Corona Wedding

In the midst of all this madness, two people still got married.

This year has been… different. That’s probably the best way anyone can describe 2020. When I first proposed to HP in Montreal a year ago, I had no idea the obstacles and difficulty the following year would bring. I should’ve known what to expect from the year when Kobe Bryant died in January, four days before my birthday, but I had a May wedding to plan and nothing was going to keep me from it. Murphy’s Law is “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong”, and go wrong things did. In March, the Corona Virus killed thousands of people across the planet and the world was essentially shut down. We prayed that things would get better by May but that was just us being hopeful and foolish at the same time. I’m writing this in the middle of August and things still aren’t back to normal. People are still getting sick and dying. Cops and protestors are still fighting over injustices. There are still riots in the streets. Confederate flags are still being waved proudly over peoples homes. Sports are being played without spectators. People are still without jobs. Schools are hesitant to open. Food shortages, coin shortages, and Trump is still our president… And in the midst of all this madness, two people still got married.

The morning of the wedding, I felt like I could puke. My nerves were at an all time high. After having to postpone the wedding from May to August, I had three more months to think about my life, and what it would now all mean. I love HP, but now, being married to her meant I was responsible for her for the rest of my life. Two people would become one. Where ever she went, I was expected to go. If she was sick, I was expected to take care of her. If she was in danger, I was expected to make sure she was safe. FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE! Granted, I did these things anyway. But as a “Boyfriend”. Meaning, if I didn’t want to go somewhere she went, I could say I don’t feel like it and she would be forced to make an excuse for me. If she was sick, I could stay in another room and avoid catching whatever she had. If she was in danger, I would still do everything I can to protect her, that never changes as a man. But as a husband, all her problems become my problems no matter how big or how small, and my number one job in life is to see her smile, regardless of my own selfish needs. That’s A LOT to live up to. So it’s understandable why I would want to puke just hours before that all became my reality. On top of that, Murphy’s Law was still highly in effect.

Do you know how difficult it is to get other people with other lives organized and on the same page? Groomsmen, bridesmaids, parents, and every cousin and friend in between. I was getting married at 4:30pm but my mom and aunt wanted to go to the mall at 11am for some reason and I had to be back at the mall to pick them up. I wasn’t going to tell my mother no, so there I was driving her and my aunt to a mall the morning of my wedding. Come to find out, my soon to be father in law was also at this mall. Also, one of my groomsman was at this mall with the photographer scheduled to come take pictures of us all getting ready back at the hotel at 12:30! But everything worked out. Fast forward to the wedding and the best man disappears. Just cant find him, 5 mins before we all scheduled to walk out. Kid is no where to be found and not answering his phone. But again, everything works out. Then during the wedding, as we’re reading vows, there’s a drone. I didn’t order a drone. Heather didn’t order a drone. Nonetheless, there’s a drone. HUMMING. Come to find out its our photographer. Annoyed, but he got good pics and again, everything worked out. Then a text during cocktail hour. 6 people don’t feel comfortable with the crowd. A whole table collectively decide to just breakout because of health concerns. Fine. Annoyed, but the show goes on. Move that table and again, everything works out. Now to deal with what kind of party this will be. HP did not wait her whole life to have a party where no one dances, people don’t talk or mingle, and are generally afraid. Besides that, this was an interracial wedding with people from two different worlds so would these people even get along? Enter Open Bar…

I’ve been to a lot of weddings. Some great. Some well… less than great. I can honestly say, my wedding was LIT. Legit seemed like a movie. You can tell that people were TIRED of being confined in their homes with nothing to do. People were meeting and interacting with each other. Laughing, joking, and yes, even dancing. Like a lot of dancing. Legit afraid we were going to get shut down. One of my new cousins even grabbed the mic and started rapping Salt and Peppa lyrics. People were dance battling. The DJ was teaching line dancing. Uptown Baby came on and everyone from The Bronx started throwing up X’s. Its been more than 2 weeks and no one thankfully got sick, but during these times, that kind of party was NOT supposed to be happening. But it did. And it was awesome. About a week later we got our photos back and honestly, wedding looked like a dream. HP was happy which as I said before now meant, so was I. The Corona Virus was now apart of our story. Something we faced. Something we dealt with. And ultimately, something we defeated. It slowed us down but could not stop us or our wedding. Now our honeymoon.. that’s a different story. Covid stopped that lol.

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO ATTENDED! WE COULDN’T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU BRAVE SOULS! WE LOVE YOU!! -Mr and Mrs Jenkins