When We Got Married - Part Two

Our “Now We’re Married!” Wedding

You can see our wedding photos here and watch a recording of our wedding service here

On July 19th 2020, Nathan and I married one another in front of our friends and family. This was thirty-seven days after our originally planned wedding date, but as Nathan joked in his wedding speech, “You can never plan too many weddings!”. Since our initial bookings included a ceremony and reception in England in June, and another reception in Canada in July, we had to completely reimagine our wedding following 2020’s travel bans and gathering limitations. We ended up marrying in a rented tea house, wearing clothes we’d ordered online (me) or bought with "Sorry-we-don’t-have-your-suit-ready-yet” store credit (Nate), with guests on Zoom and guests in the room. Against all odds, it was wonderful.

There were a few values that felt really important to Nate and I in creating our new wedding. The first was family and bringing people in. Another was God; maintaining a Church-service-feel to enact dedicating our relationship to God. Another was to have our guests get to know us better as a couple, since we met and dated in a city separate from where we each grew up. I like to think that we created something really special, really sacred, really intimate, and really beautiful (with special thanks to Nate’s Mum and sisters who foraged the most abundant flower displays).

The Shape of the Day

We planned our wedding to predominately accommodate the two timezones of our families: Canada and England. Our wedding service was at 11am (6pm GMT) so that my young nephews could watch us marrying (AKA watching “Big Nate” officially become their uncle) before their bedtime. Afterwards, over in Canada, we paused for an hour until 1pm (8pm GMT) so that my siblings could put their boys to bed and could get their dinner ready. Nate and I Facetimed my Mum and Dad then, whilst our guests helped set up ready for lunch. Then we in Canada, and my family in England via Zoom, sat at tables together over a plate of food and abundant wine and bubbly. We ate, played games and shared speeches - one from my sister, from Nate’s best man, from each of our parents and from each of us. Then we in Canada said bye to my family (11pm GMT) and ate cake. Afterwards, Nate and I drove off into the sunset (not literally, it was 4pm) to begin our honeymoon in Banff.

The People of the Day

Our wedding day was “all hands on deck” as we imagined ways for our immediate family to be involved. Since we postponed our big wedding receptions to next year (fingers crossed), we chose not to live-steam our service but rather to have it be more interactive. Our Zoom guests introduced themselves to one another before we began, describing their timezone, location and relationship to us. My brother-in-law (an Anglican minister) led us through the Wedding Service via Zoom. My nephews made some videos for us to watch, and my brother recorded the sermon for us. Nate’s sisters led our worship, prayers and a reading. Nate’s best man babysat our wedding rings, and my close friend Ainsley (who drove to Central Alberta from Vancouver, what a champ) emceed the service for us. After the meal, Nate and I did a drive-by whilst a bunch of his friends were waiting along the roadside with balloons and signs.

The Tech of the Day

For those of you interested in our tech set-up, we definitely spent most of our headspace planning this aspect of the service. It was really important to me that my family and our guests could watch us seamlessly. In reality, this was pretty difficult to ensure. We bought a data box to hotspot data into the teahouse venue, overriding their basic Wifi. We set up a TV screen on stage with us in lieu of where the Minister would stand in a Church hall, and used the screen to show the Minister, as well as screen-share pre-recored stuff and show our guests who were watching. We set up a DSLR camera on a tripod to record the service for Zoom, and a Tascam recorded for the audio input. Finally, we had Ainsley oversee the running of the Zoom, alongside another friend who oversaw the tech during the service. They pulled it all off on the day whilst Nate and I got distracted with marrying one another. It all ended up working really well.