explore

WELCOME TO THE

Katie Jaynes Photography Blog

Weddings

Portraits

Engagements

Personal

Welcome to the blog. Here you're going to find everything from heart-warming marriage stories, to beautiful images of our clients. We want to invite you into our lives.

Wedding

April 22, 2020

What It’s Like to Have a Zoom Wedding

Image from Tanner Burge Photography

COVID-19 Wedding

During COVID-19, there have been a lot of people trying to make some hard decisions about what they should do about their Spring or Summer wedding. Do you postpone for a later date? Do you have a small wedding at your home? Do you elope with just you, your fiancé, your officiant, and your photographer?

Well, one option we’ve seen is to have a very intimate wedding and to live-stream the ceremony for all of the guests who couldn’t be there. But, seeing someone else doing and doing it yourself are two VERY different things.

Image from Tanner Burge Photography

We were fortunate enough to know someone who had a Zoom Wedding! (It doesn’t have to be Zoom, it can be any video conferencing tech).

Lindsay went to Anderson University with Mitchel and I. She was also a Communications Major, which at a small college means she and Mitchel had several classes together.

1. Tell us about you and your husband and how you met?

We met at our old apartment complex. The apartments held a Thirsty Thursday mixer every week where residents would mix and mingle over some drinks. We hit it off immediately!

2. What made you decide to go ahead and have the wedding instead of postponing?

We had been dating for 2 and a half years and did not want to wait any longer to start our lives together as a married couple! We had a virtual Zoom wedding on our original wedding day so our immediate family was able to see it! It was just Chris, myself, our pastor and photographer in our new house. We are still going to have a big ceremony/reception with all our family and friends at the end of July! So I’ll still be able to wear my wedding dress (which Chris has yet to see!) and that day will be one big party with lots of dancing!

pictures on a phone of a zoom wedding

Image from Tanner Burge Photography

3. What were the weeks leading up to your wedding like? What kind of planning were you doing for your wedding?

Not going to lie, it was pretty stressful. Along with nailing down the little details of the wedding (signage, place settings, ect) trying to decide how to handle the whole coronavirus situation definitely amped up the stress level as we were trying to be considerate of everyone involved in our big day. But it was something Chris and I prayed about together and God provided a solution for us – to put our family/friends safety first and postpone our big ceremony/reception to a later date when we can all gather together and celebrate!

4. Tell us about the wedding day and how it was different than originally planned? What changes did you make to ensure safety? 

couple cutting cake after zoom wedding

Image from Tanner Burge Photography

Our wedding day was so incredibly special! Even though we did not get to experience the “getting ready” process with our wedding party, it was still such a great day! We will get to enjoy that aspect of the wedding come July! We still kept tradition by not seeing each other until our living room ceremony began. Even though it was just 5 people in our home, we had hand sanitizer and hand wipes sitting out for them and our photographers actually wore face masks! We wanted them to feel comfortable.

5. Once it comes time for you to walk down the aisle, what’s going through your head?

“Holy crap, I’m getting married to my best friend!” Is what was going through my head LOL. Before the ceremony, I spent a few mins just thanking God for creating us to be together. Walking down our living room “aisle” to say yes to forever was so surreal and I could not stop smiling!

6. What advice would you give to an engaged couple who is trying to decide if they should have the wedding (with virtual guests) or postpone?

Image from Tanner Burge Photography

You do you, boo! Y’all do what works best for you both. We had such an incredible, intimate ceremony with our virtual wedding – we would recommend it! At the end of the day, it’s about God bringing the two of you together to become one.

 

7. Looking back on your wedding now, how does it feel?

Any regrets or changes you would make? Feels amazing!! No regrets here! Our family and friends showered us with their love and support for our decision to have a Zoom wedding. Also, our local family and friends surprised us with a wedding caravan right outside our house! After the short and sweet ceremony, we heard a bunch of cars honking outside and they wouldn’t stop! So, we opened our front door and to our surprise our family and friends were driving down our street, honking and yelling, “Congrats!” to us from a safe distance away. They all made signs that they hung out the windows of their cars! Chris and I felt so loved.

 

Bride and Groom having a zoom wedding

Image from Tanner Burge Photography

 

Linday and Chris’ wedding was very different than they imagined, but seeing the smiles on their faces, it’s obvious they made the perfect decision and they are still going to enjoy a party with all of their friends!

Their wedding was so unique and interesting, it was even featured in a news story – if you want to check it out, here ya go!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *