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Wildfires force out Wears Valley weddings

Dozens of weddings were planned in the Wears Valley area before wildfires swept across the mountains. Now, the community is pitching in to help save the vows.

SEVIER COUNTY, Tenn. — Couples who wanted to say "I do" in Wears Valley are now scrambling for new ceremony spaces due to wildfire evacuations.

In Sevier County, wedding businesses are working together to relocate those impending nuptials.

There are dozens of wedding parties whose vows are in limbo this week, and the evacuations and unknown damage meant their plans at the altar have to change.

Luckily, the community loves to help in times of need.

One bride's wedding planned for Thursday afternoon at Brother's Cove couldn't happen because of the flames.

"As a bride, you're already nervous, you've got so many emotions going on, and then you get the news the day before your wedding that you can't have it basically," Greenbrier owner Melanie Grosholz said. "You have no idea because they're mostly destination weddings, so you don't know the surrounding areas, and you just put your trust and faith into the people that you're speaking with."

The coordinator for the Brother's Cove venue got in contact with The Venue at Greenbrier Estate in Gatlinburg to swap the ceremony to a safer location. 

The coordinators at Greenbrier, Melanie and Trev Grosholz, were able to offer their space to the couple because of some pre-planned maintenance days on the calendar.

The "I do's" could still happen because of the planner's quick thinking.

"If it comes down to when anyone does lose any type of property, we will all work together as a community pull our schedules together, and just let these brides know no matter what we will pull together and they will be taken care of," Melanie said.

There are hundreds of weddings planned in Wears Valley for the rest of the year. 

Once the damage is assessed, the venues plan to set up meetings to help couples keep their special days scheduled.

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