Collected Item: “A Pandemic Wedding”
Give your story a title.
A Pandemic Wedding
What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?
A letter to our wedding guests written by my fiance and I.
Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.
I chose to submit a letter that my fiance and I will be sending out to guests of our October 4th, 2020 wedding. My fiance popped the question two years ago and ever since then we have been planning our dream ceremony. Something about us as people, we LOVE a good party. Nothing sounded sweeter than inviting our friends and family to join us in celebration.
As COVID-19 surfaced in the world, we watched as our dream day slowly seemed less and less likely to happen. Now, I think a lot of people wonder, how can you possibly have a wedding right now? How can you be upset that people are choosing not to come? At this point, for us, it is not about being upset over people choosing to come or not to come, it is about my fiance and I being able to celebrate each other as a queer couple on a day and in a space that has always felt out of reach or off limits altogether.
When we sat down to draft this letter, I was feeling angry. Half of my wedding party has canceled (one of the grooms party canceled just today), our guest list went from 180 to 25-30, dinner has been canceled and we will not be having a traditional reception but an elongated cocktail hour. We sat with the reality. My calm has been found in those that will be joining us. Our nearest and dearest. Overall, our people are the most important and we want them to feel safe while being able to join us in any capacity that they are able to. It has taken some creative thinking but we have managed to plan an intimate ceremony for everyone that will be joining us in person and via live-stream.
What we have come to realize is health and safety of our loved ones is most important to us and giving grace to those around you is really the only way to not loose your sh$! in the world right now. I'm ecstatic to celebrate how we can and ultimately, to create a covenant with the person I love the most. We have a lot of time together, might as well revel in all this sweetness.
As COVID-19 surfaced in the world, we watched as our dream day slowly seemed less and less likely to happen. Now, I think a lot of people wonder, how can you possibly have a wedding right now? How can you be upset that people are choosing not to come? At this point, for us, it is not about being upset over people choosing to come or not to come, it is about my fiance and I being able to celebrate each other as a queer couple on a day and in a space that has always felt out of reach or off limits altogether.
When we sat down to draft this letter, I was feeling angry. Half of my wedding party has canceled (one of the grooms party canceled just today), our guest list went from 180 to 25-30, dinner has been canceled and we will not be having a traditional reception but an elongated cocktail hour. We sat with the reality. My calm has been found in those that will be joining us. Our nearest and dearest. Overall, our people are the most important and we want them to feel safe while being able to join us in any capacity that they are able to. It has taken some creative thinking but we have managed to plan an intimate ceremony for everyone that will be joining us in person and via live-stream.
What we have come to realize is health and safety of our loved ones is most important to us and giving grace to those around you is really the only way to not loose your sh$! in the world right now. I'm ecstatic to celebrate how we can and ultimately, to create a covenant with the person I love the most. We have a lot of time together, might as well revel in all this sweetness.
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#pandemicwedding, #wedding, #minneapoliswedding, #covidwedding
Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)
Jennifer Anderson
Give this story a date.
2020-10-04