Jaime Reflects on Being a COVID Bride

Jaime and Mark had planned on getting married in November of 2020– however, fate had other plans. Like so many other brides, Jaime was faced with the difficult decision to postpone her wedding due to the pandemic.

Jaime spoke to Emme about the craziness of planning a wedding twice and being a COVID bride.

Jaime and Mark got married at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Chicago. Their reception was at Bridgeport Art Center in Chicago. They got married May 22, 2021.

What was going through your head at the beginning of the lockdown in the spring of 2020? Were you worried about your November 2020 nuptials?

I wasn’t freaking out at all. Mark and I were just very naive as to what was happening. The first few months we kept thinking, ‘we’re not getting married until November! There’s nothing to worry about!’

Eventually, my mom started to get nervous about our wedding. She put that seed of doubt in my head. Then, I started to be more proactive. I reached out to my church and venue, and they didn’t have any information since everything was so new. They also didn’t want to get our hopes up.

In July of 2020, our church called us to come in for a meeting. They told us that everyone needed to come to the church wearing a mask and there would be a limit on our guests. We realized we didn’t want our wedding to be like that.

How did you go about changing the date of your wedding?

We spoke to our event coordinator and we told them that we wanted to postpone our wedding. We didn’t want to do that, but we wanted to be reasonable. Our event coordinator threw around some dates for us, and we picked May 22. We sent out a mass email to everyone involved in our wedding. Everyone was available except our photographer, who was booked for another wedding. Everyone else– our venue, our DJ, our florist– was available! We felt very fortunate.

How did you find a new photographer?

After we postponed our wedding, I became really unmotivated. I just knew I had so much time and I didn’t feel excited about getting married anymore. I got a little down about the pandemic and with wedding planning. I kept putting it off.

Finally, I asked for recommendations on Facebook to find a photographer. However, every photographer that was recommended was booked. We finally found our photographer through a friend! Our photographer was amazing!

How did you adjust from originally planning for a fall wedding to having a spring wedding?

I love everything about the fall, from the colors, to the weather, to the vibe! But, my bridesmaid dresses were blush pink, and they were able to work with a spring wedding. We got lucky.

Were your friends and family able to attend?

When we first planned on our wedding, we invited 200 people. We actually had 118 attend. A lot of Mark’s family live out of town, and they didn’t want to travel. Some people were still cautious about COVID. I had almost 60 guests that attended that were vaccinated.

Were you upset about the attendance?

No. It is what it is! It ended up working out.

Did you ever think about postponing your wedding another year so you wouldn’t have any limitations?

Both of us really couldn’t wait another year. We want to start planning for a family.

Did you have any limitations at your wedding?

When we went through our final walk through, our event coordinator said dancing wasn’t allowed. I panicked a little! But, everyone at our wedding danced. I think there were limitations in place, but they couldn’t force people to not dance. Anybody who wanted to wear a mask, could wear one if they wanted to. This pandemic has been going on for so long that people know what to do.

What was the best part about your wedding?

The rumors are true– it goes by so fast! The best part was how it came together. I was very stressed the weeks leading up to the wedding, but the day of the wedding, I didn’t feel nervous at all! It was a perfect day. There were bumps in the day, but it was so much fun.

Where will you be going on your honeymoon?

We’re going to Marco Island, Florida. Mark’s uncle has a place there. We want to buy a house and start a family. We didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a honeymoon.

What advice would you give future brides?

If you can afford a wedding planner, do it! It ends up being so much more stressful doing it all yourself. Find someone who truly knows the wedding planning business.