Air National Guard members wed while on duty during Hurricane Irma

An uninvited guest named Irma ruined their original wedding plans, but two members of the Air National Guard came up with a last-minute solution.

Senior airmen Lauren Durham, 24, and Michael Davis, 26, were supposed to get married this past weekend on a Florida beach, but both were deployed to help with Hurricane Irma relief efforts. On Sunday, they were eating breakfast at the Orange County Convention Center with fellow Guard members and outside relief workers who came to Florida to help, when it was suggested they get married inside the hangar. "It just kind of unfolded," Durham told The Associated Press. "And it turned out to be really great."

Dressed in fatigues and carrying a bouquet of orange flowers someone was able to rustle up, Durham said "I do" to Davis in front of friends and strangers in the hangar. Their best friend in the Guard is a notary, and she officiated the ceremony, which ended with Skittles for everyone instead of wedding cake. Durham and Davis have been together for five years, and while this wasn't the wedding they planned, it was fitting for two members of the Guard. "Service before self," Davis said.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.