Brian Benson ’11 with his wife, Brittany.
Wedding Plans, Interrupted
Planning a wedding is in the details—the venue, caterer, flowers, music, guest list, just to name a few, all working together to help achieve the couple’s dream day. But what happens when a pandemic disrupts those plans? Two alumni share how they had to rethink their weddings and celebrate their day in a new way.
Brian Benson ’11 with his wife, Brittany.
Brooklyn Gathering
Brittany and I originally scheduled our wedding for September 19, 2020, in Cleveland, Ohio—Brittany’s hometown. We currently live in Brooklyn, N.Y.
We made the difficult decision in July to postpone our wedding until April 24, 2021. However, we still wanted to keep our original date of September 19 to officially get married.
Applying to get our marriage license in New York City was a unique experience. Since the city clerk’s office was closed, we had a Zoom call with a representative in order to get our paperwork completed. Luckily, it was a pretty smooth process, and we were excited to get married on our original date.
We had a very small wedding ceremony in Brooklyn Bridge Park with just our officiant, who is one of my best friends, and witnesses, who are all close friends of ours.
The weather was perfect, and we found a nice spot in the park with great views of Manhattan. After the ceremony, we had a champagne toast in the park and finished up the night with a rooftop celebration with cake and some friends.
Even though our wedding day was different than we originally planned, we made the best of it.
We look forward to gathering with all of our friends and family— hopefully—next year for a larger reception.
—Brian Benson ’11
Sarah Leach ’15 with her husband, Tom.
The Most Magical Day
Tom and I were supposed to get married on June 20, 2020, in Maine with 175 guests. Due to the gathering and travel restrictions, we were unable to have that wedding.
We were super bummed at first, and originally postponed our wedding to May 2021. I work as a registered nurse at a hospital and saw firsthand how horrible this virus could be. We made keeping our friends and family healthy our highest priority.
As the summer progressed, we became increasingly unsure if that large wedding next May could actually happen, and we were becoming increasingly unhappy about postponing our marriage.
We reevaluated our priorities in regards to our marriage and wedding and decided to have an intimate celebration with our closest friends and family who live locally.
We had a micro-wedding with 35 guests in New Hampshire on August 30, and it was the most magical day—way better than we could have ever dreamed of.
We had to change venues and so many details, but it ended up being very low stress for us and was exactly what we wanted and needed.
We don’t feel like we “missed out” on anything. Our celebration was as safe as possible, and everyone had a blast! We are so happy now and are the biggest believers of “everything works out in the end.”
—Sarah Leach ’15
Stonehill Alumni Magazine
Summer | Fall 2020