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When their big wedding had to be cancelled, Melissa and Robby decided to get hitched at their neighborhood park, with strangers cheering them on. Here’s how it went down…
“We were supposed to throw a big wedding in Greenpoint on April 25th but we had to cancel. The few weeks before, we thinking about what we wanted to do to make that day special — we didn’t want it to be a bad or negative day. But after the stay-at-home order came out, we thought, we should just really get married on April 25th.”
“My brother officiated the wedding through Zoom. Our immediate family was watching on Zoom, too, including his grandfathers who are both over 90. I wore a backless jumpsuit from the bridal salon Sarah Seven. It was supposed to be my rehearsal dinner dress, but it turned out to be a showstopper!”
“We did rock paper scissors to see who would do the vows first. We wanted to insert joy in all these different ways.”
“Everyone was being respectful and social distancing. People who didn’t know us were watching our ceremony. Making a commitment in front of this community felt really special, like we were bringing joy into the neighborhood. People were saying, ‘Thank you for letting us bring our baby to his first wedding!’ and ‘This made our whole day!’ Strangers connecting is such a part of living in New York.”
“After the ceremony, we played ‘There Will Be Everlasting Love.’ People started dancing with us at a distance. We popped a bottle of Champagne.
“The day was so much more special than I ever thought it would be. I feel like I’m going to cry again! Starting in late February, I was worrying so much about canceling our wedding, but being able to stand in front of this person I love so much and commit to him and have him commit to me was one of the most beautiful things.”
“Even after everything we wanted was thrown out the window, to have this beautifully simple wedding felt perfect. It was even more powerful than what we had originally planned.”
Thank you so much, Melissa and Robby! Here’s another quarantine wedding, if you’d like to see.
P.S. Brides share their favorite wedding moments, and four amazing wedding looks.
(Photos by Nato Tuke.)
