David and Dana's Wedding in Rye, New York

The story of our wedding

David and I had been together for 8 years when he proposed. We actually met back in high school and went to prom together... But with different dates. I always thought I would know when it was coming but it still took me completely by surprise. Our family and friends knew immediately that we would be planning the best wedding to celebrate our love and forever commitment to one another. We chose our local church St. Pius X to have our ceremony. It was beautiful inside and out and with a small parish, we were able to work closely with our priest to make our ceremony uniquely ours. After the ceremony we headed to the charming Whitby Castle in Rye, NY. I mean, who actually gets married in a CASTLE? I used to work nearby and always dreamt of getting married in a place as beautiful but never imagined it actually happening. They offered a "winter" deal where they would supply you with recommended vendors that was too good to pass up. The deal went through March and since our dating anniversary is March 10th, we decided to get married on March 14th, 2020; days after our 10 year anniversary. We didn't want to wait until the sweltering summer and thought we had just as good of a chance of bad weather in March as in the spring. And, if there was a blizzard, it would just make for a better story! Little did we know what kind of story we would actually have.The month leading up to the wedding became very hectic very quickly. With some of the first US Covid-19 cases happening in the town over from where we live and miles from our church and reception venue, everyone was a little heightened. Friends from out of town began calling us to find out what precautions we were taking and we were in near daily talks with our vendors to make sure we were still on. During the week leading up to the wedding, not only were we dealing with regular last minute details but we found ourselves rearranging seating and reprinting place cards to account for the people who told us they would no longer be coming to our wedding for risk of the virus. Luckily, we had an amazing group of friends and family who said they would be with us no matter what, covid or not. We were also able to invite some friends who initially were on the long list because so many people ended up dropping out. It made for an eclectic group but a thankful group nonetheless.The day was beautiful. Warm for early March and plentiful sunshine through the morning and early afternoon. As I was waiting to leave for the church, I got an email from the archdiocese stating that all masses would be cancelled. I shrugged my shoulders because I was about to get in the car. I figured we'd deal with it when we got there. When I arrived, everything went off without a hitch. After the ceremony, our priest told us he had gotten a call to cancel masses and said "Sorry! I have a church full right now, I have to do this wedding!" and squeezed us in. Even more special was that he had been in Italy on an extended vacation and came home 2 weeks early to adequately quarantine to be able to perform our wedding. We were so blessed to have such a great priest.Our reception was amazing. Too much food to even try everything. An amazing cake and beautiful speeches. We never chose his & hers drinks so we decided to lighten the mood and create two signature cocktails "Coronavirus" and "The Cure". Family & friends surrounding us, celebrating the love that David and I have for one another and celebrating life. Little did we know that the Monday after, we would all be ordered into a stay-at-home order and New York would essentially be shut down. We have since been on an extended quarantine style staycation honeymoon and couldn't be happier to be with one another through all of this. Thankfully our family and friends have stayed healthy through everything and we are looking forward to continuing our marriage as the world gets back to normalcy. We had to cancel our actual honeymoon for the time being but we hope to replan soon!