Coronavirus brides who went ahead with a small ceremony

We got married yesterday. We were supposed to have a huge wedding in Chicago with 300+ guests...that got postponed to September. Honestly, even though it wasn’t the wedding we were supposed to have, it was the best day ever. We will still have a ceremony in September and that one will actually be a more in depth and emotional ceremony. The one we had yesterday was maybe 5-10 minutes. As long as I got to marry my husband, the other details didn’t matter.

We were only supposed to have a 60-80 person event but will likely postpone our big wedding and do a micro ceremony instead (we are hoping we can have our parents there, but don't know what will be possible). I really want to be married and also don't want to give up celebrating with our friends and family. I too am worried about the big day feeling a bit lackluster if we "make it legal" beforehand, but am so stressed right now and feel like pushing our day off indefinitely until things get better is just going to make the time between now and the wedding feel like hell. I feel like if we can at least be husband and wife, I'll have that to hold on to and it will take some of the stress away continually waiting for something that might not happen for years. We are in our mid-30s and ready to be married - if we were younger I think pushing things off a year would bother me less but I feel like I have waited long enough at this point.

This is your wedding and these are crazy times - you can make both days whatever you want them to be. Maybe if you have two events, you can do something a little different each time to make each one special in its own way. I'm thinking of getting an inexpensive second dress from Lulu's (under $100) and having my hair done differently, just so I get the joy of surprising my man with my look each time. My FH wants me to wear my wedding dress on our actual marriage day, but if I got a simpler dress I'd then have a reception dress for the big wedding celebration. I would say all weddings are compromises in some ways - when deciding what you want your day to look like think of all the things you "gave up" for your original event and see if you can include them in your mini-nuptials instead. For example, I liked two different styles of dress - traditional, romantic, lace and as well as a more modern dresses with a simple crepe fabric and uncomplicated silhouette - so now I'm going to try to do both. We also picked a beautiful venue but I originally loved the idea of eloping in a really scenic place and getting amazing photos, so maybe our small ceremony can be a different location that is also beautiful but wouldn't have been practical with all of our guests. You can celebrate with different foods or drinks or however you want to make each event unique but still beautiful. It is extremely difficult to remain optimistic and excited during these times, but I keep trying to frame it as what I can gain from having two events and not what I lose. It isn't easy and I still find myself really upset about not being able to have the event we spent so long planning exactly how we planned it, but I don't know how else to cope right now.

Best of luck and virtual hugs from another bride-to-be greatly impacted by this whole thing!

Hi Khanh,

I'm so sorry you are going through this! However, I am loving the suggestions above. I don't think it will take away from your special day at all. If anything, how amazing is it that you get to wear your wedding dress TWICE?! Love that!

It seems like quite a few November couples are waiting a little longer before deciding to postpone their big day. However, it never hurts to have a plan b!

We've gathered some tips and resources you can check out here: COVID-19 Wedding Support Central.

I hope this helps!

If you describe “The Magic” by meaning lots of eyes on you and your SO, than I suggest to postpone the wedding until it’s completely safe to invite all of them.


My “magic” is defined by —-> his eyes looking at me, butterflies in stomach, his jaw on the floor, kinda things 🤣❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Better plan best to get what you expect, rather than regretting it in the end.
🥂

View Quoted Comment Hi. June 13th wedding here and we postponed today, finally. Just wanted to say how all-encompassing your response was and it gave me some warmth today. So thank you for that. Everything sucks but we are coping the best we can. 👌

The way I see it, you can never celebrate your marriage too many times, whether it's in the form of an elopement, a 300+ person wedding, or saying, "I love you," on any given day.


A wedding is what you make of it.