Joe and Lily were one of my many spring couples who had to reschedule their wedding day, thanks to the COVID-19, but due to a myriad of reasons, they just didn't want to wait any longer before becoming husband and wife.
On Wednesday, March 18th, they reached out to me and said they wanted to have a tiny elopement next Saturday (28th), while still having their big, rescheduled wedding later in the year. So we made plans. Oh, but how funny it is to make plans in the middle of a worldwide pandemic...
On Tuesday evening, March 24th, (at the moment the NC governor made the decision to soon place our county in a stay at home order), Lily called me up and said, "Dani, we're nixing Saturday, and we're getting married tomorrow night before the order takes place. Can you be there?" So we made plans.
And this time it stuck. With less than one day to pull together a wedding, and just 12 hours before our city shut down for good, on March 25th, 2020, this couple stood before a handful of their family in the newly blossoming gardens of The Duke Mansion. Led by the bride’s father, they exchanged rings and vows in the golden sun, took communion among a choir of chirping birds, and sealed it all up with a kiss. It was such a time of peace, joy, and God's favor - a tender moment of beauty and grace in that current darkness that we all needed to feel.
Come June, we'll be celebrating again! #elopenowpartylater