A small ceremony with a drive-in reception

By Hanna Wickes

After reading wedding horror stories on the internet in March, Sara and Anthony Platé were quick to contact their venue to see how the pandemic would affect their May 23rd wedding date. Their answer: they would have to reschedule their reception ceremony to December.

Instead, they held a ceremony at St Johns church in Goshen on their original date with an audience of ten people: nine family members and one photographer. “It was a very low-key, hush-hush event, but I got to wear my original dress, and get my hair and makeup done so I still felt like a bride.”

After the ceremony, the couple went to Sara’s parents’ home to find that their friends and family created a drive in reception, where all of her original guests drove by to wish the couple congratulations. “There was even a car of just my bridesmaids and they wore their dresses, and some weren’t even fitted. They got out for a few minutes to take pictures. It was pouring rain. It was super special.”

That bridesmaid picture is also the same photo that Sara chose for the 2020 Bride Guide. “I picked this photo because despite all the "non-perfect" details of the photo like the unaltered dresses, some of them being soaking wet, the face masks... The photo is perfect in my eyes because all of my bridesmaids showed up for me and Anthony, even when most of them weren't even allowed in to the actual wedding ceremony.”

“It shows that the little details you stress about really don't matter at the end of the day, just the people you share the day with. Also, the masks themselves make the photo 1000x more interesting than any other bridal party photo.”

Sara’s advice to other couples planning to get married during the current environment?

“If you are still having a wedding during the pandemic and it is very different from your originally planned day, make the best of it. Do whatever you want that makes you feel like a bride or a groom. Do as many traditions as you can. It’s not the end of the world.”