Alexandra + Aidan | Baltimore Basilica Pandemic Wedding

We are honored by the opportunity to walk alongside you in this marriage ministry, from Yes to I Do and beyond, and we love returning to our couples' stories as they continue to unfold. If we've featured your love story in our How He Asked engagement series we invite you to share your wedding with us as well.

Submit your wedding or engagement story to be featured on Spoken Bride!

From the divine grandeur of the Baltimore Basilica to the intimate, candlelit reception in the bride’s family home, this Maryland wedding exuded the supernatural beauty and joy of the sacrament, despite pandemic conditions.

An elegant cocktail hour and dance floor on a rustic wooden deck. A simple living room transformed into a dining area fit to rival a professional reception hall. Lavish, beautifully plated meals from the family kitchen.

Alexandra and Aidan had planned their grand May 2020 wedding when COVID-19 hit, devastating all their carefully laid plans and postponing their nuptials. But after much prayer, patience, perseverance, and creativity compromises, their intimate celebration remained “a day that will never be forgotten.”

From the Bride

Aidan and I attended Mount St. Mary's University and officially met while leading a retreat for incoming freshmen, despite knowing each other in passing years prior. During the retreat, we began to notice one another in a new light and started discerning if it was the right time to start a relationship. We decided it was.

Related: How He Asked | Alexandra + Aidan

One and a half years later, Aidan took me to a beautiful dinner followed by a trip to the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Emmitsburg. While we lit the same candle we always did, to pray for our relationship (one of our many traditions), he proposed!

We decided to get married on May 9, 2020 at the Baltimore Basilica. Every detail was planned, and all the vendors were booked. We were going to have a gorgeous fairytale wedding. Then COVID-19 hit, and our plans were shattered.

We couldn’t get married on May 9th. Aidan and I were heartbroken and, quite frankly, mad at the world. We couldn't figure out what God wanted us to do with our new and difficult situation. Like so many other couples, we were faced with more than a few decisions on how to proceed.

After much prayer and discussion, Aidan and I decided to move our nuptials to July 11, 2020. What was supposed to be a 130-person grand wedding was downsized to an intimate party of 12 family members.

The truth that kept us grounded during that unnerving and scary time was the knowledge that we would still be married and enter into the sacrament together--that's the whole point of the wedding day, after all.

The Mass was our constant in all the change occurring around us, and our devotion to St. Joseph kept our hearts focused on God. It was a 30 day novena to St. Joseph that gave Aidan the peace and confidence to ask for my hand in marriage before he proposed. Now St. Joseph was guiding us to the altar.

We are both deeply inspired by the Holy Family and want to emulate their holiness in our own family life. In a way, it was only natural that we had such a drastic change in plans, like Mary and Joseph after the Annunciation. It was a constant comfort to remember that God was using a time of stress and change to strengthen our bond to each other and to him.

In the end, our wedding was still everything we wanted it to be. The ceremony was live-streamed on Facebook so our extended family and friends could watch and celebrate with us. And following our nuptials, our small party headed back to my family home to enjoy a cocktail hour featuring a beautiful display of soft pretzels with beer cheese and a charcuterie board.

Aidan and I even snacked on 7/11 slurpees in honor of our 7/11 wedding date!

Moving inside after the cocktail hour, our guests were shocked to see the living room transformed into a gorgeous event dining space. The fireplace was the main feature, adorned with dozens of candles and dried florals. The tables were styled with cheese cloth, taper candles, and more dried greenery. We even had a calligrapher write each guest’s name on vellum paper and placed them on each plate.

After the usual speeches and cake cutting, Aidan and I performed our dances and had a fun exit framed by crackling sparklers. It was a night to remember and a day that will never be forgotten. Together, we took the unfortunate circumstances surrounding COVID-19 and turned it into the best day of our lives.

The most important takeaway from our wedding and the whole planning process was the knowledge that we were preparing for a marriage--not just a wedding.

When COVID-19 hit, we were distraught and angry and experienced every possible emotion. But after prayer, reflection, and many heart-to-hearts, Aidan and I truly began to understand that God was with us and wanted the best for us, no matter what. Even if we didn't know what his plan was.

Because of our COVID-19 wedding, Aidan and I were reminded of the most important parts of a wedding day: love and family. All we wanted was to be married under God and to have our family there to support us and celebrate. Amidst the chaos, we still had these things, and so we had our dream wedding.