Wedding invitations dated for May 30th with a “COVID-19”date of July 25th, 2020

By Hanna Wickes

By mid-May it was clear that Teresa Young would have to postpone their July date as her mom has stage 4 lung cancer and waiting meant she might be too sick to attend.

When the governor announced gatherings of 10 would be allowed for Memorial Day, Teresa immediately emailed Mayor Newhard, who was going to marry the couple. “Within a week, we moved our date to May 25th, which was also my dad’s 75th birthday, making our day even more special.”

The Chateau Hathorn, their reception venue, was willing to cater for that day even though they aren’t normally open Mondays. The horse and carriage Teresa had arranged was available, and a local greenhouse, Emmerich’s , provided the most fragrant Lilies for The Old Baptist Meeting House where they held the ceremony in the village of Warwick. Flowers by Lisa provided beautiful bouquets.

The best part of the couple’s day, other than the ceremony of course, was the carriage ride from Teresa’s house on Jones Road into town. “People lined the streets & drove down their driveways to take pictures & wave to us. After months of lockdown, the town needed a wedding.”

The carriage picture was featured both in The Warwick Valley Dispatch & The Warwick Advertiser. Jon Cristison, the owner of Yesterday’s was walking by when I got off the carriage and offered to buy us dinner after the ceremony if we stopped by.”

They enjoyed a complimentary bottle of champagne and their first toast as husband and wife, street side on their carriage, thanks Christison. The reception and another ceremony is planned for July 25th at their original venue with all of their family and friends.

Mayor Newhard will officiate once again. “We’re so in love that one wedding’s not enough...we’re getting married twice!”

Teresa’s advice to other couples marrying during the current environment:

“My advice to anyone being married during this time is that you will quickly learn that the most important part of wedding planning is being with the one you love...not the plans! My happiest memory is going to the Baptist Meeting House Sunday to decorate. It was just me, my husband to be, our lilies and the $1 store pew bows we picked up earlier that day. We laughed as we spilled water trying to fill the vases, he helped tie the ribbons and we joked that we’d never get our deposit back after dumping water droplets all over the 200 year old church floor...simple, unscripted moments I will treasure forever.”