Whoever thought that we could ever talk about a drive-by wedding in our lifetime! Well, Sarah and Wood Kimley had their wedding with the guests they had initially invited driving by to congratulate them and some watching on Zoom. Talk about creativity!
Sarah and Wood Kimley had set their wedding date for the 9th of July with Lake Tahoe in California (United States) being their venue, and they had invited 150 guests.
However, seeing that the COVID 19 cases were spiking they decided on a 12-guest wedding at their backyard.
When they had to cancel, Sarah prayed about it and God helped her realize that their wedding day is about her and her husband coming together before God and that everything else was extra.
They had to focus on the most important part, which was being joined together to become Mr. and Mrs. Filacier.
On the 25th of May, they wedded with their twelve guests who included their immediate family, Pastor, and photographer.
The guests who had been invited to the bigger wedding where very understanding, they watched the wedding ceremony and the first dance on Zoom. Some of the would-be guests who where nearby drove by as the wedding proceeded. There was live music and cookies were passed out to the drive-by guests.
Because it was a small ceremony, there was so much time for photos, so they drove downtown with their photographer and took a lot of wedding photos.
The bride’s favourite part of the wedding was hearing her husband’s vows. For the husband, English is his second language and he doesn’t always see his full potential in his writing ability. Despite that, he wrote his vows so beautifully.
“They were written so beautifully that they brought me to tears. They were so thoughtful and written so perfectly for me. My pastor, who has officiated many weddings told him afterward that they were the best vows he had ever heard,” says Sarah.
A highlight of their wedding was having Haitian spaghetti which is a unique dish based on Wood Kimley’s mother’s recipe. The recipe consists mainly of boiled eggs, avocados, bananas, peanuts, beets, carrots and ketchup!
Sarah is grateful that they decided on a smaller wedding as they did not want to endanger the health of any family and friends.
Sarah knows her day was different from most weddings but having it so small made the time she shared with her family more special.
During dinner, their family each made a speech about the couple. The speeches were personal, long, and beautiful. They wouldn’t have gotten the same speeches if they had had a giant wedding.
As for advice to future brides, Sarah says, “For those brides considering a backyard wedding and struggling with the sadness of missing out on the aspects of a ‘normal’ wedding, I would say not to let your love wait any longer but to go for the smaller wedding. It is a whole lot less stressful too with just family to plan for!”
