Our Virtual Wedding Day

The concept of a virtual wedding was never how Craig and I would have imagined we would get married.

But once the news of COVID-19 got worse and we were told to shelter-in-place, there was nothing we could do to even avoid the news and we had to postpone our wedding. We had to put our vision on hold and were really sad. We were about a month and a half out to our wedding day and I just had my first dress fitting and my feelings of excitement and anticipation turned into feelings of anger, frustration, annoyance, fear - a lot all jumbled together. A feeling that my right to have “our day” was lost. “Our day” was taken from us. It felt unfair. Craig and I have been in and attended so many weddings that I felt it was unfair that the “one day” we chose couldn’t happen in the timing we had planned.

And at the same time, we had heavy feelings of anxiety and worry for the safety of our friends and family. We didn’t want to have our party where our friends, family and vendors have to worry about getting sick or staying clear of one another. So for the safety of our family, friends and vendors, we knew postponing the wedding was the right thing to do. No question about it. Our wedding party had to wait.

However, Craig and I didn’t want to let what’s happening in the world right now stop us from getting married. So we decided to get married on paper to make it official. Our original plan was to go to the Alameda County Recorder’s Office and get married by a random judge with our very good friends David and Becky as our witnesses. But as we informed our pastor about getting married by a rando judge, he said he could marry us. The thought never crossed our mind until we talked to him and we are so thankful we made the decision to take our wedding virtual.

Within 2 weeks, we had date set and coordinated the logistics of our virtual wedding. 2 weeks of planning vs. the original 9 months of planning we had for our original wedding day. The new date we set was March 28, 2020 and it was one of the best days of our lives.

Though in full transparency, the best day of my life came with a few of the hardest days leading up to the wedding day. I had more feelings of anxiety, embarrassment, sadness that we would be getting married virtually vs. the wedding party we had planned. I broke down crying and wept for a few days. Sad that we weren’t getting married the way we originally planned. Sad that life wasn’t normal. Sad that my close friends and family couldn’t be with us.

But on March 28th, I married my life partner and best friend, Craig. I’m so thankful to have Craig by my side through all this and now to be able to call him my husband. Our wedding ceremony was a 32 minute Zoom ceremony with our immediate family and bridal party and we got to have our day. We got to have more than we could have ever imagined and are so thankful for our friends and family who celebrated and helped us make it come to life. What was really great about our wedding day was that we got to experience things on our day that we probably wouldn’t have been able to fully enjoy on our initial plan. Some examples:

Craig and I got to enjoy time together
- From planning, set-up, getting ready and after the ceremony - we were able to experience our day together and be fully present with one another.
Being able to eat and enjoy the food
- Our good friends used Caviar to order the Lao Table special from Farmhouse Thai for our lunch, coordinated a homemade wedding cake from our friend Susan Yeh’s Bakeshop, and brought over champagne and locally made wine for us to enjoy. We feasted like royalty the entire day and enjoyed every bite!
Hired an affordable videographer
- Zoom Pro - $15/month
Shared an intimate experience with our bridal party and immediate family
- In typical weddings, guests view the wedding ceremony looking at the bride and groom’s back. But our guests got to see both views - one from the traditional angle from behind, but we also had another setup so they were able to see our faces up close and personal. In addition, everyone dressed up and we felt their presence from afar. The furthest guest came from Portugal - my best friend, Kelsey!
Wedding dinner was catered by our favorite restaurant, Izakaya Rintaro!
- We would have loved for Rintaro to cater our 200 person wedding, but we couldn’t afford it. They started making takeout bento boxes once shelter-in-place started, so we were able to enjoy them on the night of our wedding day! So it was basically like Rintaro catered for our wedding. :) Thanks Chef Sylvan and team!
I got to edit my own wedding photos
- Thankful for our friends David and Becky who were our wedding planners, coordinators, AND photographers! If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have our special photos below and I am so thankful I got to edit them after.

Our virtual wedding day was great. Seriously, looking back, I wish I could tell my past self that things would be ok. Even when life felt like it is working against us and everything felt like it was at a halt, life continued to move forward because we chose it to. Marriage doesn’t mean that there has to be a grand wedding party. Nor does marriage stop at the wedding. Marriage is a commitment between two people who love one another and I am so thankful for technology, our families and friends, to allow Craig and myself to make our commitment to God and one another through our virtual ceremony.

And this doesn’t mean our party won’t happen! We still plan to have our wedding party. We love our friends and family and can’t wait to celebrate in person - to dance, to drink, to laugh till our stomachs hurt and enjoy the company of each other. We know that day will come and are ok that it’s not now. It’s something we can look forward to after things settle down.

Most importantly, we thank God for all of this - our relationship, marriage, friends and family. We hope our story can provide some joy and hope during this time. Romans 8:31-39 was shared with us during our ceremony and I want to end on this passage to remind myself and the world that nothing can separate us from God’s Love.

Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”[a]) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[Play the music and enjoy scrolling through our wedding day photos below!]

Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

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