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A wedding toast “to life” has never been so meaningful.
Emma Howard had no trouble finding something blue for her wedding day – the black and blue bruises she sustained from being trapped in the New Zealand earthquake were enough.
(More on TIME.com: See photos of last week’s devastating quake.)
Howard was stuck beneath the ruins of the Pyne Gould office building for more than six hours when the earthquake struck Tuesday afternoon. She was fortunately uninjured, but unable to move nonetheless. Howard texted her husband-to-be Chris Greenslade with a message that must have been both terrifying and relieving. Greenslade reportedly rushed over to the rubble, helping to save others along with his fiancée. Aside from Howard, six of her co-workers were trapped beneath the collapsed building.
Now the couple is fortunate they can spin a celebration out of the chaos. Greenslade told Stuff, a New Zealand news site, that they didn’t even think of cancelling the Friday wedding. ”For me, it was just natural. She survived that [collapse], so it was meant to happen,” he said.
The newly-minted Mr. and Mrs. Greenslade will surely be taking a honeymoon far away from the ruins – and from any tall buildings.
(More on TIME.com: When will ‘The Big One’ strike?)