Never in a million years, did I imagine that I would marry the love of my life in a fifty dollar Fashion Nova gown that I had purchased a week prior to our civil ceremony. Nor did I imagine that we would say “I Do” on the steps of the Carnegie Institution for Science, four days after we did our engagement shoot. Being a “covid” bride has had its fair share of moments, but I am so grateful that we still chose love and continued to be resilient throughout the planning journey.

Cory and I actually decided to marry in December of 2019 without formally being engaged. We decided to simply elope in Lake Como, Italy in June of 2020. Three months before we were to leave for our elopement, the pandemic came and all of our plans withered away little by little. After rescheduling our elopement two times, we simply decided that we did not want to wait any longer to get married and decided to do have a civil ceremony with our closest family and friends present to witness our union. The intimate celebration was incredibly special because we were able to focus on what was really important without the allure of a grandiose wedding. The pandemic helped us to shift our priorities and not focus on what we had planned but embrace what wasn’t planned instead.

As a wedding planner, it was interesting being a bride alongside my clients who were also on the treacherous journey of planning a wedding during a pandemic. The state and local regulations were constantly shifting and people were forced to cancel major celebrations and events as it was deemed unsafe to socially gather. I was in a position where I had to stay educated on the latest pandemic updates, provide solid advice in how to navigate through the planning process, and remain calm and poised while working with my couples who were quite frantic and worried about what the journey ahead would be like. If one thing was for certain, I was able to not only empathize with my clients, but also express that “we were all in this together” and there was no way I was going to allow the pandemic to cancel love!

Deep down inside though, I was going through my own level of panic and madness trying to navigate how I would be able to still have a beautiful celebration with my husband knowing that we had already paid for our vendors in Italy and there would be no refunds! Not to mention, that I had ordered a gown that I absolutely hated and decided to sell it. Then, I purchased another gown in hopes that it would arrive before our second rescheduled date and then was unable to have it altered in time for our covid nuptials. After all of the back and forth, multiple reschedules, and money spent, my husband looked at me and said, let’s just get married. Forget about all of the plans and the allure of everything and let’s just focus on our commitment to one another.

Hence, we did just that, we got married! After building so many amazing relationships over the years as a planner, I reached out to local vendors and colleagues to assist us in making our day incredibly special and intimate. I chose not post anything on social media because I wanted to enjoy my day from start to finish without any interruptions. I also wanted to have the opportunity to announce our wedding celebration with our family and friends first who were not able to attend with us in person. We decided to mail out holiday cards with our wedding images on them and our loved ones were so excited to receive the card in the mail announcing our marriage.

Our intimate wedding ceremony was filled with so much love and excitement. It was the perfect, Fall day in October and we decided to get married on 10.02.2020. The date was symbolic to us because 10×2=20! We figured what better day than to celebrate our love on a date that is mathematically correct! It just seemed to “add up” for us, ha! For now, we are hoping to finally travel to Italy next Fall and do a vow renewal. I hope you enjoy the images from our intimate celebration and feel free to leave a comment and show some love below!

Vendor Team

Photographer: Terri Baskin
Day of Coordinator: B Astonished Events
Venue: Carnegie Institution
Violinist: Marvillous Beats
Florals: Vivid Experience⁠
Makeup: Lo Nicely⁠
Hair: Shannon_the_colorist_