Wedding Interrupted

By Kim Roberts

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around all the havoc Covid has wrecked in everyone’s life over these many long months. The isolation, illness, panic, loss of freedoms, missed milestone events and just the joy that has been sucked out of day-to-day life.

My family has become another casualty of the pandemic – the wedding that my daughter her fiancée and their families painstakingly planned down to the very last detail, was cancelled in May and optimistically rescheduled to October. I mean, of course, October would be a safe time to host their dream New Orleans wedding; surely things would be manageable five months later.

The stress has been palatable, waiting for the city and state to move stages and change guidelines for social gatherings and praying everyday that my little girl can have her wedding.

But, here we are in August with no end in sight to this nightmare and no way of having the wedding we planned. We can’t put guest’s health at risk, we can’t have even a fraction of the guest list included, no band, no buffet, no adult drinks and masks all around.

I have gone through various stages: denial, anger, sadness and have finally arrived at acceptance. While this is a terrible turn of events, no engaged couple that wants to be married surrounded by family and friends should have to go through this.

So, what now? We have placed this in God’s hands and are making the best of the situation. We know that the sacrament of marriage is the important focus. They will get married, just not how and where we planned.

We will adapt and be overcome with joy in our hearts for this young couple starting their life together. And, God willing, in a few years, we will be able to have a New Orleans celebration of this union.

Prayers for this sweet couple as they enter into holy matrimony with the love and support of their family and friends.