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HIGH POINT — Like most married couples, the Rozenbooms treasure their wedding album.

Do you have a worst wedding disaster story? Join the discussion at the Debatables blog.

The photos are classics: Barbara Lynn beaming in her gown, Doug smiling at her in their first moment as man and wife, the family gathered with them on their special day. Then there's that one of Doug next to the giant fallen tree after the Category 3 hurricane.

The High Point couple planned their wedding for nine months, perfecting every detail — but they scheduled it late in the summer of 1996, just as Hurricane Fran rocked the Carolinas, causing floods, massive power failures and at least 26 deaths.

Many boarded their windows, stockpiled food and water, and hid in their basements. But these young lovers were getting married, come hell or high water.

Like many disaster stories, it's taken a few years for their tale to become funny. But this year it's made the couple finalists in the Worst Wedding Weather Contest from the Farmers' Almanac.

"My father actually warned us," said Barbara Lynn. "He said, 'You know that that's hurricane season.' But we didn't really take that seriously."

The state hadn't seen a major hurricane since Hugo in 1989, Barbara Lynn said. Besides, the wedding would be in the chapel at Meredith College in Raleigh, nowhere near the coast. But as the wedding date approached, the storm became a problem they couldn't ignore.

"At first it was just a tropical depression," Barbara Lynn said. "We thought, 'Well, it won't be a hurricane and it won't affect us, even if it is.' But then it just kept coming."

Nearly 200 guests had been invited — but as flights were canceled and roads were closed, friends and family called to cancel.

Finally, Doug summoned the nerve to call his fiance and ask the question everyone had been avoiding.

"He said, 'Are we going to be able to get married on Saturday?' " Barbara Lynn recalled with a laugh. "And I said, 'Oh, we're getting married. Even if it's just you, me, the minister and a witness.' "

The couple encountered National Lampoon-level disasters all the way to the altar — but overcame them all.

Without electricity their hotel closed, allowing the wedding party to check in only if they would clean their own rooms. Picking up beer cans and showering in the dark, the couple pushed on.

The wedding coordinator injured herself trying to clear fallen trees and branches from her yard. Barbara Lynn improvised, calling her own shots at the wedding.

The hurricane flooded the reception hall, so the couple made do, using the college's cafeteria instead.

Frazzled but determined, Barbara Lynn took a cold shower in the dark on the morning of her wedding, dried her hair with a towel and pushed on.

Everyone who could make it — about 60 in all — pitched in, helping them pull it off by the skin of their teeth.

It wasn't easy, but those who managed to attend told the couple they would never forget it.

"At the time, it was awful," Barbara Lynn said. "But now, looking back, I guess I wouldn't have it any other way. People have said to me, 'Oh, my wedding was terrible. The dyed shoes didn't quite match the dresses.'

"I just roll my eyes at that. They have no idea."

Contact Joe Killian at 883-4422, Ext. 228, or joe.killian@news-record.com