A 565-foot crane that collapsed in Manhattan Friday shut down streets, smashed a handful of cars and halted traffic for hours — but it couldn't stop a wedding.
Manhattan Fire Department Chaplain Ann Kansfield was purveying the scene of the crash, which also caused one fatality, when she noticed a bride shivering in the sleet and snow.
The bride -- 25-year-old Nesh Pillay of Toronto -- had just left a nearby salon and was planning on calling a cab to hitch a ride to her wedding, but no cars could get through due to the road closures, Kansfield wrote in a post on Facebook.
Pillay told the National Post that she'd traveled to New York City with a few friends, family, and her fiancé for a simple wedding. That was derailed by the crane crash.
“It’s an unlucky start to a lucky marriage,” she told the Post. “It was crazy but I guess that’s how marriage is."
#BREAKING photo of crane collapse in Lower Manhattan. Injuries reported. @Breaking911 @BreakingNews @PIX11News pic.twitter.com/erW9vtA9jN— Anthony DiLorenzo (@ADiLorenzoTV) February 5, 2016
Toronto bride stranded by N.Y. crane collapse escorted to wedding by fire department https://t.co/yLjJQAxfRu pic.twitter.com/6BXyGX3pAu
— Victor Ferreira (@VicF77) February 5, 2016
Pillay was stuck in the salon for hours before deciding to make her way through the debris in her wedding dress. Kansfield saw her, clad only in a strapless gown in the 35-degree weather, and offered her her coat and her company. The two walked the six blocks to city hall together.
Pillay said she cried when she saw her fiancé there, thinking of those who were grieving after the morning's tragedy.
She was an hour late and the officiant of the ceremony couldn't wait, so Kansfield went ahead and officiated her wedding, too.
“I’m not very religious, but I think if there’s an angel it would be her,” Pillay told the Post.