Love in the time of the Coronavirus
Ellie and Brett are one of the cutest couples you will ever meet. When I first met them, while shooting their Downtown Denver engagement session, I quickly knew that these two were perfect for each other. We sat and talked in the Terminal Bar at Union Station about mojitos, their travel plans, the best types of beers, and what to expect on their wedding day. I told them all the usual things I tell a couple to prepare for their wedding day: don’t worry about the timeline, I will definitely get photos of all your family and friends laughing and having fun, and we will absolutely make it back for cocktail hour to get a few drinks in after your couples’ session.
As we warmed up in the bar after shooting on that snowy February day, we had NO idea that those three aspects of their wedding day were probably going to be the only ones that seemed normal. Who knew that just days later, we wouldn’t even be allowed to photograph or have “normal” weddings?
While the new normal throughout February-June became face masks, social distancing, and Doomsday prepping, Ellie + Brett decided to take it upon themselves to have their own quarantine wedding. It may have had some unusual quirks: a Zoom wedding in Cheyenne, Wyoming because all the courthouses were closed in Colorado, an officiant dressed in pajamas performing the Zoom ceremony, a quick stop at Walmart to purchase a new dress shirt for Brett, pierogis for dinner at Ellie’s parents’ house after their Zoom wedding, and of course, popping champagne (in Ellie’s parents’ backyard).
But despite everything that now feels like a normal wedding day that I never would have imagined even months ago would feel that way, Ellie + Brett’s wedding day still felt normal in that you could feel all the love, their feelings for each other, and their excitement to marry each other and start their married life together.
Ellie and Brett have become two of my favorite people and I am excited about everything that their life holds! While weddings may be getting back to “normal” again soon, I feel blessed to have been able to photograph this time for them. While social distancing has pushed most people further apart, the distance seems to have brought the three of us closer together.