SARASOTA – They still had their dream wedding, but Lucas and Kathryn Young say, not without a few hurdles.
“We thought by September we definitely would be fine; there’d be no restrictions; the worst of it would be over, but that wasn’t the case,” Kathryn said.
In the Summer they got an email from their venue saying there’d be some restrictions for their September wedding.
“We were going to have passed appetizers, and they all had to be plated on the table for guests,” Kathryn said. “Place settings, all silverware had to be wrapped; it wasn’t my Pinterest-looking place settings I thought of.”
Also individually wrapped were hundreds and hundreds of cookies for Pittsburgh’s famed cookie table wedding tradition.
“I think we got lucky with our venue because it was always considered an outdoor entertainment space,” Lucas said.
It had an open-air dance floor, but Kathryn says not everyone invited felt safe coming.
“My dad’s family didn’t come because they are more at risk for getting it, and I didn’t want them there for that reason because I would feel awful,” Kathryn said. “That was always in the back of my mind the entire time planning, like, ‘What if someone does get it?'”
For those who did show, the couple tried to eliminate any awkwardness with color-coded wristbands, indicating each person’s comfort level with dancing and socializing.
“It was easy to tell who would be comfortable with you coming up to them and who was like, ‘Oh, I’m more hesitant towards that,'” Kathryn said.
Due to travel restrictions they had to reroute their honeymoon three times.
“The Canary Islands would’ve been awesome, and Hawaii would’ve been amazing, but in the end we were fortunate enough to do anything,” Lucas said.
For any other brides and grooms out there who had to change or postpone their dream weddings, the newlyweds say try to focus on the positive.
“At the end of the day you still get to marry the person you wanted to marry, and that’s what it’s all about,” Kathryn said.
