Your Wedding & the Coronavirus

This is something I never imagined having to write. None of us really saw something like this coming, so quickly and with such a huge impact. I saw the "pandemic" show on Netflix and thought about how crazy it was before we had modern medicine. I thought about how people didn't know how to properly clean and had bad habits. I thought about how that was a different time. 

Now, today, I received an email from my April 18th couple, postponing their wedding, and understandably so! While my kids school is closed for a month, there is no clear expectation of when life will go back to normal. Even when the virus disappears, there may be a sense of fear and people might be hesitant to resume to "life as we knew it". 

While I have no words that seem appropriate There are a few takeaways I would like to bring up.  

1. Things will go back to normal, but they might be a different normal. A new normal, as people say. I don't know about you, but disaster puts things in perspective for me, and I feel like couples will take new things into consideration when planning weddings.  Maybe this looks like smaller, more intimate weddings with the people that they truly care about. On the contrary, maybe this looks like everyone you know, because you've had to be isolated and you never want that again! 

2. A new appreciation for just about everything.  I've personally felt this calling to examine my life and every choice I make going forward. Will this affect someone else if I go out to buy these things right now? Is it essential? How can I make sure not only my family is safe, but my community, my state, and my country. There is a new found beauty about the world that I never noticed before, because I was just too busy.   Maybe it'll be different moving forward - slowing down and enjoying each moment a little bit more not just today, but every day, even on your wedding day. Enjoying it without stress and realizing what really matters, maybe not each little detail.

3. Family is everything. When your social life is down the drain due to circumstances beyond your control, you can't see your friends... your group, but you have your family unit. I'm sitting here thinking, "Wow, I live with these people and I barely see them." Now, I've gotten this gift of time with them, and it brings up some thoughts about family.  These people are important. They matter. Spend time and appreciate them. Don't forget this after this is all over. When you have your wedding, ENJOY and HONOR them as best as you can!

4. Love what you do, every day. I realize now that I do honestly love my job. It bummed me out big time to not be able to film a wedding this upcoming weekend because its just such a fun job, filled with beauty and joy. It bums me out that my April couples had to postpone. I'm looking at June or July and praying that those weddings can still move forward. Not just for them, but for me too, and for the overall industry. I will never again joke about all weddings being the same. They're really not. I have said it in jest, but its not true. They're all special and beautiful.

5. Find beauty now, and take it one day at a time. Maybe your wedding won't happen next month. But you still have your fiancee. Enjoy each other and find beauty in each moment as it happens, and we will see what tomorrow has for us!