’t speak to her family for three days.

Her family is doing fine now, she said. They’re very lucky and got power back Tuesday night.

Two weddings and a proposal

Love was truly in the air at the Biltmore Estate as McQuilkin, the photographer who took photos for the Putnams, also got a proposal of her own Saturday, Kasben said.

Organizers were speaking to her fiance making plans for the Putnam ceremony when her partner got down on one knee and proposed to her.

Then, the Putnams married, followed by another couple after them Saturday. Things happened pretty quickly but it was a fun experience, Kasben said.

Stil, Kasben and the other people there knew once they were able to leave the property, they’d be walking into a devastated community.

“It's very heavy so it's really amazing to have this little bright spot before just getting back to work and trying to keep mucking stuff out and rebuilding as much as we can,” she said.

Contributing: Dinah Voyles Pulver and Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY

This story has been updated to correct the couple's wedding date.

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Strangers plan impromptu wedding after Helene cancels couple's plans