Wedding stories from 2020
What is it like to get married during Covid?
What weddings in 2020 has taught me…
This time last year, I was planning an entirely different 2020, as we all were. A year full of weddings, all different, and all special.
Then Covid came along and the whole world kinda turned upside down, and it certainly hasn’t made it easy for those of you getting married.
So rather than just give a long old list of fave photos from this year, I wanted to share with you the GOOD things about weddings during a pandemic.
Basically, what weddings have taught me and my couples this year.
I asked some of my couples to tell their 2020 wedding story - no one can explain it better than them!
Whenever you plan to marry, and however you choose to do it, I hope this will give you some feel-good vibes, and maybe some hope if you are worried.
The biggest take-away from 2020, is the love and joy is still there.
We don’t know exactly what 2021 has in store for us, but whatever you decide is right for your wedding, I’m going to be right here to help you. xx
Rachael & Will - December 2020, Kilndown, Kent
On the day we couldn’t have wanted for more and we honestly wouldn’t have changed our wedding even if we could have. It was filled with so much love, joy and magic. It was also so lovely to simply have a beautiful celebration of marriage, stripping everything back down to what it is all about, love.
2020 is not exactly a year where things went to plan, with changes here there and everywhere and so much uncertainty. However it was the year that we got married in what was simply the most beautiful and magical day. The uncertainty was taking all the fun out of it for us and at the end of the day what we wanted most in the world was to be married. So we made the slightly random decision to push the big party back and just get married as soon as we can.
It was early October 2020 and we had made the decision to get married at Kilndown Church, a beautiful church in a small village where Will had grown up. Although we hadn’t originally planned to have our ceremony in a church we are actually so grateful that we were able to make this change as the church plays such an important role in Will’s families lives and it just made the day even more special and personal.
Once we had the date in place we had less than 2 months to go until the day to get everything sorted, but honestly this was the best part as we suddenly felt in control again.
The only thing that worried me about our change of plans was telling my best friends and some family that they couldn’t come, however I was silly to be worried as they could not have been more supportive of the decision. Everyone was so happy for us and so delighted that we just wanted to be married. We had so many lovely messages of congratulations and I like to think that we were able to give people a bit of joy in what has been a pretty sucky year.
On the day we couldn’t have wanted for more and we honestly wouldn’t have changed our wedding even if we could have. It was filled with so much love, joy and magic. It was also so lovely to simply have a beautiful celebration of marriage, stripping everything back down to what it is all about, love.
We got married on a beautiful December winters day with our close family by our sides. I have never felt so overwhelmed with love and emotion in all my life. It was simply gorgeous. It was so relaxed and we were able to celebrate outside the church surrounded by our guests but also many onlookers who were passing though (including a few of our friend and family who just so happened to be out for a walk at that time).
Katie was an absolute dream, neither of us have ever had our photos taken before so had no idea what we were doing, but we were made to feel so relaxed and loved every second of Katie’s company. Not only did she capture the magic of our day so perfectly but she was a pure delight to be around, she felt like one of the family and I am so pleased we could have her with us on our special day.
Initially I was a bit worried about what else we might do after the ceremony of marriage at Kent was in Tier 3 at the time which meant no reception. However, Katie had so many great ideas with confetti and sparklers featuring heavily!
Having our ‘covid wedding’ is the best decision we have ever made, we are now happily married and had the most joyful celebration to mark the occasion. The number of people you have there does not change the amount of love in the atmosphere, but the level of intimacy and simplicity will make your day feel simply magical and one of a kind. Every supplier was just so wonderful and excited to be a part of our wedding that it made planning so stress free and easy. I also think that because everything was last minute and on a small scale that it made the planning process so relaxed and enjoyable because we knew it would all be ‘alright on the night’ as we were getting married on our own terms in a beautiful place, and that’s all that mattered to us.
Cece & Tom - August 2020, Ditchling, Sussex
Overall it was a wild rollercoaster of emotions, and though I regret my family not attending I do not regret marrying my husband one bit!!
After 3 failed attempts to try and marry before lockdowns and before flight restrictions (Cece’s family are based in the US), we were excited to see restrictions lifted in August. We started planning the next day. I was so thankful for my families support, my sister insisting I still should wear a wedding dress even though it was not the one I had picked (that was sitting in her closet in the US!!)
We picked a new dress online, and my mom helped me pick all the music, and had our church decided on, then we were all set!
