SALT LAKE CITY — Grace Goddard and Jeff Robison had already made it through the most important part of their wedding day: They were married.
But the reception was just getting underway at the Natural History Museum of Utah when the Bonneville Fire forced everyone to leave.
“We had a perfect ceremony,” Goddard said. “Jeff and I took a moment after, and we went and sat by ourselves and a huge helicopter flew by low.”
At first, they did not know why.
A few minutes later, Goddard said a museum employee moved everyone off the terrace. Then her wedding planner pulled the couple aside.
“She said we had an hour to evacuate,” Goddard said. “Which then turned into, actually, we need to get out like right now.”
The Bonneville Fire started that afternoon in the foothills above the University of Utah. By evening, it was close enough to force evacuations at Red Butte Garden and the Natural History Museum.
For Goddard and Robison, that meant a reception planned for months suddenly had just minutes to move.
“It didn’t really matter what plates and glasses we spent all that time picking out,” Goddard said. “I’m just glad that everybody we cared about got to see us get married.”
The reception moved from the museum to Garden Park Ward after Robison’s bishop helped make the call. Guests carried what they could from the museum, including table numbers, place cards and floral arrangements.
“Everybody just grabbed stuff like literally off the perfectly set tables of the museum,” Goddard said.
Somehow, the wedding started to look like itself again.
Goddard said the seating chart was recreated, dinner was served and the music kept going.
That part mattered to the couple. Goddard is Catholic. Robison is a Latter-day Saint. They had chosen the museum as neutral ground, a place both families could share.
Instead, Goddard said, the evacuation became a real-life example of the blending that their ceremony had just focused on.
“It was a really big show of blending two families and two faiths and a community,” she said.
Robison described the move as something out of television.
“It was like being on a reality TV show,” he said. “Extreme Makeover wedding edition or something.”
The only casualty, Goddard joked, was the cake.
“The cake unfortunately was dropped,” she said.
But even that did not ruin the night.
“It was the best day ever, no question,” Robison said. “At the end of the day, I got to be married to Grace.”
Goddard said the couple is grateful to firefighters, their wedding planner and everyone who helped keep the celebration going. But she said she also hopes people remember the Bonneville Fire affected more than one wedding.
“The fire situation is so real,” she said. “This should be an environmental wake-up for some people.”
The fire changed their venue, their timeline and their cake. But for Goddard and Robison, it did not change the day.
Their first test of marriage came sooner than expected — and they say they passed with flying colors.
