Couple pushes through with wedding amid COVID-19 crisis

New normal. A glimpse of Jayson and Kara Lu’s wedding at the Sacred Heart Church. | Joseph Ong

CEBU CITY, Philippines— A Cebuano couple gave us a glimpse of a what weddings may look like under a new normal when they tied the knot on May 30, 2020, at the Sacred Heart Church along D. Jakosalem Street here, amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.

Jayson Lu and Kara Yu, both 30 years old, decided to push through with the wedding with just a few of their relatives present during this momentous occasion.

“The church requirements and license were already ready so we decided to push through with the ceremony rather than postpone it to a later date and have to go through the processing of the requirements all over again since a license has an expiry,” said Kara.

| Photo by Joseph Ong

The bride walks down the aisle with her parents. | Photo by Joseph Ong

Only ten people were inside the church to witness their wedding to comply with proper social distancing measures. Guests also wore face masks during the ceremony.

“We were planning to have a big wedding with all our relatives and invited friends present but because of this pandemic, we have to limit the number of guests present at the church. So for the ceremony only, the very important people were there,” she added.

Despite its simplicity, the wedding turned out successful for the couple.

The couple said their wedding would have not been possible if not for their suppliers, who also played a very big role on their wedding day.

Snoggie Reynes-Mata, the  wedding planner, said that it was not an easy task to pull it off, especially with the restrictions due to the community quarantine.

But with the help of colleagues like fashion designer Anthony Romoff, wedding photographer Joseph Ong, and make up artist Gari Son, the group managed to give the couple something worth remembering for the rest of their lives.

Romoff, who has been in the fashion industry for years, told CDN Digital that this wedding also gave those working in the fashion industry hope amid this pandemic.

“[This gives] hope to the fashion industry and also the workers working with the designers that there’s still work despite our situation. This is so that they won’t lose hope. And this is not just for designers but also for makeup artists, assistants of the makeup artist, photographers, events coordinators,  and lights and sounds,” he said. /bmjo