Now that it’s crystal clear that hosting a big wedding at this time is just not possible due to the spread of COVID-19, we’re sharing the experiences of real couples navigating the re-scheduling, cancellation, and civil and commemorative wedding processes in an attempt to help others make informed decisions and to spread our support to all during this time.
Lesea Kent Bourke and Andrew Thomas Berry originally scheduled their wedding for May 2nd, 2020 at Lesea’s grandmother’s house in Jupiter Island, Florida. But by June, they postponed the date to November 13th, 2021. When envisioning their wedding, the couple wanted their guests to “dance, hug, and kiss each other without any worries,” all of which, they felt, wouldn’t be possible before that day.
But by 2021, the couple would have been engaged for more than a year-and-a-half. After being together for eight years, “we didn’t want to wait any longer!” They selected August 1st, 2020 for their micro-wedding date in Maine.
When asked what the planning process was like, Lesea laughs, saying, “I wouldn’t know because my dad decided overnight to become a wedding planner.” He called Michael Boland, a Mount Desert Island restaurant owner, to secure the wine cellar at Havana for the rehearsal dinner and Isleford Dock for the reception. He also booked the talented violinist, photographer, videographers, and DJ. Andrew and Lesea suspect that he even called in a favor with Mother Nature because the Maine weather was unusually perfect that day. While her father handled logistics, her mother tended to the aesthetics of the day. With Cottage Flowers, she turned the Maine restaurants, boats, and islands into a magical fairytale vista.
Lesea’s wedding day look was an amalgamation of nostalgia. She centered the entire outfit off of Andrew’s mother’s handmade Spanish lace veil, which Andrew’s great-grandmother had brought from Spain. Lesea knew the only designer who could match such elegance for her wedding dress would be Copenhagen-based Cecilie Bahnsen. “What blew me away,” Lesea says, “was how well the brocade matched the floral pattern in the veil.” Lesea also wore a custom Sam Shaw necklace, featuring a stone she once found on her great grandmother’s beach. The groom wore a custom jacket by Black Lapel with light khaki pants. The rest of the wedding party donned summer garden party attire.
The ceremony commenced on Baker’s Island, just off the coast of Maine. It took five boats for all of the guests to arrive. Lesea walked down the aisle with her father and two flower girls, Mimi and Pippa. The entire service lasted fifteen minutes and was quickly followed with photos and glasses of rosé and champagne. DJ Bill Lyons, violinist Gus La Casse, and guitarist Ricky Bourke serenaded the guests.
Then, the party voyaged on the boats again, sailing to the neighboring island for dinner at Islesford Dock. As Andrew and Lesea stepped onto the dock, they were greeted with a showering of rose petals. Lesea was brought to tears when she saw how her mother had transformed the seaside restaurant into a whimsical forest. “It was more than I could have ever asked for,” Lesea says.
They can relive the magic of this day, thanks to videographers Kyle Lamont and Corey Chandler from Good To Go Studios. Lesea insists that when they received the video, they “were absolutely blown away. The quality, music selection, everything was just above and beyond.”
Lesea adds that she and Andrew “never thought of having a small intimate wedding with just our family because we have such an amazing friend group and we wanted everyone to be part of our special day. But this truly was the most special and amazing day that we could ever imagine.”
