Andreas and Hendrika Russell had chosen Victoria Day to say “I do” to each other with 250 friends and family to attend their ceremony and reception.
Then came COVID-19.
Instead, the Richmond couple got married in a forest surrounded by about a dozen of their closest friends, carefully distanced apart, and spent their honeymoon in Vancouver instead of Mexico.
And, while far from the celebration they expected, Andreas said it was one of the best days of his life.
The couple set their wedding date in January when they got engaged and booked the Nest at UBC for both the ceremony and reception. But as the wedding plans unfolded, the world was taken over by the pandemic and large gatherings were banned and public facilities shut down.
They went to Plan B.
They moved the date up to March 22 and decided to get married outside in Lighthouse Park where they had their engagement photos taken.
Andreas was the first to arrive a clearing in the woods in the North Shore park. And soon their limited number of guests arrived, and then the bride arrived, walked down the “aisle” through the forest by her mother to the waiting groom.
“It was in some ways more romantic than we originally planned,” said Andreas, who is the associate pastor at Emmanuel Christian Community Church in Richmond.
They had originally talked about having their wedding in a forest or at the beach, but because they have so many close friends and family members, that was out of the question.
When they first realized they would have to postpone their large wedding, anxiety and worry set in about whether they could even get married. And, above all, they felt sad at not being able to celebrate with their friends and family – most of whom they still haven’t seen since the pandemic hit.
“(Your wedding day is) the one day of your life you have all your friends and family in one room,” he said.
When the pandemic is over, they plan to still go ahead with their large reception and a longer honeymoon as well.
“We will do Mexico when COVID is over,” Andreas said.
