When COVID forces you to change your Spain Wedding back to the USA
If anyone was keeping count, we were supposed to be getting married in Spain in 261 days. While that number seems large, it became increasingly obvious how soon it would be here. 9 months people. For perspective, it’s about to be September, which means we are in month 9 of 2020 (THANK GOD). Who feels like it was Christmas 5 seconds and also 5 years ago? Yeah, 2020 is weird.
Anyway, we have made the hard decision to move our dream destination wedding back to the USA. (Cue the sad music and wine drinking). This was by far one of the hardest decisions a couple should ever have to make. We had written multiple blogs about all the amazing decisions we made in Spain including the incredible venue, caterer, photographer, and more.
There are a few major factors that went into this decision. #1 – Right now American’s cannot fly to Spain due to the restrictions. We have no idea when that will be lifted or if they would decide to put it back in place again before our wedding. #2 – Who would make the trip? After talking with friends and family, we were thinking only a small group would make the trip, and that wasn’t enough for us. #3 – Post-wedding quarantining. Could people not only come to Spain but afford to then quarantine for two weeks when they got home? Probably not. #4 – How long could we wait to make changes? Not much longer.
There was more, but that covers the major decisions. There were too many unknowns.
While we are sad, this is definitely the right decision for us and our family. We want those who we love the most to be able to be a part of this important day.
That being said, we are now in full blown stateside wedding planning! Nothing like starting again from the beginning.
Last December, right after we got engaged, we took a trip to Charlottesville, VA to start looking at venues. This was way before Spain was even an option. Jackie grew up going to this region, and I have a lot of family within driving distance of there. We both felt good about this being a central spot for all of our friends and family. After visiting a few spots, we found our favorite, CrossKeys Vineyard.
Photo: CrossKeys VIneyard
Photo: Ulocal.co
Photo: CrossKeys VIneyard
They were our first phone call and guess what? We got a date only 2 weeks off our original date, May 29th, 2021 will be our official wedding. We feel incredibly lucky that we were able to get a venue we absolutely love and the same time of year we wanted to get married. Go us!
Now comes even more decisions – photographer, videographer, florist, band, etc. It helps a bit that we know what we like but it feels a little like de-ja-vu.
We’re also going to plan a 1-year anniversary party in beautiful Barcelona. That will be a party worth waiting for.
Cheers to Chasing Our Compass!
Mandy & Jackie
