Kettle Wedding Bells: CrossFit 1886 Pulls Off Gym Wedding on One Day’s Notice
When Garrett and Emily planned their upcoming nuptials, they expected the event to take place in a beautiful outdoor setting at Big Bear Lake, complete with bonfires and canoes. But Mother Nature had other plans.
One big thing: The weekend of their wedding, a once-in-a-lifetime storm, Tropical Storm Hilary rolled into town. The first tropical storm to make landfall in southern California since 1939.
- Due to major safety concerns, the couple’s venue canceled their wedding weekend, leaving them without a space to celebrate their marriage.
- The couple had just 24 hours to replan their entire wedding. Luckily, their CrossFit family came through.
Emily Evans had been a member at CrossFit 1886 for just over 18 months, and her fiance Garrett had just recently joined. When owner Patrick Burton and manager Ryan Savage heard of their misfortune, they quickly stepped up and offered their box for the couple to host the wedding.
- “We have a pretty open space in general,” said manager Ryan Savage, mentioning that it only took moving a few weightlifting platforms out of the way to create the perfect wedding venue.
- “Their DJ was okay with coming and they were able to have their photographers come as well,” he continued.
- The only vendor that wasn’t able to make the new venue was the catering company, but the couple was able to quickly pivot and arrange for The Olive Garden to cater their wedding.
- “They were totally overwhelmed in a good way,” he said. Going from not being sure if they were going to have the wedding to have this,” concluded Savage.
Beyond just providing the venue, the entire community came together to make sure the Evans’ wedding was a success.
- “Family members, friends, and gym members dropped everything to pull together the most wonderful wedding day for us in just a few hours!” said bride Emily Evans.
- “The result was absolutely amazing. We created a ceremony space and reception area with a full DJ, bartender, and dance floor–all encompassed within the rings, rigs, rowers, bikes, and weights!” Evans added.
- “It was actually really awesome. It also helps that the gym is in such a beautiful historic building,” she concluded.
Worth noting: The gym still managed to have their morning classes on Sunday until 10 AM, before volunteers quickly worked to transform the gym.
And while it certainly wasn’t anything like what they expected, the ability to pull off such an incredible event with such limited time and resources was a memory in itself.
- “Although it was not how we imagined our wedding day to be–in our CrossFit gym–it turned out to be one of the most amazing experiences and weddings ever,” said Emily Evans.
- “And honestly, I don’t think we would ask for it to be any other way. We were surrounded by all of our loved ones, in a place that we both love so much,” she concluded.
The big picture: While the Evans certainly weren’t the first couple to get married amongst their fellow CrossFitters (this couple was married by Dave Castro himself at the 2016 CrossFit Games), they might be the first to have pulled off a gym wedding with just one day’s notice.
Their marriage and wedding is a testament to the strength of the CrossFit community. CrossFit is more than just four walls and a few barbells and it’s more than just a workout class. It’s an unbreakable community of people all working to support each other.
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