DREXEL HILL, Pa. (WPVI) -- An early morning fire in Drexel Hill, Delaware County forced a bride to find a new venue before she walked down the aisle Saturday afternoon.
Dean DeAngelis and his bride-to-be Stephanie Gray were planning on getting married at Drexelbrook on the 4700 block of Drexelbrook Drive.
But Stephanie received a call from the wedding planner the night before.
"She said that there's been a fire, and there's smoke damage, so you're not going to get married and have your reception at Dexelbrook," Stephanie said.
She ran into her parents' bedroom.
"I went into my parents' room and I woke them up and started crying," Stephanie said, laughing as she recalled that moment.
Her parents, Ben and Lorena Gray, said a sense of panic set in.
"I don't think anyone slept last night," Ben said.
That included the team at Drexelbrook, who worked to quickly find Stephanie and Dean a new wedding venue. That's when the Springfield Country Club stepped in to help.
"I can't imagine something like that happening to someone's daughter. You work your whole life, you wait your whole for a big wedding and something like that happens. We have to be a part of the community and just try to help out any way we can," Springfield County Club owner Pat Burns said.
A relieved Stephanie was thankful that her wedding would still look the way she envisioned thanks to the Springfield Country Club and Drexelbrook.
"They're bringing their chefs, they're making sure all of our vendors are there, our decorations, and everything," Stephanie said.
Restoration crews are working to fix the damage at Drexelbrook as quickly as they can. Once they can reopen, they'll let customers know.
As for Stephanie and her family, they have a theory of their own why all this happened on St. Patrick's Day.
"Everybody is saying this is payback because we're Italians getting married on an Irish holiday so we put the Maloiks on ourselves," Stephanie said.
Despite everything that happened, the new Mr. and Mrs. DeAngelis are now living happily ever after.
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