When A Global Pandemic Wrecks Your Wedding Plans
It was early spring 2020. Don and I were in the middle of addressing wedding invitations for our fast-approaching summer ceremony when a global pandemic turned all our carefully crafted plans on their head.
For months, we had been making preparations. We had booked the venue, picked the dress, pre-tasted the food, assembled our song playlist, and worked shoulder-to-shoulder with florists and decorators. Every detail was in place for our big day, and we were beyond excited.
The two of us had met on an online Christian dating site the year before. We had both previously been married; I had no children; he was the proud father of three boys.
Don and I started dating, got engaged in November 2019, and scheduled our ceremony for the following year. With that, we dove into the whirlwind of wedding planning.
Then, as if in a cruel twist of fate, the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
I remember having a phone conversation with my dad in February 2020 about this strange new, highly contagious virus known as “corona.” The coronavirus had just started making headlines around the world, and in the US, European travel restrictions were in the talks. This was significant because all my family lives in Norway, the country I grew up in.
As we were talking, my dad expressed concern that the way things were looking, he and other family members might not be permitted to fly to California to attend the nuptials when the time came.
As it turned out, this would be merely the beginning of Don’s and my wedding-planning hurdles.
In the weeks that followed, as you might remember, the COVID pandemic forced businesses from coast to coast into lockdown. The banquet hall we had slated for our reception indefinitely hung up its ‘Closed’ sign, and like a row of dominoes, our other vendors followed suit, shutting their doors, one after the other.
And my beautiful, meticulously selected wedding gown, which I had ordered from an overseas company? I soon learned that the shipment was stopped in its tracks and might not make it to the US on time—if at all.
It was like a bad dream. Or a tragic comedy. A global pandemic had turned the world upside down while we were trying to get ready for the biggest, most important day of our lives! What were the odds?
Don and I now had a dilemma on our hands. Should we wait and just hope for the best? Hope that things would settle down and the world return to normal in time for our scheduled ceremony? Or should we postpone the wedding to a later date? But to what date? A date in the fall? The winter? What if the lockdowns continued through the year—or for years?
Like the rest of the planet’s population, we couldn’t foresee how COVID would unfold or how long the mandates would persist. Instead of loosening up, the restrictions might, in fact, get even tighter. It was all guesswork.
In the end, after a lot of prayer and brainstorming, we opted not to put our wedding on hold. We decided to conquer the chaos together and try to get married despite the pandemic. But because every one of our vendors had indefinitely rolled down the shutters, it meant we would have to start from scratch with our plans.
Regretfully, it also meant we would have to say our “I dos” without my family from Norway being present since all air travel had come to a complete standstill by now. Indeed, my dad had been right in his predictions.
Out, we went hunting for a new location for our ceremony. We picked a scenic cliffside bluff along the hills of Ranchos Palos Verdes overlooking the ocean. We also moved our wedding date up in case more restrictions were coming. Maybe, this way, we could stay a step ahead.
Then, the week before our new wedding date, which we had set for April 21st, we arrived to find that the bluff, too, was now suddenly off-limits. Ouch! It seemed like every spot on our list was putting up a ‘no entry’ sign for the public.
Change of plans—again! After more running around, we finally found a local park in our area that was still open, and we prayed it would remain that way long enough to serve as our ‘Plan C’ ceremony site.
With clothing stores, jewelers, and florists having shut their doors, options were scarce, and store shelves were bare. Still, Don and I embraced the challenge with all the creativity we could muster.
I managed to find a pretty summer dress at Target in place of my yet-to-arrive wedding gown, and Walmart had some simple silver rings that would do the trick. Also, we discovered that a tiny flower shop in our neighborhood was still in business somehow, so we were able to scoop up some flowers for my bridal bouquet at the last minute.
Due to the fast-spreading global pandemic, professional photographers were no longer operating. Thankfully, however, we had a friend from church who was an aspiring cameraman, and he let us hire him for the day.
As for our wedding party, it was going to have to be an exclusive event capped at just ten people—which included Don, me, and the pastor. As you may remember, ten was the magic number, the maximum number of individuals permitted at a social gathering.
On the day of the festivities, as our guests started arriving at the park and throughout our ceremony, everyone was artfully spaced out to comply with local guidelines.
But more trouble was on its way. Before Don and I could exchange our vows, the police arrived as if out of nowhere. Oh, no! Had we broken any rules? Did they have a problem with us being there? Quick—grab your face masks!
We had been fervently praying that there would be no further obstacles or interruptions. Now, as the officer got out of the car and headed toward us, it looked like we might not be able to conclude our ceremony after all.
As it turned out, a mother who was at the park with her kids had called the police on our photographer, suspecting that he was filming her little ones and up to no good. When our photographer explained to the officer that he was merely there to shoot our nuptials, the officer gave us the thumbs up and left us alone.
And so it happened that Don and I said our “I dos”…not to the sound of wedding bells but to the echo of a world on pause.
It certainly wasn’t the ceremony we originally had in mind; it was, however, a celebration of love, resourcefulness, persistence, the joy of simplicity, and God’s faithful provision during a very trying time.
L.B.
How did the global pandemic affect your life? What were some lessons you learned during COVID or some challenges you were forced to take on? Please share in the comments section below!
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