Couple celebrates love with unique wedding while social distancing

Kelsey Weekman
·2 min read

As an increasing number of weddings are being canceled due to social distancing and bans on gathering, a New York couple still found a way to celebrate their love.

Reilly Jennings, 28, and Amanda Wheeler, 38, held a surprise wedding Friday as their friend officiated from his fourth-floor apartment window in New York City.

View this post on Instagram

If you need a bright moment in the madness, we just hosted a ‘wedding from our window’. To say it was magic is an understatement. . @reillyjennings and @wheelsfit are officially wedded & @iknowmattwilson officiated from the 4th floor. . Our neighbors joined by blowing bubbles and cheering them on from their apartments. I’ve never witnessed a more beautiful wedding. . I know it’s uncertain times, but I feel so lucky to have so much love surrounding me. . Today I feel hopeful. I hope you feel a bit more hopeful now too. #windowwedding #bennettavenue #quarantinewedding #loveinthetimeofcholera #socialdistancing #nycwedding #weddingofficiant

A post shared by Stephanie Sine (@stephsine) on Mar 20, 2020 at 4:24pm PDT

According to NBC News, the couple planned to get married in October, but feared the event would face challenges due to travel restrictions.

The couple was also worried about the cost of a wedding, as the gym where Wheeler works had to close due to coronavirus, Jennings told the outlet.

She said she “panicked” when Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday that the Marriage Bureau would be closing indefinitely.

“I was freaking out a little bit. I just wanted to get it done,” she told NBC News.

After scrambling to alert their friends and find someone certified to perform the ceremony, Jennings and Wheeler finished work, dressed for the wedding and headed out to the street.

Video Jennings shared on Instagram shows officiant Matt Wilson performing the ceremony, reading from the novel “Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel García Márquez.

The couple exchanged their vows as their friends looked on — all a safe six feet apart.

“It was perfect, classic New York,” Jennings told NBC News. “Everything I love about this city was encompassed in that moment.”

In lieu of wedding gifts, Jennings has asked everyone enthralled by the wedding to donate to the Actor’s Fund, an organization that provides a safety net for entertainment professionals.

“If you’re finding comfort in theatre, music, TV, movies … the Actors Fund supports those people who create the art you love so much,” she wrote in a Facebook post.

The post Couple celebrates love with unique wedding while social distancing appeared first on In The Know.

More from In The Know:

The top bedding to buy from West Elm’s massive sale

Theragun is having a major (and rare) sale on its massage devices

Keep your mind active and at ease with these 5 board games