Love Was Not Canceled: How Four Couples Said "I Do" During The Pandemic

Kelsey Scott, an actress and screenwriter, and Malik B. El-Amin, a senior finance manager, met in August 2019 and were engaged by that December. They planned to seal the deal on their whirlwind romance by exchanging vows at a rooftop wedding ceremony in Beverly Hills. Though the quarantine brought plans for their dream nuptials to a halt, their desire 
to start a life together as husband and wife never wavered. They shopped around for hotel venues from which to host 
a Zoom wedding but, underwhelmed by the choices, decided to say “I do” from their living room. After some rearranging of furniture and a few floral arrangements, their home altar was complete. The cameras on two iPhones, an iPad and a laptop were all rolling to offer as full a view of the proceedings as possible, and Malik’s sister was present to manage all the technology. “When everything came to pass, it was perfect,” says Kelsey. “We were home, getting married in our space. We were in control of the elements.”

After their virtual ceremony was complete, the couple closed their devices and hit the town with their photographer, Maya Darasaw, for an epic photoshoot. Since they didn’t have a wedding reception afterward, the after-party became an adventure around Los Angeles, including a stop at the Last Bookstore, in downtown L.A., where they’d had their first date. Toward the end of their shoot, the twosome encountered a Black Lives Matter rally. The protesters, noticing Kelsey and Malik decked out in their wedding-day garb, rallied around them in power and love. Looking back on the unforeseen circumstances that led to their Zoom wedding, Malik wouldn’t change a thing. “No one wishes for a global pandemic to occur,” he says. “Having said that I cannot imagine any other wedding for us to have had.”

Ashley Shannet Sears, a 34-year-old flight attendant, and Enrique Sears, a 36-year-old project manager, got engaged in January 2019 and had their sights set on a 2020 wedding. When the coronavirus crisis hit, Ashley was forced to take a leave of absence from flying due to her asthma. Now relying solely on Enrique’s income, the couple realized that their original 100-guest fete might not happen in the way they had imagined. “Our main focus was our health,” says Ashley. 
“We had to put the wedding on the back burner.” As fate would have it, the bride got a major blessing thanks to Jewel Odeyemi, founder of Touch of Jewel Events & Designs. The renowned Dallas-based luxury-wedding planner teamed up with local vendors to gift one lucky couple a wedding worth $20,000. Ashley and Enrique sent in their video submission, which stood apart from 
all the rest. “Their story touched us,” Odeyemi says. “What really did it for us were the facts that Ashley was an essential worker and that Enrique couldn’t bring his family in the Bahamas here to celebrate because of travel restrictions.”

Thanks to Odeyemi’s vast industry connections, she was able to pull together a gorgeous fairy-
tale ceremony at the Westin Dallas Downtown Hotel. Vendors poured in with offers to donate everything from lighting to catering. All expenses were covered, and the wedding was livestreamed for loved ones who couldn’t attend. “If I could do our wedding all over again, I would do it exactly 
the same way,” says the happy bride. “Everybody got to experience the moment, and it made me focus more on our love and what getting married is truly about.”

On May 25, 2019, 31-year-old social worker Clarissa Johnson and 30-year-old digital media manager, Gordon Rosenberg got engaged in front of the Art 
Institute of Chicago. They had planned to get married there on May 24, 2020, with all their family and friends present, but things didn’t turn out as they’d hoped. With coronavirus advisories changing every day, they considered moving their spring wedding to July—and then again to May 2021. “But we did not want to wait another year to celebrate our love, after being together for ten years,” says 
Clarissa. “We decided to get married in our apartment on the original date.”

Clarissa had already put a gown on hold, but since all retail shops had shut down, there was no way to pick it up in time for her big day. Luckily, she had fallen in love with another dress she saw online. “I ordered [it] and it arrived a week later,” says the bride. “[The dress] fit perfectly!” 
It took a village to pull together the ceremony, which was held on the roof of the couple’s apartment: Clarissa’s mother and Gordon’s father officiated, while the best man, Chandler, was on Zoom duty. Afterward the newlyweds were greeted with mimosas, doughnuts and cheers from friends and family who drove through with congratulatory signs. The duo’s “reception” outfits were jerseys honoring Gordon’s favorite player, the late, great Kobe Bryant. His number, 24, was beautifully symbolic of the nuptials date. “Even though it wasn’t exactly as planned,” Clarissa says, “our wedding was perfect.”

Pastor and regional trainer Katrese Kirk McKenzie, 38, and computer programmer DeAnthony McKenzie, 40, met on the dating app Bumble back in 2017. Arranging a ceremony this year, however, wasn’t as easy as swiping right. The couple had planned to fly their entire family from the Midwest to New Orleans—a city they find magical—for a destination affair. Though a few venues caught their eye, DeAnthony persuaded his wife to wait before making a deposit. “I just didn’t have a good feeling about the way things were trending [with] the pandemic,” he says. Unfortunately, his suspicions were confirmed as the nationwide shutdowns went into effect in March. With mass-gathering rules changing by the day, they decided their safest bet was pivoting to a micro wedding in Illinois, where they live. The McKenzies wanted a spacious yet charming venue, and Katrese knew just the place: the 
Old Baum Church, in the town of Waterloo.

This historic church, with its open roof and windows, combined the old-world feel of New Orleans with ample square footage needed for social distancing. Luckily, the church was available on July 11—a date too lucky to pass up. With just one month to decide on wedding attire, food and decor, the duo miraculously pulled together 
a dream day that exceeded all expectations. “I’m just so happy we did it the way we did,” says Katrese. “If there’s something we learned from COVID-19, it’s to not take life for granted. To hold the people you love so much closer and tighter. There was no reason to wait.”