OCEAN CITY — Rising tides, road closures and power outages could not keep a local couple married during the peak of last week’s Nor’easter from getting their new lives off to a memorable start on Friday.
The new Mr. and Mrs. Josh Kotis had their wedding as planned on Friday at Harrison’s Harbor Watch, but that was about the only element of their special day that went off as intended. Mollie and Josh began planning their wedding about 18 months ago, including a beautiful ceremony at Sunset Park, followed by pictures on the beach and Boardwalk and a reception at Harrison’s Harbor Watch at the Inlet.
Only the latter ultimately happened as planned, thanks to the lingering Nor’easter that continually flooded the downtown area with rising tides, street closures and power outages, but with a little perseverance, ingenuity and resourcefulness, along with a firm resolve by everyone involved, the couple was married in a memorable ceremony and feted with an amazing reception despite the challenges.
“It’s obviously something we’ll never forget,” said Mollie Kotis this week. “It certainly wasn’t how we envisioned it when we started planning a year and a half ago, but you know what, it was really cool. Looking back on it, we wouldn’t change a thing and I feel like we can handle any adversity after that.”
Mollie looked back fondly on her unique wedding day after the tides subsided and she and Josh embarked on their next adventure, but she wasn’t always as calm or ecstatic in the days leading up to her special day. She began keeping an eye on the forecast early last week as the huge low began forming off the coast and Hurricane Joaquin was gaining strength. Her friends began alerting her to the potential weather issues, but having grown up in Ocean City, she had seen similar forecasts in the past and wasn’t overly concerned initially.
“Usually, the first week in October is the best week of the year in Ocean City,” she said. “We had the deposits down for Sunset Park and Harrison’s and everything was moving along. My friends pointed out the hurricane forecast starting around Monday or Tuesday, but I reassured them they always predict the worst case scenario and everything was going to be fine. I grew up here and we were going to have pictures at Sunset Park and the beach and Boardwalk and a great reception at Harrison’s, where we went when we were kids.”
By mid-week, the forecast grew more ominous and conditions slowly began to deteriorate, but Mollie was still not overly concerned. On Thursday, the night before the wedding, Mollie and her bridesmaids took up residence in a condo at Emerson Towers on the bay at Wicomico Street, not far from the planned wedding venue at Sunset Park and just blocks away from Harrison’s. The plan was for the future Mrs. Kotis and her wedding party to enjoy a little ladies time and prepare for Friday away from Josh and his crew. However, things started to go downhill by Friday morning.
“We could see the south end of town starting to flood and could see the water backing up around the Route 50 Bridge,” she said. “By noon, somebody called and said they weren’t letting anybody downtown and then the power went out.”
Power Restored Just In Time
Delmarva Power purposely shut down electric service in the downtown area because much of its equipment was getting submerged in the rising tide and it feared a larger shutdown. The power was restored about two hours later, but the outage only exacerbated the growingly frantic situation with the wedding now just hours away.
“I had my hair person there and she was getting ready to start doing the girls’ hair when the power went out,” she said. “That’s when I started to freak out a little.”
Around then is when Mollie got a reassuring call from Harrison’s Harbor Watch Director of Events Heidi O’Donnell, who was coordinating a Plan B with the restaurant’s ready, willing and able crew.
“Heidi called and told me to not worry about anything,” she said. “She had been in contact with my husband and they were working out the details. She told me to relax and let them worry about everything. I can’t say enough about Harrison’s. It really shocked me that all of these people were working to make sure my wedding went off while this storm was going on.”
For her part, O’Donnell and the Harbor Watch crew were handling a variety of challenges Mollie was not necessarily aware of at the time.
“The less she knew the better,” said O’Donnell this week. “We were in contact throughout the day, but I just told her everything was going great and not to worry about anything.”
Around that same time, Mollie’s sister was trying to make her way down to Emerson Towers with her children in tow for pre-wedding preparations. However, with the tides continuing to rise and Philadelphia Ave. now barricaded south of North Division Street, the trip became a little more treacherous.
“She came across the bridge, but they wouldn’t let her through,” she said. “She eventually parked at 2nd Street and waded with the kids through deep water about five blocks to get to Emerson Towers.”
Flooding Forces New Plan
Meanwhile, Mollie and her crew continued to watch the tide, which should have been receding by then. Of course, while it did recede somewhat, but another high tide was just hours away. Mollie said she and her husband continued to coordinate with Harrison’s and the new plan was to have the ceremony and reception at the restaurant, but there were still critical logistics to figure out.
