Like most girls, I have dreamed about my wedding since I was a little girl. I fantasized about the florals, the picturesque venue, the cake, and everything in between. So, when I met the man of my dreams & he proposed, I couldn’t wait to get started (a couple of weeks after).
“Every day we say to each other, ‘I just want to be married to you.’”
Ben and I have been together for almost 4.5 years and are ready to get married! Every day we say to each other, “I just want to be married to you.” It is the sweetest feeling, and as the wedding approaches, we feel this way even more.
Engagement Photoshoot at El Matador Beach in Malibu, CA
Starting to Plan
Planning the wedding has been quite a ride! The first thing we did was find our wedding planner, Mandy Scott Events – she is a Brit living in the Bay Area with tons of experience in all types of events. She set us up with an intense budget tracker, lists of things to consider/do, timelines and due dates, and so much more. She helped us kickstart our planning in March 2019. With countless phone calls, video chats, in-person meetings, and shared Pinterest boards, every detail I had created in my head was coming to life.
“All the deposits were in, travel arrangements for guests made, and we were finally in the home stretch. “
I had (and still have) no hesitations or reservations about the choices we have made. For our venue, we chose a Spanish-style villa in the Bay Area to be our lush backdrop. We have visited 3 times since originally choosing the venue. It is soft, romantic, and classic! All the deposits were in, travel arrangements for guests made, and we were finally in the home stretch.
We also had planned our Bachelor & Bachelorette parties. Ben was off to MLB Spring Training and I was off to Palm Springs, CA.
We were ready for June 2020!
At Union Street Papery in San Francisco, CA designing our invitations.
Enter, Coronavirus.
When word of Coronavirus first came on the news in early January 2020, we were not as concerned as we now are. Of course, a lot of that had to do with the lack of information we had heard or understood. But then our state was issued a new mandate that controlled how many people could be together in one location. It was originally 150, which was pretty close to our predicted guest count so we didn’t think too much of it. After a week or two, that number dropped significantly to 35 and that was not going to work for us and our family. My first thought, “How can I have my dream wedding if no one is even there!?”. Then our venue let us know that the county they are located in was going to be even more strict, 10 people maximum.
“My first thought, ‘How can I have my dream wedding if no one is even there!?’”
So what was supposed to be a 150-160 person wedding, had now turned into 10 (including our vendors). The ban was supposed to be lifted on April 4th, but we got the news last week that it would be extended an extra 8-12 weeks…aka our wedding in June. So here we go! It was time to make the call and postpone our wedding, our bachelor/bachelorette parties, and all the wedding showers.
Time to Re-Plan and Re-Schedule
All I have to say is thank goodness we hired an experienced wedding planner. During the last couple of weeks, she was keeping us updated on how any and all CDC changes would affect our wedding and what that meant in terms of rescheduling the big day. With everything going on, we hopped on a phone call and determined the best move. We decided to postpone the wedding. We wanted all of our family and friends to come and be comfortable AND to not talk about the virus at the wedding.
So in the next few days, Mandy reached out to all our vendors and gave them the new date and inquired about any scheduling fees. We got VERY lucky, and all of our vendors were able to accept the new date without fees! The only glitch was that we had already received our invitations, which now have to be reprinted with the new date – fairly simple fix.
Still Getting Married
Since the wedding is now June 2021, we decided that our marriage can still be June 2020. We have come to a spot in our lives where we again say, “I just want to be married to you.” It does not matter how or where, but we are still going to get married and vow our lives to each other this year. The wedding itself is a celebration that can wait, but marriage is something that we can commit to at any time. So this is where we are left off for now, but many more updates to come!
“It does not matter how or where, but we are still going to get married and vow our lives to each other this year.”
I will be adding new posts about visiting our floral boutique, picking our cake design, and so much more!
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