After multiple talks and more and more people backing up from coming we made the very hard choice to postpone parts of our wedding plans.
So our original plan was to have a ceremony and reception on a dinner yacht in St. Pete, FL. We live only about an hour and a half away from the location, but 100% of our guests would be traveling from 3 states, IN, CA, and VA. I thought from the start of the COVID situation we had plenty of time for things to settle down and for our planned wedding to take place. Well it seemed like each and everyday some other issue would arise or someone else stated they no longer were coming. I was stressed to the max. I was hurt, sad, depressed, pissed off, and overall just disappointed after all the planning, effort, and excitement leading up to our day. Since all of this is totally out of my control I cried it out for a night and then we decided to switch things up.
We decided to have a ceremony on the beach in St. Pete and anyone still interested in coming to Florida for a getaway is more then welcome to join us. I had about 16 people say they are still on board with coming even though we are not having the big party afterwards. After hearing that some people wanted to still come, we now have booked a private room at a very nice steak house in St. Pete and will be have a nice dinner together along with some wedding cake! Can't have a wedding without cake, lol! For the people that felt unsafe and did not want to travel we are now having a renewal ceremony and reception on June 11th, 2021. So we are going to do exactly what we originally planned just now next June. My Fiance was super against this and thinks it is just silly to get married and then have a celebration a year later, but I told him this is something important to me and some of my family to have these special moments. Even my maid of honor is unable to attend the small ceremony due to military travel bans so I feel like having a do over next year with all the people I love is still important, even though in the long run we are already married and it will cost more, I feel like the memories of that celebration will be worth all the hurdles!
Overall, I am now just letting the chips fall where they may, because at the end of the day I have no control over any of it. I am ready to marry the man of my dreams next Friday and hopefully go on our backup planned honeymoon. (Now Puerto Rico requires travelers to provide a Negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of arrival. Test isn't an issue, but getting the test results in that time frame might be a challenge, any thoughts and prayers would be appreciate. We are hopeful and will do our best to get those results in time to go!) Our 1st honeymoon was planned on a cruise which was fully paid for as well. I just need the last couple things to go smooth so our day can be special and memorable!!
