Local Couple Adapts Wedding Plans Due To Coronavirus Pandemic, Makes The Best Of Their Big Day
MOON TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- The pandemic has impacted everything from restaurants to stores, to birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, and weddings.
For Kristin Ogden and Josh Hutchinson, the latest COVID-19 restrictions kicked in on Saturday, the day they were to be married.
"We got engaged on November 30, 2019," says Kristin, "We picked our date, pretty much immediately, I think we booked our venue on like the fifth of December maybe. I had been asked, starting in March, whether we were going to be rescheduling. And at that point, I said, December will be a totally different time. I mean, I think that everything will be much, much better by then."
But then came the November surge, "I actually had three of my bridesmaids back out of the wedding, a week before the RSVP's were due. And so I started contacting everyone, I thought, you know what, maybe I should call everybody."
She says it was agonizing, "We were nervous, especially because we had people like grandparents coming in to town and, and were gonna be there. And we were nervous about that. After we made all these calls, we ended up having about 90 people that agreed that they would be there."
Then two days before the big day, they listened as Governor Wolf announced the new restrictions. "It was just gut wrenching at that point," Kristin says.
But then came an offer from the Grand Concourse, their rehearsal dinner site, to host the wedding on Friday before the new restrictions went into effect. "All of our vendors were available for Friday, we went down we looked at it.
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And unfortunately, the room was just too small, it would have just been too crammed. So we just put the kibosh on all of that. And we thought, let's do something small and intimate."
In an instant, their plans for a wedding at the Grand Hall at the Priory with 160 people were done. "The venue actually has been very flexible with us right now. They've been contacting all of their vendors trying to see how much we can get back money wise, we had paid everything up until that point. So the whole event was paid for. And we haven't gotten any money back yet. But we're very optimistic about getting money back for it."
Instead, "We ended up having 10 people, including Josh and I, so eight people really. And we had a really nice little wedding ceremony at Robin Hill, Park in Moon and it was beautiful. It was very different than what we anticipated. We ended up having my parents, my sister, our pastor, Josh, his mom, his stepdad. So it was very, very intimate, but it was perfect in its own way. It was beautiful -- a great celebration with family."
Kristin and Josh are left with a great story to tell and a message to other couples.
While it feels very personal and unfair, "You're not alone in it and there are other people out there that are dealing with the same stuff you are and it makes it a little better."
The Hutchinsons will keep working to get their money back and are hoping to have a Vow Renewal Celebration on their first anniversary and a party with family and friends.