Mollie and Josh Kotis walk through a flooded Wicomico Street on their wedding night last Friday, Oct. 2. Photos by Lloyd E. Branson and Jordan Farrell
“The new plan was for our guests to park at 15th Street and get shuttled down to Harrison’s,” she said. “I said that sounded like a good plan, but how is everybody going to get back out. I started losing it at that point.”
Meanwhile, O’Donnell was handling the details within Harrison’s Harbor Watch along with General Manager Jeb Vetock and the entire Harrison Group staff. With the power out for a time during the day, staff lined up generators and made other arrangements to ensure the storm would not derail the wedding on least on their end, but there was still the issue of getting the guests to the venue.
As luck would have it, O’Donnell’s significant other, Ocean City Volunteer Fire Chief Bo Duke, who is also a Harrison’s employee, was in the right place at the right time to assist. Duke said this week Philadelphia Avenue was closed south of North Division Street for much of the day, but later in the afternoon, the closure was moved further south to Somerset Street.
“I called the police department and asked if they could do an escort going the wrong way on Baltimore Avenue for a few blocks from Somerset down to Harrison’s at the Inlet, and they obliged,” he said. “The plan was for the guests to arrive at 15th Street and gather as a convoy of sorts to head down to Harbor Watch for the wedding. Once the convoy reached Somerset Street, it was allowed to head the wrong way on Baltimore Avenue for a few blocks, which were closed anyway at that time. It was kind of a one-shot deal, but anyone that missed the convoy could still reach Harrison’s.”
Ultimately, the guests did gather at 15th Street as planned and the convoy traveled to Harbor Watch’s parking garage. Mollie said despite the challenges and the forecast, around 150 of the invited 170 guests still came to the wedding.
However, there was still the issue of getting the bride and her party, including bridesmaids, her mother, and nieces ready and delivered to Harrison’s. Eventually, O’Donnell coordinated with Duke to arrange for the bride and her party to get picked up at Emerson Towers on Wicomico Street, which was under a considerable amount of water.
“Around 5:30, we got a call advising us not to get dressed, but get our things ready and be prepared to get picked up,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what to expect at that point, but we went downstairs and there was this big covered truck with benches in it that looked like an Army rescue truck and there were guys all around to help us. All day, we had watched and waited for the tide to go down, but it never did and there was around two feet of water in the street, but there were these guys there and that’s when I calmed down because I knew everything was going to be okay.”
A Unique ‘Public Service Call’
Mollie said she thought her rescuers were the National Guard, but it was really the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company’s Storm Response Unit. Duke explained the OCVFC owns a five-ton, military-style surplus truck, which had been mobilized throughout the day in case of emergency to respond to residents or visitors stranded by rising tides. The truck was manned by both volunteer and career personnel.
Bride Mollie Kotis is pictured getting a hand after being driven through flooded downtown streets to Harrison’s Harbor Watch last Friday. The vehicle is owned by the Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company and members assisted her.
“A public service call came in for a bridal party stranded at Emerson Towers,” he said. “I called for my unit and my guys came down and picked up those people from Emerson Towers, which was surrounded by flood waters. From a public perspective, it was a good thing. Many of those 150 to 160 wedding guests will remember what the town did to facilitate this, from the police to the fire department to the Harrison’s people.”
With the bride and her party delivered to the venue, and Harrison’s putting the final touches on the ceremony and reception, Mollie and her crew got dressed in a downstairs area of the restaurant as the guests began to arrive. Despite the weather, they did take pictures on the windswept Boardwalk and from then on, the wedding went off without a hitch, but the adventures continued for the new Mr. and Mrs. Kotis.
“Needless to say, there was a lot going on,” said O’Donnell. We lost power at Harbor Watch and there were other challenges, but our team pulled together. We were rigged up with backup generators just in case and the entire Harrison Group team came together.”
After the wedding, the newly married couple went out with friends to Seacrets with the bride and groom still in their formal attire. Later that night, they were being driven by a friend back to Emerson Towers, where they had planned a mini-honeymoon of sorts. The couple is planning a longer honeymoon at a later time. As their friend drove them south through the downtown area, the flooding increased and the couple told him they would just get out and walk from there, with Mollie still in her dress.
However, the friend would not have any of that and told the couple he was taking them right to the door. When they reached Wicomico Street, which was still under a foot of water, the couple hopped out and walked the rest of the way to the condominium, providing the opportunity for some memorable pictures and an unforgettable end to a nerve-racking but no less special wedding day that neither will likely ever forget.
