I’m about ready to get off of the roller-coaster that is 2020. I’m not even able to handle the Scooby-Choo at Canada’s Wonderland, let alone the crazy ride that we've all been on for the past 5 months. It’s strange to be in a tunnel, in which you can’t see the light at the other side and, yet, you know it must be there. The new “normal” of standing 6 feet away from everyone including walking on the road to get around people and the idea that we are all wearing masks in public is crazy to me. Blake and I are still cautious, so we are continuing to follow the rules, but many people aren’t wearing masks when they are among the masses of people. Those people are blocking the light. Those people are why Covid remains.
The light at the end of the tunnel symbolized Blake and I’s wedding. As it did for a lot of our friends that were supposed to get married this year. Blake and I were hopeful for a really long time that the restrictions would lift and we would be able to have the wedding of our dreams as expected. I remember, just as Covid was hitting the population on the other side of the world, my friend Kristen and I went out for breakfast and flaunted our (naive) invincibility that I’m sure everyone felt when this virus first reared its ugly head. Covid-19 was a concern for us, but, surely, it would dissipate as fast as it had arrived; right? We were confident that it wouldn’t put a damper on, what we had both hoped, would be the best year of our lives. Well, it did. Kristen was to be married this summer, so she and her fiance had chosen to move their wedding in the early stages of the Canadian pandemic. Meanwhile, Blake and I were tracking the calendar along with the virus. 9 months until the wedding, 8 months, 7 …. 6 months. We still had time, but the days were dwindling and it was still dark in the tunnel.
About a month ago, I contacted my wedding coordinator, Sam, and asked her to give me the inside scoop for what the wedding business thought in regards to 2020 weddings. She has been amazing through this whole process and has truly been a sense of calm for me in this insane storm. She told me that we should move it. So, I put a tentative date on hold (more on this later) and contacted all of my beloved vendors to see if they were all available for the new date. Over the course of the week, I received emails from my vendors confirming their availability.
Well, at least step one was done!
My hope to get married had 90% disappeared at this time, but Blake was still keeping the hope alive. He kept saying, “We’ll wait a little longer” and “One more month and we’ll decide”. We had initially decided to wait until August 1st to make our final decision, but the stress has been drowning me. I was also terrified that I would lose one of my vendors to another wedding if we didn’t make our decision soon. I mean, they all promised to keep me updated if their times started to fill up, but it’s all just business after all.
Blake and I spent weeks trying to make that final call. One day we would say, “Let’s move it”, and then the next day we’d say, “Let’s just wait a little longer and see what happens”. We made pros and cons lists. Rethought our life and family plans. And I spent many days lying in bed and crying while Blake wrapped his arms tightly around me as I was swallowed up by the stress. It was finally an email sent to me by Sam that pushed me to make the final decision. The email discussed the new option of “Petite Soirees”, which is a new type of elopement style packages that venues are now offering amidst the Covid pandemic. At the end of the email, it read:
“While we do not have a crystal ball or know what the future holds, we do not imagine that we will be able to host weddings or events in a regular way in 2020.”
I mulled over that email for a few days before finally deciding that I wanted to move our wedding. The moment I told Blake my decision, there was no hesitation on his part. He, ultimately, had given me the full power to make the decision knowing that he would be by my side no matter what. The call was officially made this morning and all of the vendors have been notified.
So, it’s a done deal! I feel that I can breathe a little easier now, but it still hasn’t fully sunk in.
While everything is settling, I will answer a few questions you may have about all of this.
Besides Covid-19, what were some of the other factors that contributed to your decision since it is still possible that restrictions will lift by the time November rolls around?
For me, a major deciding factor was the wedding experience as a whole. I want to be excited to get married. I know stress comes with the territory of planning a wedding, but it was another beast to be stressed about a global pandemic. As a bride-to-be, I want to be excited and happy to be having bridal showers with my family and a bachelorette party with my friends. I want to hug my loved ones. Remember hugs? As well, I want everyone to be comfortable at my wedding. I don’t want pictures of people standing 6 ft apart or dancing apart like they’re at a middle school dance. I want the wedding of my dreams and, frankly, this year has been a bit of a nightmare...although an interesting nightmare that we won’t soon forget.
Will you and Blake still get married this year in a more intimate ceremony?
Blake and I spoke about this a lot. I, honestly, don’t come out looking too good in this decision. Well, Blake wanted us to still get married this year...something along the lines of “I love you and I want to marry you”. Meanwhile, I think my response went a little like, “I have no desire to get married if it’s not at my big fat November wedding”. Don’t get me wrong, I want to marry Blake. However, I think my desire to be married would be more urgent if we weren’t already practically married. We’ve been together almost 9 years. We have a beautiful home which we share, a baby teacup panther whom we love, and we are financially established as a couple. The only thing, in my mind, that would change would be my last name...which I had struggled with deciding whether or not to change anyways... I decided to change it by the way. So, we are going to wait until next year to get married.
What is the new date?
Here it is, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The new date of our wedding. Before I share that information, I have to share a quick story of how I messed it all up. Sam had given me a couple of available dates in November that I was able to choose from and, tentatively, reserve until we made our final decision. I THOUGHT I had chosen November 27th. My thought process being November 6th wasn’t available, November 13th was too close to Friday the 13th and 13 is common known to be an unlucky number, November 20th is only 2 days after Blake’s birthday and I didn’t want to steal the thunder of his or his sister’s birthday, and I didn’t want a December wedding, so November 27th it was. November 27th also lined up with our honeymoon plans which are currently to travel Germany during the Christmas season because I love Christmas and Germany is known to turn it out during Christmas. HOWEVER, looking back, turns out I had reserved November 20th for whatever reason. I’m confident I HAD a reason because I, obviously, had everything thought out, but the reason has escaped me for the time being. So, although Blake doesn’t care, this is my formal apology to Mady...sorry if I ruin your birthday next year.
There you have it! The next date for the wedding of Blake Aylward and Kaylin Matthew is Saturday, November 20, 2021! I can’t wait!