my pandemic wedding

October 2018, I'm engaged. OMG LETS DO THIS! How exciting for a wedding planner to plan her own wedding! RIGHT? Well, funny thing is... A little thing called COVID-19 showed up in 2020 (have you heard of it?)

For everyone, getting married or not 2020 was supposed to be THE year- a turn of a decade. Yet, no one was prepared for this. I began my career as a wedding planner to solve problems, this however is something I CAN'T control, or predict and that in itself is a hard pill to swallow. Between the postponements, cancellations and pivot-ing of 7 clients of mine in early 2020, it was now time for Andrew and I to decide how we were going to handle our big day, scheduled for June 20th. A guest list of 250+, changing restrictions and the straight up-unknown it sure seemed that a cancellation of our big day was staring me right in the face.

The process, of changing plans had soon become second nature however the act of making that final call WAS NOT EASY. Working with my clients, that was common. Until couples made their decision (whatever it ended up being) we were in rocky territory.

May rolled around, and this wedding planner needed to start focusing on herself. We called our vendors, talked to our parents and it was decided that we would postpone our celebration to 2021, in hopes that we could have the celebration we had been planning with our loved ones since 2018. It turned out that all but one vendor was available on 1 day in June of next year- talk about a sign from above?!

Before Andrew and I began to spread the news of our "Plan B", my wedding planner wheels started turning ;) Why should we let something out of our control completely change our plan? And that's when wedding 1.0 was planned. Give or take 20 minutes later (come on now, are you surprised..) our WEDDING DAY was planned. We decided to get legally married in my parents backyard, surrounded by our immediate family and honor our anniversary we choose a year in a half earlier. Andrew asked his brother, Aaron to become an officiant. I called the florist, my mom began online shopping for dresses- and suddenly it all came together.

June 20th, 2020 was THE best day.

As a girl you picture your wedding day, you can imagine the butterflies and the emotion. No, my wedding day was nothing like I imagined it to be. However, it ended up being exactly what it needed to be in the perfect way possible. I married my soulmate, and that's all that matters.

For those 2020 brides reading this- please know however you decide to navigate these times you will end up making the best decision for YOU. Get married now, or later. Celebrate now or later. It is worth it.

Now I get to spam you with my wedding photos, because DUH ;) Until next year when we celebrate at wedding 2.0, we sure have a story to share. #covidcouple #lovewins