“The course of true love never did run smooth.”
Shakespeare’s immortal words are never truer than they are now, as couples face the added challenge of love during the time of COVID-19. With Valentine’s Day on Sunday, we take a look at three couples who made it work.
The Heinemanns
Melissa and Eric Heinemann started dating in high school in New Jersey. Eric left New Jersey to serve in the Army, and eventually found himself working at Fort Eustis and volunteering for Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue. After moving to Gloucester, he convinced Melissa to join him.
The two became engaged on Dec. 2, 2018. They wanted to take their time planning the wedding, so the first thing they landed on was the date. They had family spread out across the country and felt that two years would be plenty of time to easily plan and prepare for a wedding. The couple decided to set the date of their big day for Oct. 10, 2020.
In the two years of wedding preparations, the couple had arranged the plan to fit perfectly into their and their family’s schedules. Unfortunately, the pandemic altered those plans. Melissa said they went from plan A to plan Z because almost everything had to be changed.
A major challenge was gauging their guests’ level of comfort. A lot of their family members are medical workers who live in New York, which had some of the stricter travel bans in the country. Their families understood the risks of traveling out of state but chose to do so anyway. To help those traveling, Melissa said she created a website that provided wedding information, along with the latest COVID-19 restrictions within Virginia.
The next challenge was the venue and food. First, the two had to move their entire service and reception outside. They had chosen the White Dog Bistro in Mathews for the wedding, and it was important for them to use all local vendors. Fortunately, everyone was able to work with them and the changing landscape of the pandemic.
All of the food had to be served on a line by designated servers to prevent any of the guests from contaminating another’s meal. Seating had to be spaced more widely apart, and masks and hand sanitizer were made available to all the guests.
One of the last challenges was Melissa’s wedding dress. She said that it had arrived defective, and the vendor was unable to send for another due to pandemic shipping restrictions. Luckily, she was able to find her dress elsewhere after some searching.
In the end, the two were able to keep their date, thanks to a lot of last-minute changes and travel bans being lifted.
Their wedding turned out perfect and memorable.
Brittany and Heath Jones
Husband and wife Heath and Brittany Jones met in 2019 at a Relay for Life event. Both had been married before and knew what they wanted in a significant other. They were engaged on Aug. 2, 2020.
The pandemic slowed the world down to a standstill, but Brittany said that just because there was a pandemic didn’t mean that love should wait. She said she had been waiting a long time for Heath. The two began preparing for a simple, small wedding so they could start their new lives together.
Brittany and Heath who had been through the marriage process before, were ready to leap into marriage together. Brittany said they would have been fine with just a backyard service for the two of them and their kids, but her close family and friends wanted to bear witness to the service.
When asked about the speed engagement, Heath joked that it was only because they had bought a house. The two decided to not let the uncertainty of the virus and future dictate their engagement, and after a 10-day engagement, they were married on Aug. 12 at the place of their first date: Juan’s Mexican Café and Cantina. The service was held outside on the restaurant’s patio so the 15 friends and family in attendance could watch.
Brittany said the wedding was perfect. The venue was small and inexpensive, and the food was fantastic. Heath said that others at the restaurant were happy for the newlyweds and bought them drinks to celebrate.
Brittany said that they are grateful they decided to leap into marriage. The two have since moved into a new home and are waiting to go on their honeymoon. They are waiting for the world to get past the pandemic before traveling.
Lohrer/Westby-Gibson
together. It was only fitting that they ended 2020 with an engagement.
When Natalie Lohrer’s college shut down in March 2020, she and her boyfriend Blair Westby-Gibson decided it was time for the two of them to move in together. The couple met at massage school in Charlottesville, where Natalie is from. Throughout the pandemic, the two saw their relationship grow, and on Christmas Day, Blair proposed to Natalie.
When the two began dating, Blair was in Gloucester and Natalie was in Charlottesville, and they spent their weekends traveling back and forth. They enjoyed finding new restaurants and doing new things with each other. When the pandemic hit, they had to adjust to new interests to share together. They took up board games and watched tons of movies. Natalie said she finally learned how to play video games.
Living together meant the two grew closer together. Blair said that the pandemic allowed them to explore the depths of their relationship sooner than they had originally planned, and they found the silver lining that the pandemic had presented. Natalie said that living together through the challenging year showed them that they could work through anything.
When Christmas came around, Blair said knew he wanted to propose. People had told him that he would know when the moment was right. They spent Christmas Eve in Charlottesville visiting her family, and he told her family members what he was going to do. The next day was spent with his family in York County. Then on the way back, as they drove through Gloucester’s Main Street, he suggested they stop and take a photo in front of the Christmas tree in the Court Circle. That was when he popped the question.