Just as South Florida was shutting down the beaches and implementing social distancing ordinances, our couple, Charlotte and Blake, decided to do an abrupt elopement knowing that their March 28th wedding would have to be rescheduled. This love story was so close to being officially hitched like a lot of others and while the big event will come another day, there is still so much love and gratitude to be had during these uncertain times. COVID 19 has upset bride and grooms alike, yet the wedding planning community has banded together to ensure that all is not lost, just postponed.
Charlotte and Blake were emotional troopers and said: “fine, no big wedding and reception, but we are still getting married!” These are very serious and unfortunate times for numerous reasons, but please enjoy this story and it’s slight comedic spin to allow some smiles in your quarantine.
Stay strong, be positive, and fall deeper in love!
Meet Charlotte and Blake. These two are just constant smiling goofballs who have stolen our hearts during their planning journey. These photos by the incredible Daniel Lateulade were taken less than a week before their wedding to be at The Bonnet House in Fort Lauderdale.
Final touches were being made and everything was a go until Coronavirus shut down the world piece by piece. Tears were shed and hearts were heavy but with the kick-butt teamwork of Abby and her all-star team of vendors, they were able to put light on the situation and give Charlotte and Blake the next best thing, an intimate elopement with their closest family members.
And thus begins the 24-hour wedding.
The first plan of action was to have a quaint beachfront ceremony. Seems simple enough. Abby first tried The Bonnet House’s private beach but they were closing down. She then reached out to Fort Lauderdale beaches but as they were all public, they too closed down. Life threw her a bone and found that Pompano has a private beach and they were still open at the time. However, they expressed some concern that as they were the only beach open, it would be hard to schedule an event as many others had the same plans in mind.
Back to the drawing board. What is wedding planning without problem-solving. Am I right?
The mother of the groom has a condo at the stunning Riva residences just off Sunrise Blvd and was able to get permission to use their outside terrace for the event. Teamwork makes the dream work.
Now that a location was found. Abby called up her go-to vendors in times of need and was able to procure a chuppah, florals, and a photographer-the perfect combination of bare essentials needed to create a bit of romance on a budget and under challenging circumstances.
Dalsimer Atlas came to the rescue with this elegant bouquet and chuppah piece and Arc Divine had this perfectly simple metal chuppah for us.
The real motivator for contriving this event with such short notice was for the family and friends of Charlotte that had flown in early from England in anticipation of her Big Day. Now we all remember, everything in Florida started to shutdown at snowball speed. Monday news hit that international migration would be severely limited and country borders were closing to non-nationals. AKA, Charlotte’s loved ones had until Wednesday morning to leave the United States or risk being confined here to ride out the virus.
Voilà, Tuesday was the day.
With Grandma’s lace tablecloth supporting the ketubah, Charlotte and Blake were surrounded by love as they made their vows official.
While there were less than 12 people at the physical wedding, over 150 friends and family all over the world tuned in via live stream to watch. Abby put on multiple hats and was DJ and videographer to be able to broadcast this wondrous occasion for those that would have to wait until next March to celebrate with these two.
Thank goodness for technology.
For a couple of hours, everyone closed their minds to the intensity of the situation the world was facing. They instead chose joy and gratitude to have a moment like this to bring them all together in one place to celebrate the love of Charlotte and Blake.
Dashing as always, Charlotte walked down the aisle to meet her soon to be husband to their favorite tune, “All You Need is Love”. A new tradition of elbow bumps was exchanged as father gave his daughter away.
Short and sweet and overflowing with giggles, Charlotte and Blake became Mr. and Mrs. Parker.
That my friends, is how you do a 24-hour wedding.
Stay tuned for round 2 next March!
If you’re looking for an epic planner and wedding designer to create the royal day you deserve, please contact Blue Orchid Events today!