VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Just before noon on Saturday, a newly-married couple walked outside Galilee Episcopal Church and embraced. Feet away, the church's steeple lay ruined, wedged between the church and the apartment building next door.
The temptation to take pictures in front of it proved to be too much.
"I feel like it's good luck! There's something special here happening. We blew the steeple off the church," Shannon Temple said while standing next to her new husband, Robert.
Needless to say, it was not the scene Rev. Andrew Buchanan pictured for the Temples and the second couple he was scheduled to marry Oct. 1.
"The show must go on," Buchanan said shortly before the first ceremony inside the Pacific Avenue church.
Buchanan says he got the call Friday evening that the steeple had come down, when high winds from the remnant of Hurricane Ian were moving through the area.
Though he came to see the damage for himself, he didn't get a good look until the next morning.
"It's hard to see it off, but I'm very grateful it landed where it did," said Buchanan. "There's no injury, no death, limited structural damage. There's a lot to be grateful for here."
The Property Manager for Holly Hill Apartments, the building next door that was struck by the steeple, tells News 3 his building suffered minor damage as well and none of his tenants reported any injuries.
The question of how the steeple came down, and how long it'll take to remove it, is what roofers were already assessing Saturday morning.
"We just met with the roofing guys and they're just developing a plan for how we get it out of there, so we don't know," said Buchanan.
PHOTO GALLERY: Ian leaves behind damage, destruction
