One family suffered an unthinkable tragedy over the weekend, losing two family members just a day before a wedding.
Nick and Danielle Eckes got married at Gordon Lodge in Baileys Harbor Saturday afternoon, a day after Nick lost his mother and grandmother in a wrong-way driver crash on State Highway 57.
Dan Thews is the pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Appleton where Nick and Danielle go to church. He married the couple.
He told NBC26 he acknowledged the grief people felt with a moment of silence during the ceremony to remember Nick's mother and grandmother, but said it was also a time to celebrate life.
The family was at the wedding rehearsal Friday night when they learned Nick's mother and grandmother were killed in the car crash and his father and sister were in intensive care at a hospital in Green Bay, explained Pastor Thews.
He said they had to make the decision Friday night whether or not to have the wedding.
"I'm just so proud of them because they decided that they were going to make a statement," Pastor Thews said. "They were going to say that death doesn't get to win. You know they wanted to stand up and say that love wins and life wins and that carries on through death."
The crash happened Friday afternoon in the Town of Green Bay. Deputies said Todd Beyer, 38, of Green Bay was driving the wrong way when he hit the car carrying Eckes' parents, sister and grandmother.
Beyer was transported to Aurora Hospital and pronounced dead.
The crash is still under investigation and toxicology reports for Beyer are pending.
