Couple Weds During High Park Fire, Then Everyone Evacuates

BELLVUE, Colo. (CBS4) - Mary Brammlett and Ben Messerly married in a way Saturday that neither they nor any of the wedding attendees will soon forget.

As smoke from the High Park Fire began pouring over the Sky Corral Lodge in Bellvue people attending wedding knew the couple had a short window to say their I Do's.

"The (lodge) director said 'If I ring the bell three times or if I'm just ringing it like crazy because I'm panicking, everybody needs to get in their vehicles and evacuate as fast as possible,' " said Mike Green, who was at the wedding.

Under the cloud of smoke the wedding went on.

"So they got their I Do's done and we had part of our reception and they drove off and right after that we had to leave," Green said.

Some wedding invitees took video of the evacuation, which showed the plume of the smoke that was visible from Old Flowers Road in Larimer County where the lodge is located.

"It was really intense trying to guests to leave," said a Sky Corral Lodge spokeswoman. "We had to cut the reception short a little bit because the fire was coming and we had to evacuate and get all of them out safely."

More than a dozen structures have burned so far in the High Park Fire, which grew tremendously on Saturday.

Sky Corral Lodge officials wrote on their Facebook page that everyone was evacuated safely, however the fate of their Christian camp so far isn't clear. They asked for people to please pray for the ranch.

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