A new bride has praised the efforts of hotel staff and locals who helped give her a perfect wedding day in Bermuda ? despite the threat of Hurricane Florence.

Monica Simon, 33, was due to marry Court Crane, 27, in front of more than 200 guests on the private sands at Elbow Beach last Saturday evening.

But the couple, who live in New York City, were told by hotel staff two days before that their nuptials might have to be held indoors and brought forward to earlier in the day because of windy weather.

Eventually, after hurried phone calls to everyone involved in the event, the ceremony was moved to noon on Saturday and held on the resort?s Marina Terrace during the day?s one hour of sunshine.

And although more than 20 guests had chosen to fly off the Island before the airport closed, Ms Simon told that the wedding could not have been better.

?On Saturday morning I woke up and I was in tears,? she said. ?The waters were really rough. Some of the vendors said they couldn?t make it because they had to get their house ready for the storm. Things were constantly changing. It could have been a nightmare. But it wasn?t because everybody was behind us and they were all amazing. We were the luckiest couple. The weather and timing was just perfect for us, despite the storm looming in the background. Ironically, our theme for the wedding was ?Shipwrecked in Bermuda!?.?

Ms Simon, whose new husband was brought up in Warwick parish, said hotel staff did everything to ensure the wedding went without a hitch.

And she also praised locals ?including Reverend Alan Garrity who performed the service, the flower designer, DJ and photographer ? all of whom attended despite the looming threat to their homes and families posed by the hurricane.

?In the end, it was a long wedding, about 11 hours,? she said. ?The storm meant we spent the first three days of our honeymoon with our guests but that worked out just fine. We were just impressed with the dedication of the team. They really wanted to do it the right way.?

Her father Charles Simon, of Pennsylvania, said: ?She had been planning it for a year. The staff said ?whatever you want, we?ll do?. Everything went really well.?

He added that during the hurricane, hotel guests were treated to complimentary food, drinks, films and activities. ?The staff at Elbow Beach and the Bermuda authorities delivered on everything one could expect in ways that could not be expected.?

Sophie Dier, communications co-ordinator at Elbow Beach, said that the couple held a collection among their guests, raising $1,500 for the hotel team. The resort matched the cash and bought ten $300 travel vouchers, which were raffled to staff yesterday. ?It was such a lovely statement,? said Ms Dier. ?We don?t find people doing things like that very often.?

She added: ?Staff were volunteering to come in even during the hurricane and it was all hands on deck. The couple said they had a wonderful time even though there was a lot of shifting around.?