This corona couple is truly one of the sweetest couples we have ever seen! Haley and Jacob weren’t going to let COVID-19 dampen their love for one another or their pure happiness about getting married, and their wedding ended up being one of those we can’t help but shed happy tears over. Having to alter their wedding plans to fit quarantine restrictions gave the couple an opportunity to have more personal touches than they originally were going to plan for, and not having all the extra frills allowed them to focus on one another and celebrating with their families. After being re-planned in less than a week, we don’t think the simple details could have come out any better. Deep maroon florals with subtle pops of lavender and ivory throughout made for an elegant bouquet of flowers for Haley to walk down the aisle with. Her natural makeup glow from Brite Beauty went perfectly with her lace detailed, open-back bridal gown, making her a beautiful bride. We can’t get over Jacob’s giddiness throughout the whole day, but especially when he sees his bride walking down the aisle – cue the tears! Our favorite part of this day has to be their corona-themed photos that you have to see below. Scroll to read about this couple’s wedding planning journey, from cancelling to re-planning their sweet and intimate chapel corona wedding day – we promise it’s worth the read. Cheers to Haley and Jacob!
Photo // Meg Layman Photography
From the bride: “The months leading up to the wedding were a whirlwind, especially as we had to consider a new, unexpected challenge: COVID-19. As we neared the final planning stages, the disease was on our minds, but like many people, we didn’t realize how serious of an issue it would be. We had two close friends visit us the weekend of Valentine’s Day, and I remember talking with them about the wedding planning and how excited we were for April 4th. Little did we know, we would be getting married almost a month after those conversations, two weeks before our planned date!
Coronavirus was declared a pandemic on March 11, about three weeks before our planned wedding date of April 4. On March 15, we had our first round of guest cancellations. I am originally from Ohio, and Jacob and I met in college at Xavier University in Cincinnati, so a bulk of our guests were from out of town – roughly 50% of the guests would be traveling from outside of Texas to join us for the wedding. The decision to cancel was ultimately made with our guests’ safety and health in mind – we could not, in good conscience, ask them to risk either of those things.
On March 16th, we made the call to reduce the guest list to immediate family only, which was a heart-wrenching decision to have to make, considering we were expecting about 250 guests. I probably spent five to six hours on the phone that Monday – telling the same story over and over again, that we would be reducing the guest list, and that, regrettably, that person with whom I was speaking was not on that list. My voice was hoarse by the end of the day! Though saddened by our decision, I was overwhelmed by the love and support from all our guests – every single person I talked to was so kind and understanding.
Additionally, as local governments in both Ohio and Texas increased restrictions related to COVID-19, Jacob and I realized we couldn’t bank on things getting better by April 4th. Things seemed to be changing by the hour, so by March 17, after we made all of those phone calls to guests and planned for only immediate family, an April 4th wedding was looking less and less possible. My mom said, mostly joking, that we should plan to have the wedding that weekend on March 21. I originally dismissed the idea, but I was worried that if we waited until April 4, my parents wouldn’t have been able to come due to potential travel restrictions (as, again, they were flying from Cleveland to Dallas). I contacted our vendors to see who was available on March 21, and, to my pleasant surprise, everyone was not only available, but very enthusiastic about doing an almost-elopement for us amidst all the chaos and confusion of the early COVID days.
The decision was made that Thursday. My mom, dad, and one of my sisters purchased plane tickets, and about 10 hours after that, they landed in Dallas. Unfortunately, my other sister was unable to travel, and two of Jacob’s three siblings were also unable to fly to Dallas, leaving us with my parents, Jacob’s parents, my youngest sister, and Jacob’s youngest sister. We went from a guest list of 250 to 6 in a matter of 48 hours!
Miraculously, we were able to throw everything together in the final 2 days. The ‘re-planning’ took some creativity, but also allowed for some more intimate personal touches that we hadn’t originally planned for… No time to get champagne? Alright, let’s use our favorite beer from our favorite brewery for the toast! My dad even had the funny idea to pose with Corona beers – it was an ‘all hands on deck’ approach to make our wedding celebration happen! We also did make everyone – all 6 of them – sign our guest book, which is dated for April 4.
It wasn’t a painless process, but our family and the vendors made it all possible. The church provided us with the most beautiful ceremony, organ and all. After the ceremony, Jacob and I went to Deep Ellum for some additional pictures and video – it was eerily quiet for a Saturday night, as by that point, all the bars and restaurants had been shut down. We had the run of the place!
After our photo shoot, we enjoyed a nice home-cooked meal with our families at Jacob’s parent’s house. We laughed about the craziness of the day, and the intimate setting was a good reminder of WHY we made the decision we made – to celebrate our love and be with our families. The no frills allowed us to really focus on being together. I’m still sad we missed out on celebrating with more people, but we plan on doing a make-up celebration sometime in the future, when it is safe for our friends and family to gather.
We didn’t get to go on our honeymoon (we had planned to spend about 3 weeks in Indonesia) and definitely lost out on money in the wedding planning process, but I wouldn’t change a thing about what our wedding day looked like. Perhaps logistically different than planned, but no less joyful than planned!”
Planning a covid wedding yourself? Check out our full #coronawedding resource guide here. Happy planning!
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Other Local Vendors: Christ the King Catholic Church, Brite Beauty, Meg Layman Photography, Transform Visuals, Jessica Daniels, Abbots Bridal, Paper Culture, Pegasus City Brewery, Magnolia Hotel Downtown Dallas, Whole Foods
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