It seems love wins in the end, even when COVID-19 seems to be keeping us all apart.
A local family hosted a special social distancing wedding for Marshall and Hailie Nelson last Saturday at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park.
Marshall's mom Jeanene Gruber, who volunteers at the park as the organizer of the High Teas, arranged the wedding.
"It was the perfect location, because the park is closed, so we were able to control from the gate," she said. "They were so happy."
Photo: Jennifer StevensonThe nuptials were originally scheduled for June 13 in Prince George, where the couple now live, but the event was cancelled by their winery venue due to the pandemic.
"We thought, 'You know what, they have their marriage certificate and licence and everything... let's just do it before things get shut down more," she said.
It took 10 days to pull it together and decorations and flowers were bought from local stores. Gruber made some decorations from old curtains.
Her husband built the arch, her sister made the cake.
Pepe's Chophouse did the food, Nutmeg and Grey provided greenery — all observing social distancing and health authority rules, she said.
"It was really special and just about them," she said.
The ceremony was on the lawn in front of the Tea House and the dinner was in the tea room.
Gruber placed all the tables and chairs six feet apart so the nine guests could social distance.
"It was way more special and it looked way prettier than we thought it would," she said. "The weather was perfect. It was fun to pull it off so quickly."
The guests included Gruber and her husband Aaron, who volunteers on the Park's mini-rail, Hailie's parents, two witnesses, the marriage commissioner and the photographer.
She acknowledged it was a little bittersweet in that some of the guests were right here close by, but due to COVID-19, they kept the guest list small.
Other guests, including Gruber's other three sons, watched the ceremony by Zoom video conferencing.
"Everybody in their homes were all dressed up," she said.
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