This October will mark three years since the Route 91 Las Vegas shooting.
It’s hard to believe that much time has passed, and through unthinkable tragedy, there are still some stories of hope and love that have surfaced. This is most definitely one of those stories.
Chantal Melanson and Austin Monfort are now married, but the way they met is nothing short of crazy.
Long story short, Austin introduced himself to Chantal at a bar during Route 91.
Austin took his chance, she busted his balls, but they hit it off.
So much so that the two met up the next day at the festival to hang out and take in the show together. Aldean took the stage, and a shooting massacre like this country has never seen followed.
“Everyone ran in different directions but Austin stayed with me and we ran together. We ran across the entire festival grounds stopping a few times to get shelter,” she tells Metro. Austin protected her the entire time until they reached safety.
As the two escaped and got a cab, they helped a woman shot in her leg and stomach get to the hospital.
The two stayed with each other throughout the night and the lock down, and the rest is history. They fell in love, the flew around the country to see one another (Austin lived in California and Chantal in Canada) and got engaged on March 8, 2019 in Laguna Beach.
They had a courthouse wedding in November after she was granted a visa, and planned a big Vegas wedding for May of 2020. Coronavirus has made them postpone that, but they couldn’t be happier.
“However through it all we are just so grateful that we both get to be quarantined together and not in different countries!”
What a story – this is the type of news we need.
A picture of the two before Aldean took the stage.
“This picture has so much meaning behind it, we were strangers, I decided we needed a picture, less an a hour later we were in a mass shooting. I’m so blessed that Austin walked into my life when he did.
October 1st 2017. Woke up, got ready and then headed to the last day of Route 91 festival. I went by myself while my friends went shopping for a bit. Austin who I had met the previous night met up with me. We tried to go as close to the stage as we could for Jason Aldean. .
The rest is a blur. Bullets we’re flying and we were all trying to get out of there alive. I’m so thankful that Austin never left my side that night. He’s my hero. He kept me calm, took my hand and told me we were running to safety while bullets raining down. .
He’s from California and me Canada. Little did I know this was just the beginning of our story! 2 years later, lots of traveling we are engaged, I’m moving to California and we are planning a wedding.”
