Covid-19 has effected weddings and events all around the world – and it has hit them hard. 2020 was a year that a lot of us wedding photographers were thinking was going to be the BEST YET, but the universe had different intentions.
They always tell you to be prepared and to expect the unexpected, but none of us were expecting this.
Weddings came to a screeching halt early March. The CDC told the United States that normal day activities as we knew them were going to not happen for at least 8 weeks. April and May were officially cancelled and each day came with new challenges and questions that needed to be answered.
As a small business owner and wedding photographer, my priority is my clients. I immediately contacted all of my couples, yes all of them, and sent out an email about how I was handling the recent events. I gave my couples directly effected by the pandemic SO MANY options because I wanted them to 1. Have beautiful photos no matter what happened on their wedding day and 2. To know that I truly cared about them and was there every step of the way. I want to run my business with compassion. I want my couples to feel reassured and taken care of no matter what.
And here is my truth:
The coronavirus CANNOT stop love.
Two of my amazing couples had completely different experiences and made different choices regarding their event. They both took the news of their weddings being cancelled with grace and fully embraced all the ideas I had for moving forward – and even came up with some amazing ideas of their own. I asked both to share a few words about their decision and what it meant to them.
Here is what they had to say:
Ashley + Collin
“My fiancé and I were signing our marriage license when we got an email saying that our wedding was canceled due to COVID-19. We were completely heartbroken. What we had spent over a year planning was just taken away. Our dream wedding was not going to happen. We would not have our first dance, bridesmaids and groomsmen, the getaway, and all the little details we had been dreaming of. As sad as the situation had been, more than anything we just wanted to marry each other on the day we originally planned. So, we decided not to reschedule and just to plan an intimate ceremony with less than 10 people.
We had our wedding day on April 18, 2020. I can truly say my wedding day was the absolute best day of my life. Thanks to our families, we were able to turn our “elopement” into our dream wedding. The intimacy of our day was romantic, beautiful and everything we wanted. Our wedding day was completely about the two of us and the love that we shared. We did not miss out on a wedding, we were given an opportunity to turn our wedding into an adventure.”
LaShanay + Tyler
“It was funny how this arbitrary date became so significant to us. We didn’t initially pick it because it was a special day it just worked, but as soon as we did it became our day, the day we were going celebrate the rest of our lives. Over the last two months there were a lot of conversations about what was important to us and at the end of the day what was most important to us was our marriage and starting our lives together as husband and wife, so we decided to not let this virus take that away from us. Although we had to postpone our big celebration with our family and friends we were going to hold on to the date the we chose to commit to each other, even if it was going to look a little different then we planned.
We are lucky that we had so much support from our family and friends who really supported and encouraged us through all of this and even though we never really told anyone about our plans we knew that they would be behind us 100%. They were just as excited about us getting married as we were, and we were right, they were beyond thrilled and proud of us when we announced two days after our elopement that we were married.
It wasn’t the day we pictured but it was so special in ways we hadn’t even considered for our bigger wedding like having Tyler’s childhood friend and best man marry us. I won’t say that I didn’t miss having my dad walk me down the aisle or getting ready with my best friends, but what I gained was an incredibly intimate moment with my new husband, memories of cutting our wedding cake in the trunk of his car and an epic story that we get to one day tell our kids of how we made the best with what we were given and we chose us.”
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