By Katie Loudermilk
Staff Writer
 
Most girls dream of a fairytale wedding. Although I was not obsessed over my future wedding, I did put a lot of effort into the planning. The one thing nothing could have prepared me for was COVID-19 crashing my special day.
My future husband, Montana Roberts, proposed on our one-year anniversary, June 9, 2019, at the church where we first met in Plant City, Fla. We decided to get married exactly one year later at the same church.
A year was the perfect amount of time for me to plan the wedding.
Once it was January 2020, all my invitations were sent, and I signed contracts for the caterer, venue, and wedding band. I felt at ease since everything seemed to fall into place. Little did I know what the following months would bring.
I heard of the virus slowly hitting the United States from the news, but I did not realize how quickly it would change our everyday lives.
I remember sitting in my Monday morning class in March and my professor broke the news that our classes will be moved to Zoom.
I was thinking this would last two weeks at the most, but my classmates and I never returned to in person classes for the remainder of the semester.
Once April came closer, I was getting several phone calls from family and friends about whether the wedding would still go on.
I was in denial about the virus lasting up to May. I truly believed everything will go back to normal within the month of April.
By the time May hit, the clock was ticking, and my June 9^th wedding would be here before we knew it.
Halfway through the month, my venue had to postpone the event.
My caterer and entertainment backed out as well.
More RSVP’s were coming in declining the invite due to the pandemic.
To add to the disappointment, our cruise for the Honeymoon was canceled.
I was very stressed because I had no idea what to tell guests with their hundreds of questions.
Montana and I decided to go on a mini vacation to Sanibel to get away from work and the wedding drama. My anxiety was off the charts and I desperately needed a break. After centering our focus on the importance celebrating our marriage, we agreed on a backup plan.
June 9^th approached, and our wedding finally came together.
We got married at our church and had 30 of our close family and friends, and I was able to wear my dress and be walked down the aisle by my dad.
Afterwards, we had cake and enjoyed each other’s company. For our honeymoon, we went to Miami for a long weekend at a private resort.
Montana and I made the most of it and if I had to, I’d do it all again.
Although I certainly didn’t get my dream wedding, I did get to marry my best friend in front of the people we care about, and COVID-19 doesn’t get to take away that.