Businesses creating dream wedding for bride with cancer
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Nicole Weiss and David Rhoades’ wedding plans took an abrupt turn on July 31 when Weiss was diagnosed with a brain tumor.
In the midst of mounting medical bills and Weiss’ radiation and chemotherapy, Black Hills businesses are teaming up to give the Rapid City couple a wedding celebration on Oct. 18.
Weiss is battling stage 4 glioma, a rare mutation of a cancerous tumor. Though it isn’t curable, doctors hope to slow its progression. Weiss is undergoing treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. High school sweethearts Weiss, 28, and Rhoades, 29, had been planning to marry in spring 2021, the Rapid CIty Journal reported.
“When we found out about my diagnosis, I thought, ‘Why have we waited so long? Let’s just get married.’ We’ve been together 11 years,” Weiss said.
Sandra Nichols of IndigoBlue Photography in Hot Springs took the couple’s engagement photos. When she heard about Weiss’ health crisis, she and Rapid City wedding designer Justin Straw of Justin Straw Designs collaborated to organize and plan an intimate ceremony, dinner and dance for Weiss and Rhoades. The couple will celebrate with about two dozen family members and close friends.
“It’s about giving the families a day to breathe and just be, and David and Nicole having an outpouring of love,” Nichols said.
“We’re doing this in about six weeks start to finish, but that’s the advantage to being in the field we’re in and knowing the people we know. I don’t recommend to any bride to try to pull off a wedding in six weeks,” she said, laughing.
Weiss created a Pinterest wedding board as inspiration for Nichols and Straw to share with other vendors. Straw is designing the vintage boho romantic-themed décor that’s personalized to the...