The Wedding of Matt and Alison: A special blog post for brides replanning a wedding due to the coronavirus.
On February 22, 2020 at 2:22 pm, Matt and Alison said their “I do’s” during an intimate ceremony at The Nature Inn. You could say these “2” were made for each other, destined to be together; a divine connection made only by God. It was such a happy, happy day full of love, joy, and many blessings.
But one thing that made Matt and Alison’s day extra especial, was not because the weather was gorgeous, or that everything just seemed to fall into place without a hitch, or that the food was incredibly delicious. It was because they were able to fully enjoy their wedding day before the coronavirus hit the world. Alison didn’t have to worry about cancelling her wedding. She didn’t have to worry about whether or not it would be safe for her elderly guests to attend or if her wedding venue would be shut down. Aside from the normal wedding jitters, Matt and Alison’s wedding was worry free to the world of today’s standards.
Though if you’re a current bride-to-be reading this and wondering what will be the outcome of your wedding in this new uncharted world, there’s hope. The intention of this blog post is not meant to sadden and discourage you. It’s meant to inspire you, encourage you, but mainly, tell you HOW you can have a wedding AND still enjoy your day. So while it is COMPLETELY understandable for you to mourn what COULD have been your wedding, we’re here to tell (and show) you what your wedding CAN become.
Option #1: Reschedule the Whole Wedding: Longest wait time, possibly least wedding change
If waiting isn’t an issue for you and is less important than changing all the planning you originally put into the day, then rescheduling is probably the best choice for you. Just be advised, if you want the same season for your wedding day, you may be waiting longer than you’d like.
There most likely will be other brides trying to jump on the chance to reschedule their weddings with same vendors as you too, or dates may already be booked by next year’s brides. Our recommendation is to be open to alternatives, such as Sunday or Friday dates in the month range you’d like, or consider off-season dates.
It can be hard to come to terms with at first, but please know that your spring or summer wedding, rescheduled to winter, will be just as meaningful and can still be gorgeous. Just look at the amazing images from Matt and Alison’s beautiful day!
Option #2: Smaller Wedding Overall: Shorter wait time with most change to your wedding
Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence that we had a wedding like Matt and Alison’s before the coronavirus threatened the wedding industry (and everyone else) around the world. It was a smaller wedding, intimate, off the regular wedding season, and a perfect inspiration for what your wedding could be.
Hopefully sooner rather than later, we will get to a point when the coronavirus regulations are more freeing (gatherings of more than 10 people). Yet, there could still be concerns, and more at risk guests, and those traveling by air, could be removed from the guest list.
In addition, if there are financial concerns from having lost deposits from certain vendors, or you’ve had lost wages and are now needing to be more frugal, rescheduling the wedding on a smaller scale could be a great choice. You will need to be flexible on the wedding date choices though, as dates available by your vendors may not your first choice. But if you’re open to a smaller, more intimate gathering like Matt and Alison, and are flexible with your date, you could potentially save money and get married sooner.
Option #3: Get Married Now/ Celebrate With Friends and Family Later: Shortest wait time to be married, long wait for the wedding.
If you don’t want to wait and want to get married now, this may be the option for you. We’ve seen this done with both military and destination elopement couples. In short, go to the courthouse or grab your pastor/officiant and have a very intimate ceremony of just the two of you and a few key people as witnesses. Then at a later date, after normalcy has returned, proceed with your original wedding as planned to celebrate with your friends and family!
You could have your actually ceremony professionally photographed if that’s important to you, or save all your photographer’s services for the bigger event.
Now I’m sure the question will come up, “Do we do the vows and the whole ceremony thing again or not?” That’s entirely up to you. For most couples that we’ve seen, they have done a ceremony again because they wanted it to flow like a traditional wedding and have everyone hear the vows. We’ve also seen weddings START at the cocktail hour and then go into the reception.
Another idea is that you could have someone film the “I do’s” (homemade or professional) and send it to all your guests without doing the ceremony again when everyone can come together. There are literally no rules anymore with weddings so make it your own!
Final thoughts.
In the end, of course we know rescheduling a wedding will not be completely stress free. There will be challenges and it will take time for the heart to catch up to the change. But whatever option or rescheduling plan you choose, just know that this will not ruin your marriage. Your day will always be special to you, regardless of how it’s celebrated, because it’s yours.
Let the images below from Matt and Alison’s magical day be an inspiration to you. Know that regardless of when, where, or how the wedding happens, you’ll be married to the one you love!
God bless all of you brides out there, and may your weddings too be filled with love, joy, and as many blessings as Matt and Alison’s.
Matt & Alison’s wedding highlights
Matt & Alison’s wedding vendors
Venue: The Nature Inn – Bald Eagle State Park, PA
Caterer: The Nature Inn
Cake: Jess Lynn
Desserts/Decor: Jennifer Torley
Florist: Wegmans
Gown: Cameron Blake
Band: Nittany Valley Wranglers
