Today’s post is a solemn one, and lengthy, too, so be prepared! We hope that it will give you some insight into the heart our business.
A year ago today, the lives of almost fifty college students changed – including some people whom you could call the foundation of Basic Bash Events.
Kayla, Angela, Kaitlyn, along with Angela’s husband and some of our closest friends, were halfway through our final semester of college when a fire broke out in our dorm, our home-away-from-home on a frozen, windy day.
February 26, 2014…
Most of our friends were at work when the fire broke out. It was early afternoon so we (Kayla and Angela) were also at work at the time, just down the street from the dorms. We heard a fire truck go by outside and thought nothing of it, except perhaps that the sound of the siren (and the truck itself) seemed to speed by a little faster than usual. But it was nothing more than a passing thought and we continued working. A few minutes later, Paul, one of our coworkers/friends/dorm-mates was at work with us when he got a text saying that our dorm was on fire. We rationalized for a bit – it probably wasn’t that bad. The dorms had a thorough sprinkler system with sprinklers in every room and hallway. It was probably a small kitchen fire and the fire department arrived as a precaution. We worked close enough to be able to see the roofs of the dorms through the window so we all peered out. Our hearts sank as we saw smoke rising.
The next few minutes were hectic. Paul left immediately to assess the situation. We began calling all of our friends and roommates to see if they were safe/aware of the situation/not napping in the dorms. Paul came back and confirmed – it was way bigger than a kitchen fire. Our panic grew as Angela’s fiancé Chris was not answering his phone so we had asked Paul to take us to Chris’s work, also down the street. In those absolutely dreadful moments, the life and love Angela and Chris had built for almost 5 years flashed before Angela’s eyes – was this morning the last time they would text each other “see you after work”?
We arrived and banged on the door of Chris’ work and – thank God- he was there, safe and sound. In that moment, our relief was short lived. We quickly explained the situation to Chris and ran to the dorms. We had not gotten a direct view of the building before then, only smoke. We arrived and as we got close enough for nothing to block our view, both of us immediately burst into tears.
There were orange flames and thick dark smoke. On the roof. Directly on top of our rooms.
The fire that raged on February 26, 2014 was caused by a discarded cigarette on the balcony below ours.
The wind was making it difficult to put out the flames. We helplessly watched the fire blaze on with probably the most despair out of anyone, knowing that, not only were all of our college possessions were inside but also Kayla’s bridesmaids’ dresses, wedding rings, wedding binder, invitations, postage, and decorations. In the meantime, Angela made the heartbreaking phone call to Kaitlyn (who was also at work at the time) that there was a fire and that it wasn’t just a little kitchen fire – that literally everything was going to be gone. Kaitlyn drove back as quickly as she could but there was nothing we could really do but watch, cry, and embrace.
As the roof collapsed into what used to be our dorm room, we were forced to assume the worst – that all of our possessions were irretrievably burnt and that Kayla would have to start over on literally everything.
At the time, we didn’t even know how to attempt to process the idea of starting over, not only on our senior projects, but also on our wardrobes, getting new textbooks and computers and replacing countless sentimental belongings. We could do nothing but watch as the firefighters attempted to battle the blaze. Finally, eventually, the fire was put out and all our friends and dorm-mates were accounted for. At that time, we had no idea what was to come. It was a surreal experience to go to sleep that night thinking that we had nothing but the clothes on our backs and the items we carried with us that day, but we could at least take solace in the fact that no one was seriously injured, or worse.
Post-fire, it was hard for us to process what was to come. Kayla was less than three months away from her wedding. The day before the fire, she had just received her wedding invitations in the mail and was excitedly addressing envelopes. In between working on homework and senior projects, she had been putting the finishing touches on countless DIY decorations for her wedding including many handmade tissue paper flowers and tassels.
The night of the fire, Kayla’s wedding rings were recovered, which gave us a bit of hope that perhaps it just looked bad on the outside. But we were never allowed to see our rooms again since the roof collapsed into our rooms and was a serious hazard. Fortunately, a few days later, the bridesmaid dresses were also recovered. They were mix and match, purchased throughout the year and would have been nearly impossible to replicate. They were frozen from the fire-hose water and dirty, but were later professionally cleaned and ended up looking fine. Thank goodness.
Our room was the upper right. It’s amazing anything survived.
Whenever a traumatic experience happens, you dwell on it for a long time and ask “What if?” and say things like “If only…”. “What if someone had been able to put out the fire before it got out of control?” “If only we hadn’t been living directly above the fire…”
In the end, there was no going back and no do-overs. In the following weeks we experienced much sadness, stress, and felt like what happened to us next was out of our control. The fire happened and while it was hard to adjust to a ‘new normal’, we had no choice but to move on so we slowly did. Three months later, the three of us graduated with flying colors (photo evidence below!) and two weeks after that was Kayla’s wedding, but everything in between was much more difficult.
…And Now Today
The fire made us realize that things are fleeting and life is precious. What we take with us one year later is not so much the sadness or the what ifs. The things we will take with us are the emotions that we had that day – despair, hopelessness, and an inability to make the situation better. We were faced with a lot of ambiguity.
Where were we going to live now? Were they going to recover more usable or sentimental items or were the items unnecessary to return to us? When and how were we going to get replacement furniture, food, and clothes? How were we going to rebuild our lives?
You could say that the very beginning of Basic Bash was created from the aftermath of the fire. No one expects to have anything tragic or life-altering occur during their wedding planning process. There was so much effort that we put into rebuilding what was lost and now Kayla couldn’t take the rest of the time she had before the wedding to enjoy being engaged and to finish all of the tasks that she wanted to.
Looking back on Kayla’s planning experience, the last few months were full of stress, rebuilding, and working on many of the final details and while the majority of it was fun, we could not look back at those memories fondly. We are not saying that your wedding planning experience will be anywhere near as horrible as Kayla’s (and we certainly hope it isn’t!), but life happens in between your engagement and your wedding. Life happens.
You can replace things, but you cannot replace memories.
If we could play a small part by taking on tasks of researching, planning, organizing, and executing someone’s wedding day, those people could spend that time making memories with their friends and family members, cherishing their engagement, bridal shower, bachelor/ette parties and numerous other occasions all with less stress and more happiness. If we could aid in someone else’s happiness in at least one point in their life, why not have it be leading up to and on their wedding day?
Weddings are just as important as days like these because they change your life.
We sincerely thank you for taking the time to read this post. We also want to take this moment to give a shout-out of appreciation to all our friends, our roommate Rubenia, and our fellow classmates that went through this experience, as well. We are thankful every single day that no one was physically hurt by this event, and love you all near and far.
Much love,
Kayla, Angela, & Kaitlyn
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