THE day following Hurricane Fabian brought little relief for artist Sheilagh Head and her husband, Peter.

Saturday, September 6 greeted them with a house full of guests but void of electricity - and a phone call from the Fairmont Southampton Princess Hotel saying they had to cancel their daughter Meredith's wedding plans.

"It's everybody's worse nightmare," Mrs. Head lamented yesterday. "Do you know how much time goes into planning a wedding? It takes a year."

The family could do no more than hope for the best once they learned Hurricane Fabian posed a threat to the island. Invitations had long been sent out, guests had arrived and were flying in to the island, and the betrothed - Miss Head and former top equestrian and now leading rugby player Dennis Cherry - didn't want to postpone.

The initial plan was to have seen a sunset ceremony at Lesley and Lee White's home - the groom's sister and brother-in-law - off Burnt House Hill in Warwick, followed by a reception for 350 guests at the Princess. The storm caused millions of dollars in damages to the hotel, most evidenced by its roof, world-class spa and a number of guest-room floors.

"The property also suffered extensive water damage to public areas. Current estimates see the hotel fully repaired some time in the next two to six months."

Premier Alex Scott commented on the devastation to The Royal Gazette: "(Its loss) will be a blow. It was an act of God.

"I visited the Southampton Princess and their marketing icon, the spa, is just devastated. The top floor, it looks like a bomb went off in some of the rooms."

Faced with that dilemma, the two families and their friends rose to the occasion, Mrs. Head said. Everybody pitched in to make the day happen. The groom's sister and her husband opened their home - still without electricity - for the reception as well as the ceremony, while guests raided their liquor supplies, refrigerators and freezers to make the event a merry one.

"Meredith didn't panic at all," she said. "She just wanted to get married. But we had a house full of guests who had come for the wedding and no electricity. I did ask the Princess if they could at least do something about food.

"They told me they were sorry but they had a thousand people of their own to take care of. Fortunately, Serge Leibowitch at the Hamilton Princess, who has been a good family friend for years, had promised he would give us the cake.

"It was a real group effort. Everybody went down in the morning, the bridesmaids, the groomsmen, our houseguests; (Lesley and Lee's) garden was full of branches and leaves. We heaved them out of the way and made a path for them to walk down.

" We had music - the Menuhin group travelled up to play - the florists did their bit, and Rev. Alan Garrity said he would be there no matter what. All we had to do was tell him where to turn up. It was a really lovely ceremony; the perfect wedding and the sunset was just beautiful.

"We thought we'd just have some champagne and cake and then people would take off but they stayed on."

At the end of the night, Mrs. Cherry, escorted by her new husband, and clad in her very muddy wedding dress traipsed off to the couple's powerless cottage instead of the luxurious suite they'd planned for at the Princess, Mrs. Head added.

"They were supposed to leave on honeymoon on Monday but couldn't get off the island before Wednesday. They've gone to Costa Rica. Their plan is to spend a lot of time in the sun, by the pool."