Don Erickson and Patty Baun pose in front of the Trianon Gallery, the location of their cancelled wedding, on Sept. 23, 2021.
Imagine you’ve waited patiently for this day. You know he’s the one, then suddenly it’s happening; he’s down on one knee and you say “yes!”
Now, you have a wedding to plan! Who will you invite? Where will it take place? What is everyone going to eat? What’s the theme? Band, DJ or your iPhone on shuffle? How much is too much coleslaw? (The answer, by the way, is any).
Well, at least you have some time to plan… oh, that’s right there’s a pandemic raging just outside.
Then, the clouds part and the restrictions start to lift! If you act now, you can have the wedding next week!
This is the situation local wedding planner Karen Lamb found herself in as she helped brides to maneuver this past summer.
Lamb who is the owner of Create Decorations & Events, explained how a wedding can take up to two years to plan, but when restrictions were lifted in July, she managed several events with only a week’s preparation.
“We were pretty prepared to do last-minute weddings,” said Lamb.
Planning a wedding is often a strain for couples, but according to Lamb the pandemic shifted the pressure to whether these momentous occasions were even going to happen.
“It put a different kind of stress on brides,” explained Lamb adding, “It definitely changed their perspectives on things.”
A local couple, Patty Baun and Don Erickson have spent the better part of the pandemic trying to complete their nuptials.
Erickson had two reasons to celebrate as he wanted to tie the knot and commemorate retiring from being an ICU nurse after 35 years.
Their most recent plans were to hold the event at the Trianon Gallery, a historic building in downtown Lethbridge, which used to be a dance hall from the ‘30s to the ‘60s.
“We were going to have an awesome band called Bridge Mix,” said Erikson adding that they had planned on inviting 150 friends, family and colleagues to the party.
However, working in the medical field gave Erikson a keen insight as to how the Delta variant was progressing and where to focus their priorities.
“To put it in perspective, I’m working with people I see that are cancelling funerals for people, so having a wedding seemed small next to that,” said Erikson.
They have mixed feelings about the cancellation, but realized their first priority is to keep everyone safe.
“Ultimately, we are thinking about our friends and family and we don’t want anyone to get sick. Not on our watch, not for us, not to be with us,” said Baun.
Lamb found with the shortened turnaround time to complete a wedding, many brides were happy to have smaller weddings for a couple of reasons.
For one, it allowed them to actually have the wedding and two, “because the guest lists were quite a bit smaller, brides kind of went a little bit more elaborate on the decorating because they were saving so much money dinner wise,” said Lamb.
If anything, according to Lamb, the restrictions did help brides come to terms with what was most important.
For Erikson and Baun they have decided to have a small wedding in their backyard, “You know what, we’re older, this is both for us a second marriage, we’re OK.”
Though sad they are unable to throw a much-needed celebration for Erikson’s ICU cohorts, they are happy to be finally walking down the aisle together.
“I would say well, my kids are there, my mom is there, maybe one or two friends, those are the real important people. Everything else is just gravy,” said Erikson adding, “but the meat is like having your family there really.”
If the nice weather prevails, Lamb hopes to plan a few more outdoor weddings under the new restriction guidelines.