Then we found out we couldn't get married in the church because we were not part of the parish! We were crushed. Then I had a wild idea that if we can only marry in our Parish then we could get legally married and then still have the “medium” wedding the next day at the church in Ditchling, and then next year have the big wedding! Looking back it makes me laugh, a bride wants her one day.... I assure you I did not want 3 days!
We live streamed the service online so no matter where they were, they could join us and witness us getting married, and took a little time afterwards to say hello to everyone online.
Overall it was a wild rollercoaster of emotions, and though I regret my family not attending I do not regret marrying my husband one bit!
I'm so thankful my family was so supportive, the night before our wedding the women in my family held a little happy hour session for me and the men in my family held one for Tom. My mom and dad donned their best, my dad in his tuxedo and they were ready for the wedding.
There is no right or wrong in the times of covid! <3
Becca & Olly - October 2020, Surrey
It was stressful at times, organising a wedding during a pandemic but in a way it made our day! It made us truly realise what was important to us… We ended that day as Mr and Mrs with our very nearest and dearest there with us and that's all that truly mattered.
With less than 4 weeks to go until our original wedding date, the country went into lockdown and weddings were cancelled! To say we were heartbroken was an understatement. It was just so shocking, so unexpected and utterly devastating. Although our world had just fallen apart, everything we had worked towards for the last 12 months was over before it had begun, there was something so much worse happening in the world now, so it felt wrong being so upset.
We replanned for October 24th 2020. Surely life had to be back to normal by then...!? We were wrong. It was more of an uncertain time than we could ever imagine.
Although the county had seemed to slowly reopen, it was such an anxious time as we got closer and closer to our new date. We had rebooked everything, re-bought outfits for our children as they had grown out of the previous outfits we had bought them. Had to re-buy personalised items we had ordered with our date on. Some companies were so kind, letting us re-order at a discounted rate, even though they must've been struggling themselves.
We had lost deposits on a couple of suppliers that couldn't do our new date. Our photographer was unable to make the new date so we desperately searched for a new one. It was such an important aspect of our day to us.
We were so worried we wouldn't find someone we loved but thank goodness we were so wrong as we found Katie! When we found Katie, it was actually the first time Olly and I said to each other, maybe things really do happen for a reason. If it wasn't for our day being cancelled, we would never have found Katie and we knew she was going to be such an amazing part of our day.
Rules kept changing and it was so frustrating. We went from being allowed 30 guests to 15. So many others were cancelling their weddings altogether or postponing to a much later date. This did cross our minds briefly but then we decided the only thing that was important was getting married and we would do whatever it took. We planned and replanned our day so many times in the end because of the constant rule changing. It was draining. But we knew it would be worth it. We felt like we had to bend over backwards to stick to rules. But as long as we made it, we didn't care. Then with less than a week before our day, there was talk of another lock down. We were in bits. We knew we couldn't go through that again. It felt like we had only just recovered from the first time. But thank goodness our day arrived and we had made it. It was allowed to go ahead! The relief was unexplainable!!
And after everything we had been through to get to our day, all the upset, all the extra planning, having to un-invite guests...twice, it truly was the best day of our lives! We wouldn't have changed a thing. We had changed our colour scheme because of the change of season, had to rebook a new photographer, cancel the disco and un-invite many guests but infact everything we changed, we loved more than the original!
We LOVED our new colour scheme, LOVED our new photographer and LOVED how intimate it was. It was stressful at times, organising a wedding during a pandemic but in a way it made our day! It made us truly realise what was important to us. Our cake was stunning, flowers were beautiful, food delicious but we ended that day as Mr and Mrs with our very nearest and dearest there with us and that's all that truly mattered
Naomi and Matheus - August 2020, Steyning, Sussex
Although it wasn't the day I had always imagined, it was perfect in so many other ways. Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way to do a Covid Wedding - it's whatever you and your partner feel most comfortable with.
The idea of postponing or changing our wedding was definitely hard - there were lots of tears involved! Ultimately, we decided to go ahead with a different wedding as we still wanted to get married. Although it was hard to let go of what the day 'should have' looked like, we tried to focus on what we could do and how we could make it a really fun day for everyone. One of my bridesmaids' mum organised the flowers from her garden, and our wedding breakfast was fish & chips from the local shop, eaten at my parents' home.
We still kept elements that were really important to us - such as bringing in my husband's native Portuguese - but we got inventive with people doing readings over Zoom!
The best thing was how supportive everyone was. We had to be really strict with the guest list and, although it was hard for so many friends and family to not be there, they were so encouraging to us. Although it wasn't the day I had always imagined, it was perfect in so many other ways.
Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way to do a Covid Wedding - it's whatever you and your partner feel most comfortable with.
