The bride wore white, so did her wedding day
Westminster couple finalists in 'Worst Weather' contest
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

Jaclyn and Sean Nally dance at their May 2002 wedding, while guest wear winter coats to protect them from the snow and rain. COURTESY PHOTO

The wedding date was set - May 18, 2002.

The tulips were planted to match the colors of the bridal party and the outdoor reception was planned on the bride's family's farm.

Little did Jaclyn and Sean Nally know that her parents' Sterling farm was going to see snow after a week of 70-degree temperatures.

The Westminster couple is now one of 10 finalists in the Farmers' Almanac Worst Wedding Weather Contest.

"It's has always been a joke because our weather was horrible," Jaclyn said. "I didn't really think anything of (entering) because it's a national contest."

Everything was set for the wedding, Jaclyn, whose madian name is Melone, had seen a report for slight rain showers in the 10- day forecast, but she wasn't too worried.

"We were at the Red Sox game on Thursday (May 16) in shorts," recalled Sean.

A night later at the rehearsal dinner family and friends hung out after a cookout in a tent, which Jaclyn remember only had one of the four protective sides up.

The next morning she awoke to the sounds of the tent company's workers putting up the remaining three sides of the tent and building a covered walkway from the barn (the location of the bar) to the tent, where the tables were set up).

"I just remember it pouring," Jaclyn said.

As the morning wore on and the 2 p.m. start time got closer, the weather started to change.

"I remember sitting in the chair getting my hair done and seeing big snowflakes," Jaclyn said with a laugh.

Sean remembers waking up at a friend's house, looking out the window, and thinking about "how bad she must have been freaking out. I wanted her to have the perfect day. … We never even considered (snow) when we picked the day. She'd always talked about the apple blossoms in the pictures."

Jaclyn remained calm.

"What was I going to do, get mad and pout?" she said. Though she added, "If I wanted a winter wedding I would have picked December or January."

Over the course of three to four months Farmers' Almanac received more than 500 submissions to the contest, said Editor Peter Geiger. Couples wrote 350-word stories about how the weather impacted their wedding.

The Nallys are the only couple from New England that the judges moved to the to 10. Ironically, the site of their wedding, Sterling, is also where the Farmers' Almanac originated.

"Their story was obviously compelling," said Geiger. "We are hoping to get lots and lots of people to log on and tell us which was the worst. We'll see what happens."

Geiger said he was surprised by the volume of stories and by all the havoc wreaked by the weather on these weddings.

"I hadn't even thought of the logistics of it," he said.

At the Nallys' wedding, family and friends tried to prevent the water from going everywhere by laying down woodchips and hay throughout the tent.

"It smelt like a guinea pig's cage," Jaclyn recalled.

For most of the day the couple, especially the bride ran on adrenaline. She had to switch from her heels to a pair of flipflops because the mud was so deep and the ground so soft she kept sinking. And the bottom of her wedding dress had about six or eight inches of mud on it.

"I didn't want to put anything else on or change," she said. "I didn't realize until 10 o'clock that night when I was trying to open an envelope that my hands were numb."

Many of her wedding guests did succumb to the cold, wearing their coats around the reception tent and changing into sneakers or even golf shoes.

One of her friends described driving up from New York on the morning of the wedding in white-out conditions.

Other contest finalists include two Louisiana couples and a North Carolina couple who had hurricanes crash their wedding parties, a Philadelphia-area couple whose wedding day plans were postponed by record snowfall, couples in Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Texas whose weddings were dampened by heavy rain, a Michigan couple whose wedding vacation in paradise felt like an episode of "Survivor," and an Indiana couple whose reception hall became an infirmary in the wake of a deadly tornado.

The Nally' are in the running for one of three top prizes including the first place prize of a seven-night second honeymoon cruise with Royal Caribbean International, complete with vow renewals, $1,000 onboard credit and air fare.

The second and third place couples will a $500 and $125 L.L. Bean gift card respectively.

All three winners will have their stories printed in the 2009 edition of the Farmers' Almanac, to be released this August, and also get an official Farmers' Almanac Weather Survival Kit, which includes a weather stick, ice scraper, and an umbrella, along with a leather-bound gift edition of the 2009 Farmers'' Almanac.

Voting is open at the Almanac's Web site, www.farmersalmanac.com/worstweddingweather, and it will continue through Monday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day).

The winners will be announced by March 31 on www.farmersalmanac.com.