Wedding guests taken out by flying gas canister

The average New Jersey wedding costs $46,000. Central and North Jersey will cost more. South Jersey less. We blow an incredible amount of money on what ultimately amounts to a party that lasts four or five hours.

And with all that money spent, things can still go wrong. And wrong they went at a wedding reception in Bergen County back before the pandemic started. The Venetian in Garfield was the venue where a reception took place on August 19, 2019. Among whatever bells and whistles were paid for that day, there was a smoke machine.

According to a lawsuit filed by Kathryn Arnone she was a guest there that day and she says she was injured when a worker attempted to switch out a CO2 canister from the smoke machine. The court filing claims it broke free and shot across the room striking the 34-year-old Bridgewater woman and causing permanent injuries. Named in the suit are The Venetian, Elite Sound Entertainment, a welding company and others who the plaintiff says were involved in the chain of events and failed to ensure the canisters were handled properly.

According to The New Jersey Herald two others were also injured in the incident. Police responded at the time to initials reports of an explosion inside the venue and guests poured out of the place onto River Drive in the chaos.

Hey, at least it was memorable.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.