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Snowstorm leads to one-of-a-kind emergency wedding at Virginia fire hall

Marc Bethea and Camille Bethea getting married at the fire hall. (Facebook)

Last weekend, everything was going wrong for Camille Bethea and her then-fiancé, Marc.

After family members had arrived from out of town for the Virginia wedding, a huge D.C.-area snow storm brought all of their plans to a halt.

Their first venue’s roof caved in under the weight of the snow. The second venue, with a snowed-in parking lot, cancelled on them. Their pastor apologetically backed out due to the inclement weather.

"The groom and I were like, ‘What are we going to do? What’s going to happen?’" Bethea told WJLA.

Time was of the essence: Marc, a Marine Corps reservist, was scheduled to be deployed shortly.

Thanks to a bridesmaid’s help, the couple was able to find a back-up pastor: A chaplain from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. That chaplain suggested they exchange vows at a venue sure to still be open: A police station or fire hall.

After calling a number of Arlington-area fire halls, Bethea spoke to Fire Captain Chuck Kramaric at Arlington County’s Fire Station 105.

"It’s just something you never expect, that kind of call," Kramaric said.

Kramaric and his crew agreed to the unique request, and set to work transforming the fire hall into a wedding venue: Mopping floors, setting up chairs and creating a makeshift altar out of a table for the couple.

“It felt special,” Bethea told FOX 5. “It was to a point where I walked down the aisle to the person I fell in love with.”

"The crew that I work with are romantics as well, so they chipped in and cleaned the place up," Kramaric told WJLA with a smile.

Warning lights from a ladder truck set the mood. And for the first dance — the music came from a radio — firefighters gave guests plastic fire hats to wear.

“The lights were like, ‘Okay, wow! This is like a disco ball,’” said Bethea, describing the scene to FOX 5. “Then the sirens scared me a little bit. I was like, ‘Oh my God, do they have to go somewhere?’

“[They said], ‘No, we are putting on the sirens because it’s your wedding day. We have to make it special.’ My husband and I were dancing. Wow, this is really awesome!”

“It felt awesome to assist a US Marine in fulfilling his vows before deployment. I can’t say enough about my men pulling together to get this done—-thanks guys!” Kramaric wrote on Facebook.

Beth told WJLA that she is grateful for the firefighter’s efforts to make their day a memorable one.

"I would call them heroes — superheroes in my case — because they were the ones who saved my day," Bethea said.

Bethea never expected her fire-hall wedding to make headlines.

“We just want to say thank you for all the words of encouragement. It really means a lot,” she wrote on Facebook.