Islanders save lost luggage couple's wedding

Paul and Amanda Riesel were close to giving up on their long-planned wedding on Skye

Islanders rallied to save an American couple's wedding after their luggage - including the bride's dress - was lost on their trouble-hit trip to Skye.

Amanda and Paul Riesel arrived the night before their big day with only their wedding rings and flowers after their flight was diverted and delayed.

Skye wedding photographer Rosie Woodhouse took to social media to ask islanders for help.

By the next morning they had provided a dress and a kilt.

Amanda, who had been ready to give up and go home, said Rosie and the community of Skye saved the day.

She said: "Our perfectly imperfect wedding was only a possibility because of Rosie and the wonderful folks in Skye.

"Fate had a hand in our happy day because local Broadford Primary dinner lady, Theresa, was the owner of my dress and I'm also a dinner lady back home.

"Wearing it meant even more to me knowing it came from someone who loves and feeds her students just like I do."

Islanders provided a kilt and wedding dress to the couple

Problems started for the couple from Orlando, Florida, when their flight to the UK was diverted to Philadelphia.

This then led to a series of knock on delays to their 4,000-mile journey that included stops at London Heathrow and Inverness.

The couple ended up spending a total of three days stuck in airports - and their luggage disappeared along the way.

Paul said: "All of us had breakdowns along the way. It was delay, delay, delay."

They eventually arrived on Skye at about 23:00 on Monday - the night before their wedding.

Photographer Rosie offered to try to salvage the occasion - which had been two years in the planning.

She said: "I told them I was sure I could make this work, and Skye is an amazing place."

Rosie posted an appeal to a Skye social media site and by 07:30 on Tuesday she had been flooded with offers of help.

"We had a full kilt set for Paul and a beautiful wedding dress for Amanda," she said.

After a 4,000-mile journey lasting several days there was a happy ending to Amanda and Paul's wedding woes

Though their schedule had be changed slightly, the couple's humanist ceremony went ahead smoothly.

Amanda said: "Every single person Rosie introduced us to and that offered to help will forever have a place in our hearts.

"The people of Skye will be famous in Orlando because we will tell anyone who will listen that they are the reason our love was cemented into a perfectly imperfect wedding day."