Cocktail Attire Adults Only UPDATE 2024: I know what you’re thinking: But didn’t they already get married? Like, four years ago? Why yes, yes we did. I’ll explain. It was around this time four years ago that Meg and I started sending out our wedding invitations. We delighted in checking the mail each day to see the responses start to come in. Then, on Saint Patrick’s Day, two months to the day of our May 17th wedding date, the world shut down. As the big day approached, with our wedding venue closed and no way to gather safely in the way that we had hoped and planned, we decided to improvise. That Tuesday morning before our Sunday wedding date, I woke with one thought only: I want to get married this Sunday. And so, over lunch, I dropped into the conversation as casually as possible a question for Meg: What if we saw if our officiant Heath would be available for a quick phone call on the big day. “So get married, like, over the phone?” was her reply. She, as ever, wasn’t wrong. The next morning, Wednesday for those of you keeping score at home, I woke with that same thought only: I want to get married this Sunday. The phone plan had fallen flat, and rightly so. I knew to really sell this thing properly, I’d need to hone my pitch. And so that’s what I did. I slipped out of the bed, slunk out the back door and mowed the lawn. I messaged our officiant Heath and my best man David to make sure they would both be in town. That day, over lunch, I launched my offense once more, but with renewed purpose. What if we got together in the backyard? I said. Just our officiant, best man, maid and matron of honor? We could spread out like a baseball diamond: everybody twenty feet apart, and us in the middle like on the pitcher’s mound: there, between the pecan tree and the pine, where the hammock now swings. Meg said, it’s so funny you should say that. The reason she’d slept in while I was up early mowing the lawn was because she’d stayed up late watching the “Niagara” episode of The Office—the one where Jim and Pam have to improvise on their wedding day. Meg was in. We vowed to get as married as we could. And so that’s what we did. A quick, five-minute ceremony, complete with “I do’s.” I cued up the music on a bluetooth speaker from my phone in my suit jacket pocket. We danced to “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” afterward on that same speaker. Someone popped some bubbles. Then everyone went home, safe and sound. Meg’s mother’s dress was still with the seamstress. The rings were still with the jeweler, and as far as we knew the probate court downtown was closed anyway, but it didn’t matter, because that day we had done it. We had gotten as married as we could. But we knew, then and every day since then, that someday we would get to have the wedding day we had always dreamed of, celebrating with all of you. We have had to postpone our wedding five times since then. Most of these were for predictable reasons of health and safety—all but the most recent time, when, again on Saint Patrick’s Day, we learned we were having a baby boy. And so that last time we postponed was for the best reason of all: our son. Even back then, we knew how much he wanted to be here as our ring bearer. But he was going to need some time to get here: about nine months, give or take. And so, these four years later, we thank you for your patience. And we say once more, with renewed resolve, purpose, and most of all, joy: We want to get married this Sunday. We cannot wait to see you there. Let’s do this. UPDATE 2021: Hello! We hope you all are doing well. As you may have guessed, we are in fact rescheduling our wedding, one full year again, to May 15th 2022. We are hoping that that will be enough time for us all to be able to gather safely as we had originally intended. Till then, stay safe and healthy, and we’ll look forward to seeing all you lovely people in 2022! Love, Paul & Meg UPDATE (9/5): Hello! As many of you know, we had rescheduled our wedding to take place today. Just in case it wasn’t clear, we’ve decided to reschedule again. We’re now looking at May 16th, 2021, almost exactly a year to the day from our original date. This will be for the best. We were keeping this next part to ourselves, but seeing as this is the second time we’ve had to reschedule, we’d like to let you all know that… WE DID IT! Not knowing how soon we’d be able to have the wedding we’d planned, we got married anyway! We just didn’t want to wait. We still plan on having the event we’d planned for our special day just as soon as we are able—ceremony, reception and all—and we cannot wait to celebrate with all of you. Fingers crossed for May 2021! Love, Paul & Meg UPDATE (4/17): Hello, everyone! Just a quick update to keep everyone posted. After some deep introspection and reflection, we have decided that, though it pains us terribly to face facts and admit this, quite frankly, and there’s no easy way to say this, but here goes: We need to talk about your dance moves. Now, it’s not all of you, but we’ve thought the matter over and feel that—for some of you, that is—those moves could use some work. We have deliberated, paced the floor, and hemmed and hawed, and could not avoid the hard truth that these moves are truly not up to snuff and simply will not pass muster. Not to worry, though. We’re giving you some extra time to brush up. That’s because… We are officially rescheduling our wedding for (drumroll please…) ***Sunday, May16th, 2021*** Same venue. Same everything. Just a year later. Please mark your calendars and save the date! We hope that you're all doing well. We love you and can't wait to celebrate with you soon. We thought about going the whole “It is with heavy hearts” route, but the truth is that if our hearts are heavy, it is only because they are so full. Full of love for each other, full of concern for everyone who has been affected by this situation beyond the mere rescheduling of a wedding, and full of the profound desire to see all of you, dearly beloved, in a time when we can truly celebrate and share all the joy that you have brought into our lives. We don’t know what September will look like. We are hoping that those extra months will give everyone enough time to get back to a point where we can have the gathering we’ve envisioned all along. It is a space in which we can laugh and hug and dance and experience the elation and the joy that the occasion calls for. When we finally do this, we plan to do it up right. On the one hand, this is an exciting thing to look forward to. On the other, we do not want this event to cause any of you any added stress on top of what we’re all already dealing with and managing. Should you have any concerns whatsoever: regarding travel, accommodations, and so forth, please feel free to reach out and contact us personally. Take care, stay safe, and be well. And get those dance moves ready! No excuses now! Love, Paul & Meg UPDATE (3/28): Hello, everyone! Just a quick update to keep everyone posted. We are still in "wait and see" mode in hopes that our May 17th wedding date may still all work out. By “work out” we mean our intention to get married in a setting that is both safe and responsible for all involved. That said, we have also secured a date in the fall just in case we end up needing it: ***Saturday, September 5th*** Same venue. Same everything. Labor Day Weekend. Please mark your calendars and save that date too! And keep your fingers crossed for May! We hope that you're all doing well. We love you and can't wait to celebrate with you soon. Sincerely, Paul & Meg COVID-19 UPDATE (3/17): “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen.” I don’t know about you, but this past weekend alone felt like it had crammed, packed, and otherwise shoehorned in about a century. We realize that everyone from travel agencies to the old CEO of Blockbuster has likely emailed you at this point with an official statement. We also realize that each of you has been uniquely impacted by these recent events. We profoundly hope that you are OK. For our part, we just want to give you a quick update of things on our end in the hope of better informing plans. For the better part of a year, we have been very excitedly looking forward to getting married on May 17th. We still are. Atlanta’s mayor has banned gatherings of more than 250 people (which was soon reduced to 50), and the CDC is also recommending a cap of 50 people for social gatherings for the next eight weeks. Our wedding of 100 or so people falls at the end of that eight week period, almost to the day. We have spoken with our venue and vendors, all of whom have been kind enough to adopt a wait-and-see approach with us moving forward. We will monitor the situation and keep everyone posted in the days and weeks to come. It has been such a singularly wonderful thrill to receive your hopeful RSVP cards in the mail each day. We have our fingers and toes crossed for the best, and we hope you will join us in wishing a safe and speedy resolution to the current situation. All of our love to you and your families. And lest we forget, Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Sincerely, Paul & Meg