The bride and groom MISS their own wedding reception after getting stuck in a hotel elevator for hours before firefighters could rescue them
- Victoria and Panav Jha were trapped in the Grand Bohemian hotel in Charlotte
- After two hours, the firefighters took their elevator up and rescued them.
- They were trapped with four of their wedding guests, and no one was hurt.
A North Carolina bride and groom missed their own wedding reception after being stuck for two hours in an elevator.
Victoria and Panav Jha were on their way to their reception on the 16th floor of the Grand Bohemian hotel after their wedding ceremony when they found themselves trapped between floors.
Victoria’s sister and three other wedding guests were traveling in the elevator with the couple.
The group was eventually rescued by the Charlotte Fire Department after the elevator went up a few floors, but by then the party was over.
Nobody was hurt in the incident.
Victoria and Panav Jha trapped in an elevator on their wedding night
Panav and Victoria Jha with members of the Charlotte Fire Department after their rescue
The Jhas were trapped after their elevator stopped between the first and second floors of the hotel.
‘When it first happened, I thought it had stopped for a few seconds. It will restart. And then we realized the door was slightly ajar,” the groom said. WJZY.
“We got up maybe five feet, and then boom, the doors got stuck,” he said. CNN. Then the doors started to open, so I could see the concrete wall right in front of me, and I could see the concrete wall behind me, and I thought, that’s not normal.
The bride was thankful that they were stuck with each other and some guests.
‘The elevator had a technical problem and here we are. It had to happen with the boyfriend and I stuck in the elevator. So at least it wasn’t just one of us,’ Victoria said.
The fire department eventually arrived and determined that the best way to rescue the group was from the fourth floor, so they installed a winch to raise the elevator.
From there, guests were harnessed and climbed through an opening at the top of the elevator to safety.
Victoria’s sister was taken out first, and Charlotte Fire said she then turned around and said ‘please take my sister out next, she’s the one in the wedding dress’.
“They put me in a harness, put me in all the gear and took me up four flights with a firefighter,” Victoria said.
The Charlotte Fire Department uses a winch to raise the elevator to the fourth floor
Victoria Jha just before being taken out of the stuck elevator on her wedding night
The Grand Bohemian Hotel, where Panav and Victoria Jha were trapped in the elevator.
The couple posed for a photo with the fire crew after the rescue, and the department posted a congratulations on its Facebook page.
“First, congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Jha on their wedding day,” the department wrote. “Although Charlotte Fire wasn’t formally invited, we weren’t exactly wedding at the wedding, either.”
Panav said being taken out of the elevator felt like ‘James Bond’. Maybe Mission Impossible.
Victoria said that while the situation was eventful, she was upset that she couldn’t say goodbye to her guests.
We could not celebrate or give the last kisses or goodbyes. And that’s what put the brakes on everything. This is how the wedding night had to end,’ he said.