P.K. Bennett Jewelers Blog
April 23rd, 2014
After narrowly escaping a devastating house fire with only the shirts on their backs, a Connecticut couple took the recovery of their engagement ring from the smoldering ashes as a sign they should put their wedding plans on the fast track.

Only five days later, they got married on their charred front lawn, symbolically dressed in the same sooty sweatpants, shorts and t-shirts they wore on the day or their life-altering fiery encounter.

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Brian Osborne had purchased the diamond engagement ring for Megan Hunley months earlier and had hidden it in an upstairs bedroom while deciding on the perfect time to propose.

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But, after the fire destroyed the entire house and most of the couple’s belongings, Osborne assumed the ring was gone forever. Still, he asked a firefighter to look for it — just in case.

"I told him where it should be,” Osborne told ABC News, “and when he walked back out, it was in his hand. The top of the box was all melted, but the ring was perfect inside.

“I didn't even know what to say," he added. "I was just speechless."

With the ring recovered from the fire, Osborne didn't waste another moment and proposed right away. “It was just an amazing moment because you think, why, of everything, why did this [ring] make it?” said Hunley.

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The couple interpreted the recovery of the ring as a sign that they should forgo the small stuff and move full steam ahead with their bridal plans. On Sunday, April 19, with 40 guests on hand and in the shadow of their scorched home, Osborne and Hunley exchanged vows on their front lawn.

"We decided what's the point of even waiting?" Osborne said. "You don't need to have the pretty dress or a nice tuxedo."

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"For our situation, it made us realize all that stuff doesn't matter,” Osborne said. “It's what's in your heart that matters."

A fire like that makes you think about life in a totally different perspective," Osborne told GoodMorningAmerica.com.

When asked how she felt about her hastily assembled, no-frills wedding, Hunley said, "I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Among the wedding guests were the couple’s two children, who also escaped the blaze unharmed, as well as the brave members of the Gales Ferry Volunteer Fire Company.