On Monday, I got a new email on a thread that I started a month ago. The subject line was harmless — “notes from 2/20 walkthrough” — but the latest message unraveled 13 months of planning in eight words.
“We’re no longer comfortable proceeding with this event.”
I never play favorites with my couples but damn, I liked these two. They were kind and caring and very much in love.
I couldn’t wait for their wedding on Saturday. Neither could they.
***
On Wednesday, their florist texted me.
“Did you know that the photographer wouldn’t let them reschedule their wedding?” she wrote. “That’s why they’re doing a last-minute elopement today in his backyard.”
I read her text and closed my eyes. I felt suddenly exhausted.
No, I hadn’t known. Despite every impulse in me, I had walked away on Monday. It’s what the couple wanted when they told me their new plan: Still get married on Saturday but outside with only their parents and wedding party present. There was a particular spot that they hoped to visit again.
“We appreciate your offer to help, but at this point we’d sort of rather just go at it solo,” they wrote. “It just seems easier.”
So little is easy right now that the very least I could offer them was this. Of course, I told them. Of course. Whatever you need.
They had to cancel and all I could give them were kind words, a refund, and a card that’s still sitting on my kitchen counter because I no longer regularly leave my house.
***
On Friday, I let myself imagine their wedding.
I saw the couple under a tree, sunlight streaming through the leaves as winter gave way to spring. I saw them smile at each other in that way I have seen countless newlyweds smile: as if they’re listening to a beautiful song that only the two of them can hear.
I saw them exchange their vows and make their promises. I saw them do the one thing that hadn’t changed even when everything else did: marry each other.
In my head, I wished them joy. I wished them luck. I whispered the truth that I had only been able to tell them over email: If there are two people whom I’ve ever met who are more ready to get married, it is you two. Throughout this whole damn thing, you have kept your eye on what truly matters and that is your love for one another.
Because while the wedding was canceled, the marriage was not.