JACKSON, Miss. – Days after a tornado obliterated their home and delayed their wedding, a Mississippi bride and groom say they feel blessed by the kindness of strangers, including the gift of a wedding dress from a jilted bride in Kentucky.
"I think it's great, because I never really expected this much help," Morgan Hayden said Wednesday from a hotel in her hometown of Yazoo City.
Hayden, 27, and her 31-year-old fiancé, Josiah Moton, huddled in their bathroom with three relatives recently when a tornado blew apart the house the couple had helped build a few months ago in a wooded area just outside town. The storm left them homeless — but uninjured.
Left with few belongings beyond the clothes they were wearing, Hayden and Moton delayed their plans to go to Little Rock, Ark., on Monday for a small, informal wedding. Hayden said she had not purchased a wedding dress but was planning to wear something from her closet.
Katie Smith, 20, who lives near Louisville, Ky., said she read about the couple in an AP article and decided to find Hayden and offer her the dress. Smith said she had planned to marry this summer, but her fiancé from England broke their engagement last month.
"Honestly, it still hurts, Smith told the AP Wednesday. "But life goes on."
Smith said she has been trying to give away the wedding items she'd already purchased, including the dress she bought on sale for $350. Hayden accepted the offer, and Smith said she mailed the dress Tuesday. "I know every girl wants to look pretty on her wedding day," Smith said.
An executive at a resort in the Bahamas also said that he had read the AP article and the resort offered the couple a honeymoon when they're ready for it. They will provide two round-trip air tickets and five nights with an ocean-view room "as kind of a way to make some new memories and help them get past what happened."
Hundreds of tornado survivors in Mississippi are getting help from strangers. Charities are providing meals and bottled water. Church groups, civic groups and random people from in state and out of state are in the storm-damaged areas to cut fallen trees and clear debris.
Hayden said a homeowners' insurance policy is paying hotel expenses for a week, and she and Moton hope to move into an apartment. She said they will reschedule the wedding when life becomes somewhat normal again.
Excerpts taken from an article by EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS,
Associated Press Writer – Thu Apr 29
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