Joshua McEvoy was sure his wedding was ruined.
As a tornado tore through Ottawa’s Dunrobin neighbourhood uprooting trees, tearing off roofs and downing power lines, McEvoy, who lives in the Centretown West part of Ottawa, said he started to get more nervous.
Though the PhD student at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., was spared the worst of the storm at about 6 p.m. on Friday, he lost power.
While Ottawa regularly gets thunderstorms and the power goes out for a bit, McEvoy said he realized this was different.
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“We had heard (a tornado) hit Dunrobin and I have family out there, so we worried about that, and we were slow to get news of how bad it was.”
Now his worry was twofold.
He was getting married Saturday and he got news that his uncle, Leo Muldoon, was injured in the tornado.
Muldoon was trying to repair one of the barns on his farm when it collapsed on him, McEvoy said. Although Muldoon was conscious when his wife Adele found him, McEvoy said he had a collapsed lung, broken ribs and some internal bleeding.
The doctors were able to stabilize him and he’s doing much better, he said.
“We’re hoping to hear recovery time.”
While the news his uncle was doing better brought some relief, McEvoy was still worried about his wedding.
WATCH: Drone surveys damage from tornado that touched down in Dunrobin
McEvoy and his fiancee had chosen a vegan restaurant, Cafe My House in Ottawa’s Hintonburg community, and he said they tried calling the venue while thinking about contingency plans.
“Just on a whim, we went to the venue to see if they were there and … the chef, she said no matter what she’ll do it and it’s going to go on.”
The couple, who had chosen the venue about six or eight months ago, had given the chef a carte blanche for the menu so they were going to find out Saturday evening what’s on it.
WATCH: Woman left in shock after tornado appears to pass over car in Quebec
“We’re so very excited,” McEvoy said with a laugh. “We’re more nervy than we would have otherwise been, we were expecting a relaxed day but yeah no, this has thrown a wrench but it’s going to be fun.”
A friend who lives in east-end Ottawa and has power offered their house so the couple could get ready.
Except for one of their guests, the rest were expected to make it for the wedding, McEvoy said.
“It was going to be memorable anyway but now it’s not going to be anything our guests will forget,” McEvoy said. “We figured there’s nothing more romantic than a candlelight wedding so we’re going to do it anyway.”
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