A tornado tore through Lawrence March 12, ruining numerous buildings. 60 percent of the University of Kansas’ buildings were damaged, which devastated many wedding couples plans of marriage on KU’s campus.

Baldwin City High School Counselor Natalie Schmidt, fiancee of Jeff Konkel, was one of the women planning on getting married in the Danforth Chapel at KU. However, because of the storm, the plan couldn’t be carried out.

“We didn’t have to change the (wedding) day, thank goodness,” Schmidt said. “We had to change the time a little bit; we had to push everything back, later on in the evening.”

University Minister Ira DeSpain said he was overjoyed to have the weddings at the Clarice L. Osborne Memorial Chapel, although he was upset that it had to be this way.

“We’re real pleased to be able to do this,” DeSpain said. “I feel sorry about the KU Chapel, but pleased to be able to offer a place to the wedding couples.”

Luckily for Schmidt, her wedding invitations hadn’t been sent out yet, although they were already printed.

“I had brand new invitations printed because I had to change the location to Osborne Chapel, and I had to change the time,” Schmidt said. “Luckily, they didn’t charge me for the second set.”

People who have a connection with Baker University can get the Osborne Chapel for $150. People who don’t are charged $350.

“…Anybody who’s wedding was canceled at KU, we’re giving them the Chapel at a discounted price,” DeSpain said. “So we’re giving the people who were canceled at KU a $150 charge.”

Schmidt said she is sad she can’t get married at the chapel in Lawrence because not only did she receive her undergraduate and her masters from Kansas University, but she also has lived in Lawrence her whole life.

“KU means a lot to me,” Schmidt said. “I’ve spent a lot of time there. That was really important to me, to get married up there. (The tornado) changed some plans, but Osborne is really beautiful, we’re looking forward to it.”

Senior Michelle Harper said if a tornado wrecked her wedding, she wouldn’t be able to have it in her fiancee’s, senior Travis Preston, church in Kansas City.

“I would probably be really disappointed,” Harper said. “It would just add on to the stress.”

Besides the invitations, the photographer was yet another bump in the road. The worst part for her was getting her friends and family to travel to Baldwin.

“Everybody will be staying in Lawrence,” Schmidt said. “So to get everybody to travel is kind of a pain, but it’s only twenty miles, so it’s not like a long haul.”

Harper said she would want to look into what happened from the storm before she made decisions about changing where the wedding would take place. “I would want to find out how much damage was done first,” Harper said.-