‘Love doesn’t stop’: Weddings on hiatus as COVID-19 continues

“It’s been tough. At the beginning it is almost like mourning. You know you are mourning the loss of all these plans, and the family we won’t be able to see,” Keeler said.

They are not the only couple having to give up or change their perfect day as a result of COVID-19

Christina Messenger was supposed to say I do in Medicine Hat and Mexico this month but she has postponed her wedding.

“First was the travel restrictions so we knew that Cancun was going to be cancelled, and then we were just hanging on to April 4 and then all of a sudden those restrictions have started to be put in place as well as with the gatherings.”

Aside from being a bride herself, she’s also a wedding photographer.

“I’ve had a few panicked emails from brides saying ‘oh my goodness, I might not be able to have my wedding what do I do?’ And I just tell them take it day by day.'”

Taking it day by day is exactly what Ashley Knutson and her fiance are doing.

“We were supposed to get married on June 5 of this year at Waterton Lakes National Park, but obviously the park is closed on May 31. The hotel that it is at is closed and our wedding coordinator has been laid off, and we think that may have gone back to her home country. So even postponing it later in the year is pretty difficult, when really there is no one to organize it with” Knutson said.

Despite the uncharted circumstances surrounding COVID-19, the couple says they have not been able to get some of their money back from vendors they hired on the big day.

“A lot of them are sticking to the non-refundable portion of it. They’ve said that we can go on a different date if we want to, but they won’t refund us our money.”

Back over at Cindy and Nick’s, the couple is now preparing a unique COVID-19 safe ceremony this weekend.

“We are just going to have a few friends and family drive by, and we will be sitting out here in our wedding attire, waving and watching people,” Keeler said.

“Seeing all these people with birthday parties and drive bys, we just figured ‘well, why can’t we do that for the wedding?”’ Fiancee Nick Nychka said.

The couple is hoping to find a way to videotape the private ceremony so that they can share it with friends and family later.

While they are disappointed to not have the wedding of their dreams, the couple says their love extends far beyond a wedding ceremony.

“In this day and age there is so much uncertainty, but one thing we are sure of is each other and that is what we want to celebrate on Saturday.”

by Tiffany Goodwein

‘Love doesn’t stop’: Weddings on hiatus as COVID-19 continues

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