Gretchen Smith and her family hoped her wedding reception tonight at the Embassy Suites in Hunt Valley would bring the house down. But it happened withouther, and luckily, two days early.
Smith, 26, of Joppa, will marry Justin Amrein, also 26, of Joppa, today and planned to celebrate their union with more than 170 family and friends at the hotel. That was before a huge glass skylight crashed eight stories to the atrium below Wednesday afternoon.
Smith, a hairdresser, was at work when a friend called her with the news, but said she remained calm.
“[A] client called me and said, ?are you sitting down, have you heard what happened at the Embassy Suites,?” she said. “I said, ?I?m sorry, what did you say?? I said, ?Oh ? OK,? and went back to doing my full head of highlights.”
Her mother, Vicki, was less collected, she said.
“Gretchen called me and said, ?Guess what Mom, the ceiling?s fallen,? Vicki Smith recalled, “and I said, ?That?s not funny.? She was just so calm.”
But the reception will go on as planned. Embassy Suites staff contacted other local hotels and was able to move the wedding guests and reception to the Hunt Valley Marriott, the Smiths said. Embassy Suites sales staffers are working with guests who have reservations up to two weeks from now to find alternate accommodations.
The entire wedding cost about $20,000, said Gretchen?s father, Greg Smith, but he was thankful that no one was hurt in the collapse. Another party was scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Embassy Suites, he said.
“If there had been a party inside of there, there would have more than likely been fatalities,” he said.
Vicki Smith said she?s just happy her daughter will be able to celebrate her marriage as planned without having to literally raise the roof.
“It?s going to be fine,” she said. “When we look around, we?ll have all the people, that?s what matters.”
