'Hurricane Bride' re-plans entire wedding in days after Ian forces pivot

A Georgia couple set to get married in less than a week was forced to find a new place to tie the knot after their dream wedding destination was destroyed when Hurricane Ian tore through Fort Myers Beach.

"It took over a year of planning," said Olivia Maule.

Maule and her fiancé Graham Dumett had big dreams and plans for the picture-perfect wedding day.

"His family has a condo in Ft. Myers so we were going to get married on the beach right in front of the condo, and then we had trolleys picked out. We had 115 people coming, people took time off," Maule said.

The destination wedding was set for Friday, Oct. 7 on Fort Myers Beach until Hurricane Ian tore through Southwest Florida creating a wedding nightmare. 

"I was in denial about the hurricane being as bad as it was up until I saw, I was like let me just wait and see the after-effects and the damage and everything," Maule said.

Once the couple realized their Florida wedding would not be happening, they quickly got to work.

"It's heartbreaking because we really did like envision doing this in Ft. Myers and on the beach," Maule said. "After a year you really build up visions of what this is going to look like."

It took just two days for them to book Bullock Springs Manor in Dallas, less than an hour from their home for the same day they originally planned to get married. 

(FOX 5 Atlanta)

Her wedding planner is calling her the "Hurricane Bride."

"Either way it's special, and we're going to get married so that's all that matters," Maule said.

While the loss of the wedding location hurt, the couple is more upset about the loss of the place they love to visit.

"I'm passed the wedding stuff, I'm passed this," Maule said. "It's [like] we're grieving the loss of Ft. Myers Beach."

"It's like having a really good friend die," Dumett said. "You really don't know how to take it all in."  

They are glad they can make new last-minute wedding plans.

Right now, their big hope is that Fort Myers and Southwest Florida get built back better.