Laney and Sarah and I started working together to plan their May 2020 wedding in August of 2019. I was super excited to help plan their wedding as they’re such a cool, fun couple. They had secured the perfect venue for their vibe, The Cookery, had a wonderful caterer selected, their photographer and some other fun reception vendors. I jumped in to provide partial planning which included Event Design, finding their band, plus other remaining vendors.
By March, we had an amazingly cool event design planned, an 11-person band out of Atlanta scheduled and all vendors contracted. Planning wise we were in great shape and so excited about their 250+ person upcoming wedding. Then came Covid-19. Together we went through all the stages of disbelief and ultimately outright grief over their wedding date. Initially, there was so much confusion. With lack of direction on a federal level, we were on pins and needles waiting for the Governor’s direction on the pandemic. Initially there was no clarity on events which lead to more waiting. By the end of March, we decided to push their wedding date back to June 27th and I was able to successfully move all of the vendors to their new date. In addition to the Governor’s issued Phases in April we also had to taken into consideration direction from the City of Durham. With sadness, it eventually became apparent their big wedding in June wasn’t going to happen.
Through all of the emotions, and although they were heart broken, Laney and Sarah were kind, professional and realistic. As their planner, the pandemic was a first experience for me. I’m the fixer, the solver of problems, and I helplessly had no solutions as rescheduling again was not an option for them. I did my best to ease their stress and worked to cancel agreements with their vendors.
Through all of the turmoil of planning during Covid, it created a bond between the three of us. I deeply admire Laney and Sarah. They were clear from the onset of the pandemic that their love and the actual celebration of getting married was the most important thing to them.
On June 26th, at the Durham Courthouse, Laney and Sarah were happily, and finally, married. It didn’t turn out the way we had planned but it was joyous. Love is love and celebrating that love is really what the day is all about.
Congrats my friends with much love!
Gina
Photos by Brett Seay
Bouquets: Embellished Blooms
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