2020 was a year unlike any other. Time seemed to both fly by and crawl—days at home stretched long while the months blurred together. One of the biggest surprises for us was having to postpone our destination wedding because of COVID-19. On the original date we still chose to get married: a tiny ceremony at Bridger’s parents’ lake house with only seven people present, including our photographer. It was never what we had planned, but somehow that quiet, unexpected day felt absolutely perfect. I previously shared a full wedding recap on my blog if you’d like to see more photos.
Many brides describe wedding planning as the most stressful time of their lives, but for me it wasn’t overwhelming. From the moment we became engaged, Bridge and I knew we wanted something intimate, surrounded by close family and friends, and we selected a destination wedding in Cabo. Cabo is our favorite place to travel—it’s where we got engaged and where we’ve spent many trips together over our ten years as a couple. After choosing the venue, date, and wedding planner, the rest fell into place quickly. My dress followed soon after, and it’s been tucked away under the bed ever since—part of the strange buildup toward our postponed celebration.
*photos by Marcella Laine
Then March 2020 arrived. Our destination wedding was just weeks away when headlines about the pandemic escalated and cities began to shut down. We stayed hopeful until the Mexican border closed and it became clear we needed to cancel or postpone. We decided to move the celebration to the following year on the same date, since we still wanted the special weekend we had spent months planning and dreaming about. After that decision, everything paused until around November—and now we’re back at it.
Restarting the planning process has been a bit surreal. I had to catch up on what was already done and follow up with our planner and venue about vendor bookings and invoices. Thankfully, most of the major decisions had been taken care of before March, so reconvening has been fairly straightforward.
wedding venue ✓
wedding planner – Events By Bliss ✓
date ✓
dress ✓
photographer – Marci Laine ✓
videographer – Ana and Jerome ✓
hair & makeup ✓
guest list – using the same one we finalized in March 2020 ✓
menu/cake tasting – see my 2-month countdown blog last year ✓
guest bags ✓
flights ✓
hotel stay ✓
rehearsal dinner venue – Acre Baja ✓
rehearsal dinner menu (to finalize)
rehearsal dinner dress (to finalize)
music playlist (to finalize)
song for down the aisle (to finalize)
last dress fitting (to schedule)
shoes (to buy)
There isn’t much left to do. The boutique where I originally found my wedding gown, Grace Loves Lace in LA, invited me to try on gowns at their new Seattle showroom in January, which I’m really excited about. Picking my dress last year with my mom and best friend Jeannette was one of the sweetest moments, so I’m looking forward to sharing that experience again—while secretly hoping I don’t fall for another dress!
While this year didn’t unfold as planned, I feel incredibly grateful we could have such an intimate ceremony with just our parents in person (and family joining on Zoom). Next year we’ll have the larger destination wedding we’ve envisioned—still small at about 45 guests—but big enough to celebrate properly with those we love. I’ll be sharing updates as we move forward—thank you for following along. xx