OUR WEDDING POSTPONEMENT DUE TO COVID-19

Lynette Boyle Photography

I recently shared the following on Instagram, but today I wanted to go a little more in depth post about our wedding postponement due to COVID-19.

From Instagram: I got an alert today on my phone that said “35 days until you get to marry the love of your life”. I wish that was still the case, but God has a different plan for us. We made the difficult decision to postpone our wedding due to what the world is enduring at this time. The city of San Francisco helped us with this decision, but we know it’s the right thing to do. It’s been extremely difficult to process, but we are feeling super positive knowing that this is all happening for a reason. He has a reason and we’re slowing understanding the why. After we sent out an email to family and friends letting them know, we received a flood of messages back that reinforced how much love we have in our lives. From that moment the date suddenly didn’t matter anymore. We know that this little bump in the road will only make us stronger. Wedding aside, tough times make us all better people. That is what we need to take from the situation going on in the world right now. We look forward to picking a new date in the near future and having an even bigger party to celebrate! We love you all so much! We hope you all stay healthy and safe. 

While this is true, we have remained as positive as we can during this incredibly challenging time. I never thought in a million years that we would have to postpone our wedding date for any reason, but here we are. It was our reality. As I write this, San Francisco and many other counties are in a state of isolation or lock down, not knowing what will happen next. To take a step back, when we first learned about the virus, I was pretty optimistic that it would pass and that we could go about regular programming. Boy was I wrong. As news and media began to release more, I started to worry. We made the decision to postpone our honeymoon to Italy which was heartbreaking. Every little detail of the trip was planned and paid for. Then we started to worry about the wedding. My main concern started with the venue. I was positive that our group of family and friends would be healthy and ready to celebrate. But would the venue and church want to move forward or cancel out of precaution?

We met with our planner, Kaella Wilson, and decided that we would give it some time before making a decision. We went about our planning meeting and finalized every single wedding detail. At this point I have very little on my checklist to do and we were ready to tie the knot. We left the meeting to grab dinner and drinks and then soon departed with my Mom. That’s when we heard the news. San Francisco’s Mayor Breed, has put a ban on all events over 100 people in San Francisco until April 30. Our wedding was April 18th.

I tried to prepare myself as much as possible for that sort of news, but I was in shock. It took me a few days to process that our wedding would not take place as planned. It was then that I went on an emotional rollercoaster. We had been planning for a year and a half, been together for 9 years and are SO READY to get married and start a family as soon as possible. Both Jeff and I were completely let down and heartbroken.

From there I sat and thought to myself, am I being dramatic? Things could be worse. No, I SHOULD be selfish. This is our wedding that I’ve spent countless hours planning with my team and family. Our invitations had just gone out, we just got our marriage license and wedding bands that previous weekend. We were ready. We were SO ready.

On the other hand, we were extremely relieved that this decision was made for us by the Mayor. It would have been torture to go weeks without knowing how this would all turn out with our wedding on the line. I am so glad that we were in a place that we now needed to move forward and pivot rather than wondering what would take place.

The only way for me to move forward was to think positive knowing that this is happening for a reason. God has a reason for this. At the time I was not sure what that reason was, but I slowly started to see the light. I spoke to countless friends and family members who were all so incredibly reasurring. They all reminded me that when the time comes their minds and hearts will be focused on us and our wedding, not the worlds climate. That we would have more time to prepare, that we would have more time to take dance lessons, to make sure my dress fits perfectly, to make sure that everyone can attend. Thank you to all of you that reached out, it really meant a lot to Jeff and I. It was what helped us move forward.

It’s just a date. Everything that had been planned could go on as is at a later time. While the new date is unknown, the wedding will happen as we had planned it, we just need to be a little more patient. This little bump in the road will only make us stronger as a couple (Thank you Auntie Donna for reassuring us of this) xo

Our next steps: find a new date that works for (hopefully) all of our incredible vendors. I was hoping for a summer date, but we may need to look into Fall to take caution. I will then need to reprint and send out all new invitations. I also have a lot of little details with April 18, 2020 printed on them, but it may be fun to keep that date as a fun talking point. What do you think?

I want to thank all of our incredible vendors for being so supportive and flexible during this time. Thank you Kaella for helping us rearrange our original plans. Thank you friends and family for rearranging travel plans. I am so looking forward to sharing our wedding with you all when the time is right. We look forward to throwing an even bigger party later this year!

More to come soon! In the meantime, stay safe and healthy everyone.

Here is our incredible list of vendors (who will hopefully still bring our special day to life):

• Planning: Kaella Lynn Events
• Catering: Global Gourmet Catering
• Venues: The James Leary Flood Mansion; Grace Cathedral
• Photography: Lynette Boyle
• Videography: Weddings on Film
• Florals: Amanda Vidmar Design
• Music: Jay Siegen Presents; Pop Rocks 
• Lighting: Got Light
• Specialty Rentals: Hensley 
• Linens: La Tavola Linens
• Hair: Joseph Cozza Salon
• Makeup: Jen Tioseco
• Transportation: Corinthian Transportation
• Cake: Susie Cakes 
• Invitations and Signage: Minted
• Hotel: Fairmont Hotel San Francisco 

Lots of love, Jenna