Here comes the wait; Engaged couples look for something new after COVID-19 cancels plans

Plans were made, dates were set, and invitations were sent. Couples who thought they would soon be saying, ‘I do’ are now finding their entire wedding may have to become something new.

Nathaniel Lewis and Hannah Juoni of La Crosse had dreams of a wedding on March 30. They have been engaged for two years and would have celebrated four years of being together on that exact day.

“I wouldn’t have had to remember anything,” Lewis joked.

A call from the courthouse Tuesday postponed their plans.

“We’re a little devastated right now,” Juoni said.

The courthouse said given the circumstances, the judge would not be available to perform the marriage.

Following the news of COVID-19, the couple realized within the last week that this could be a possibility. Suddenly, their family was not able to travel.

“I have bad luck, but I never thought something like this would happen,” Lewis laughed.

One silver lining is Lewis and Juoni only planned for a small gathering with family and friends. Everyone was going to bring a dish to pass, and they were set to grill out and celebrate.

“That’s at least one fortunate thing out of this entire circumstance,” Juoni said.

Steven Thompson of Brighton and Megan Rediske of Holmen were not so lucky. Set to be married on April 4^th, the couple has been quickly making adjustments.

When the state declared no groups of more than 50 people could gather, they thought they could still have the ceremony with the wedding party and immediate family.

“The next day, it came out that it was 10 or less, so that was a bit of a curveball,” Rediske said.

Not only was the number a concern, but a majority of the wedding party would have to travel. The best man is from Florida and the matron of honor lives in North Carolina.

“We have people all over, North Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota,” Rediske said. “Most of our wedding party were our college friends.”

Having been engaged for a year and a half, they still planned to be married on April 4 with only their parents invited.

“It is going to be very casual,” Rediske said. “Our intentions are to hopefully have a formal wedding and ceremony late July.”

The original venue they booked only had a couple of new dates available, one on June 13, and another in November. The man who was set to marry them is not available in June, so the couple is scratching that plan as well.

“Hopefully we can do it at the church we’re getting married at, but it is very small, so hopefully we can adjust somehow,” Rediske said.

She was not sure if they would receive any money back from the venue yet, and knew there were additional costs to come as they needed to send out new wedding invitations and repeat much of the process over again.

“The hardest part was waiting for all of the people to send in RSVPs,” Rediske said. “Now everyone is going to have to RSVP again.”

She ordered her flowers in bulk from Costco and waited on hold for more than an hour to cancel them. Luckily, her sister was going to make the cake, and they have a strong relationship with the woman who was going to make donuts for guests to enjoy as a treat.

Despite the changes and frustrations, Rediske holds a positive outlook on the situation.

“At the end of the day, we will still be married,” Rediske said. “In the long run, this isn’t the most important thing that could ever happen to us. It is not the end of the world. This is going to pass, and it will all just be a funny memory in the future.”

Meanwhile, Joseph Davis and Kaitlyn Lance of West Salem were actually pretty happy with how their plans changed.

“We decided to just kind of elope, and then we are going to have a celebration later this year,” Davis said. “There is no stress. We are just really relaxed about the whole thing, and we are just happy that we can get married despite the circumstances. All things considered, it will be pretty fun.”

The couple even changed their wedding date to April 1 but clarified that it was not because of April Fool’s Day. They ‘accidentally’ started dating three years ago on that date.

“We posted about it on Facebook, and I looked at the date,” Lance said. “I wondered how many people were going to think we were joking, and Joseph proposed to me on April 1 as well.”

Davis said he tried to recreate their first date for the proposal, but April Fools was also Easter Sunday in 2018, so several places were closed.

“I guess this year won’t be much different on our wedding day with a lot of things closing,” Lance said laughing.

They were booked at the Concordia Ballroom in La Crosse, but now they are scrapping that idea and planning on a backyard pool party later this year. Davis and Lance just bought a house a few months ago that came with a pool and a hot tub, so the couple is looking forward to going all out on the festivities when they can.

“From one bride to all of the other brides out there who are going through similar emotions, it was a hard decision at first,” Lance said. “It was great because the community supported us. Our friends and family understand. We just want to make sure everybody is happy and healthy out there.”