COVID Wedding: Melanie and Nate

Melanie and Nate

With so many of their wedding guests coming from out of town, Melanie and Nate decided to postpone their April 2020 wedding at the beginning of March to November 2020. However, as cases continued to rise the couples opted to hold out one more year in hopes of a better climate for their wedding celebration.

Original Wedding Date: 04/18/2020
New Wedding Date: 11/20/2021

How has coronavirus affected your wedding?

“At the beginning of March, I started to get nervous that COVID-19 might have an influence on our wedding. We have many friends and family members traveling from California and the Tri-State Area, two regions that were seeing a high rise in cases. It wasn’t long before some of our older relatives had to opt out of coming, and on March 13th, I decided to postpone our 200 person wedding to November 2020. 3 months later, as the cases continue to rise in Florida, I made the difficult decision to postpone again to November 2021.”

What has been the hardest part of dealing with COVID and wedding planning?

“The worst part was finally making the decision one month away from our original date. We were so close to saying “I do” and now it’s over a year away. I probably cried on and off for an entire month. By the time I postponed a second time though, I didn’t feel a thing. I think I had always known November 2020 was in jeopardy so I didn’t get too attached.”

What adjustments have you made? How are you/did you celebrate instead?

“On our original date, Nate and I celebrated by pretending like it was still our big day. The courts were closed at that point so it was not an option to elope. It’s also very important to me that my parents be there, and they were quarantined in Connecticut at the time. Nevertheless, we moved forward to celebrate us. Sprinkles Custom Cakes made us a single tier of what our wedding cake would look like. I ordered a cake topper for it, and we had flowers delivered from In Bloom. We got dressed up, practiced our first dance, and cut the cake together. If it is safe enough for my parents to travel in November, I would love to have an intimate ceremony so we can still get married.”

What advice would you give other couples in a similar situation?

“If you’re having second thoughts and your date is approaching quickly, reach out to your planner. I could not have rescheduled all my vendors without Leanna of Just Marry!, and if it hadn’t been for her, I would’ve been a puddle of tears everyday. As I mentioned above, the worst part was making the decision to postpone, but once we figured out a new date and had all the vendors sign off on it, I felt so relieved.

If you can’t get married on your original day, do something special with your significant other! It was a bummer not being able to be married, but we made the most of it and had such a fun day. The wedding cake to end the night definitely helped!”