A couple was celebrating their wedding at the Oklahoma City Convention Center on April 3
NEED TO KNOW
-
They and their nearly 400 guests were forced to take shelter amid a tornado alert
-
Then, something "amazing" unfolded
A scary situation for one couple celebrating their wedding turned into an "amazing" moment of human connection.
On Friday, April 3, Visha and Ankeet Shah were in the middle of one of their multiple wedding celebrations at the Oklahoma City Convention Center, called the garba. "It’s a traditional dance that we do. It was the event I was looking forward to most of the five," Visha told local outletKOCO News 5.
Suddenly, the music stopped and the sound of sirens could be heard.
"I remember them saying, 'We have an emergency! There's a tornado watch happening, and we need to take shelter and go downstairs,' " Ankeet recalled.
"I thought it was a joke at first, but then it turned into a reality, and we headed downstairs," he added.
The couple's wedding planner, Sydney Ore of Weddings by Vara, told the outlet that they already had a plan in place.
"We got almost 400 people evacuated out of that room, with the assistance of the venue, to the first floor probably within about 10 to 15 minutes,” she said.
At the time, a junior volleyball tournament happened to be taking place on the first floor of the convention center.
"I was warming up for my game, and the sirens went off," player Kinley Anderson, who is part of the OKC Heat 15 National Volleyball Team, told KOCO News 5.
Advertisement
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
As they all sheltered together on the court, the athletes and the wedding group began mingling. Before long, a lively party atmosphere had developed, and the volleyball players began celebrating the bride and groom.
"We started kind of chatting with one of the coaches, and before we knew it, the girls ran onto the court taking pics with the couple and started chanting and lifting them up," Ore explained.
"We joined into the party," Anderson said.
Ankeet shared how the players made him and Visha "feel like royalty" that night.
"The girls were basically singing with us, dancing with us," he said.
Added Visha: "It was the kindness of strangers, truly. My tears were sad in the beginning, but then towards the end, it was happy tears."
The two groups even recreated the garba together.
"There's usually music playing around and folks singing around with it, as well, but we did a silent dance with it, and we looked over and saw the volleyball girls across the net doing a silent dance with us as well, and that was super fun and memorable," Visha told KOCO News 5.
Reflecting on the unexpected night, Ankeet said he "couldn’t have imagined what happened," describing the interaction with the volleyball players as "amazing."
Read the original article onPeople
0 Comments