Hello again, friends.
In the 2020 Bridal Guide, I wrote to you about maintaining your excitement for your wedding amid the stress of planning. I had lost my motivation but was finding it again … then the pandemic hit.
So I write to you still a single lady. My fiance, Will, and I postponed our wedding a full year, which means I am still planning my wedding.
I wish I could tell you that I spent the past year planning and I have very little left to do, but that wasn’t possible in a pandemic. As I write this in February, I still am not sure what my May wedding will look like.
It’s a lot to balance, and there is even more judgment than ever before. At the start of the pandemic, I got emails complaining about a wedding in town. It was outside, but maybe more people than recommended. But it was early in the pandemic and recommendations changed hourly, it seemed.
Guidance still continues to change, especially now that the vaccine is rolling out. What May will look like is hard to tell.
I fault no one who went ahead and had their wedding in 2020. There is a lot of money to be lost with nonrefundable deposits.
But I also think of the stories of weddings-gone-super-spreader. The stories of COVID-19 sweeping through entire families, killing grandparents and leaving grief in the wake of what should have only been celebration.
I would not survive if I lost my grandmother because I had my wedding.
So, I continue to plan an event I know I cannot postpone or cancel. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried sick about it.
The whole reason I wanted a wedding was to have a big one where all the people I love were together. I postponed in hopes I could still have that event, and I continue to pray I’ll get it.
If anything, the pandemic has highlighted how important weddings are because gathering is important. Being together in joy is one of the things that make life worth living.
It may seem trivial to plan a wedding in a pandemic, but as we see the light at the end of the tunnel, what the world needs now — as they say — is love.
Let’s keep chugging along, 2020 brides turned 2021 brides. Wear your mask, encourage your guests to get the vaccine and get ready to hug your loved ones again. Our day is coming.