Sudbury couple Ashton Labonte and Kyle Sasseville were supposed to get married April 20 in the Dominican Republic with about 80 friends and family watching.
But like it has with so many aspects of life, the COVID-19 pandemic interfered with those plans, and they had to cancel their sunny destination wedding.
Undeterred, the couple had a wedding of sorts April 20 anyway, although it was nothing like their more-elaborate original plans.
They made their own wedding cake — the confection took them the better part of a day to create — ordered take out food from a local restaurant, put on their wedding dress and suit, and exchanged rings and vows in the backyard.
“We just had a symbolic ceremony between just the two of us, where we just exchanged our vows, we exchanged our rings and we told each other basically why we wanted to be with each other for the rest of our lives,” Labonte said.
Labonte's parents, who are self-isolating with the couple, were in attendance, as were Sasseville's parents — watching from a safe distance, thanks to the pandemic.
They aren’t legally married, though, as the City of Greater Sudbury is not issuing marriage licenses or conducting civil ceremonies at the moment due to COVID-19.
Labonte — who has been with Sasseville for eight years, and now considers herself married, at heart, anyway — said they now plan to get legally married on their one-year anniversary and have a 2021 reception in town.
The bride said there was a bit of a “grieving process” after deciding to cancel their original plans, which had involved more than two years of work.
But she said the quiet, personal wedding was meaningful.
“For us, it was kind of nice to just have our moment together, just between the two of us,” Labonte said.
She encourages other couples in the same situation to follow their example.
Labonte and Sasseville are far from the only couple who have had to postpone or cancel their nuptials because of COVID-19.
When Sudbury.com put a call out about the topic, we received an outpouring of more than 100 emails and Facebook comments.
Karleigh Farnel and Dustin Hirshfeld are another disappointed Sudbury couple. They've been together for nearly 11 years, and have two daughters together, aged four and eight.
Farnel said they've been toying with getting married for years, and finally decided to plan a 100-guest backyard wedding for Aug. 15, much to the delight of their young daughters, who were to be flower girls.
The bride was in the process of sending out invitations when she realized the summer wedding was a no-go due to the pandemic.
Farnel said they had put down deposits for tents, flowers, photographers and more. She said they now risk losing their deposits.
Rescheduling their wedding is a challenge because with so many other couples also rebooking with event vendors, there are very few open dates.
“We're devastated, honestly we are,” she said. “I feel a little numb. So much bad stuff is happening in the world and people are sick, businesses are risking having to close down, which is heartbreaking.
“We're just trying to be positive about (postponing or cancelling the wedding) and just remember that we're happy that we are healthy and safe. There's obviously bigger issues in the world, but it is devastating in its own right.”
Patsy Parrotta, owner of local floral boutique Bella Flora, said she's been busy working with couples who have had to postpone their weddings, trying to help them find alternate dates.
“These girls book a year in advance for everything that they want,” she said. “I've had a lot of people cancel and reschedule. The only problem with that is a lot of times we've already booked into next year with other brides.
“It's finding a place where we can put them that all their vendors are available. It gets kind of tricky.”
She said her business is taking a financial hit due to the pandemic thanks to cancelled proms, graduations and weddings — summer is a popular time of year for weddings.
“We've lost a lot,” Parrotta said. “We really count on our weddings for the summer.”
By the way, if you'd like to support a local business, Parrotta suggests ordering flowers for Mother's Day, which is coming up Sunday, May 10. Bella Flora offers curbside pickup and delivery. Visit bellaflora.ca.
