GREENSBORO, N.C. — Weston and Katie Henley were married on April 3 instead of May 9. The guest list went from about 85 to around eight. Instead of a farm wedding, it was in the backyard.
“The plan was a standard gospel wedding, that type of thing,” Weston Henley said.
On March 11, those plans quickly changed. President Trump announced all travel to and from Europe was suspended. The pandemic that started in China threatened to ravage the United States.
“The President addressed the nation 30 minutes after (Katie) left the country on a plane,” Weston Henley said.
Katie was on her way to Iceland for a bachelorette party. Once she returned home the couple quickly realized their May wedding was not going to be possible.
“We both just decided to roll with the punches and see what happens,” Katie Henley said.
Eventually, they decided to hold the wedding in the backyard instead of postponing it.
“We never really thought that much about waiting until all this was over. We wanted to get married,” Katie Henley said.
The issue was going to be to hold a wedding with the rules and regulations put in place by Gov. Roy Cooper. The couple had to let most everyone know they were not going to be able to come to the wedding. While they were making last-minute plans, Katie had an idea.
“We were like, 'Wait a minute, we can get pretty much everybody on board to do this,'” Katie Henley said.
The idea was simple: set up the iPad in the backyard and have all the people that can’t come log in to Zoom and watch the wedding online.
“We used Zoom already for one thing, we can probably use it for this and I have my iPad and a mobile hot-spot in the backyard,” Weston Henley said.
Katie and Weston sent out the link to their “Zoom wedding” so that family and friends from all over the country could watch. They also sent out a list of rules for the few guests and families that were coming. The do’s and don’ts’ s included:
- No one was allowed to go inside the home even to use the bathroom.
- There’s no shaking hands or hugging,
- No snacks or drinks will be provided
“It was like, 'This is going to be 30 minutes to knock it out and then you’re leaving. We're going to stay within the recommendation of the CDC and the governor,'” Weston Henley said.
The entire ceremony lasted less than 45 minutes including pictures. Before it was all over Weston and Katie said hello to everyone watching on Zoom.
“We were actually able to walk over (to the iPad) and see people,” Weston Henley said . “We could say like, 'Hi,' to this person or that person. Seeing a bunch of family and friends was kind of cool.”
The couple had a photographer on hand to take pictures along with a small cake and champagne for the newlyweds to toast. The driveway and colored chalk served as the guest book. It might not have been the wedding they planned but it was better than waiting.
“ We loved it. It wasn’t what we planned but it turned out exactly how we wanted it,” Katie Henley said.
Stay connected to local, national and breaking news: Download the new WFMY News 2 app.
►Text the keyword APP to 336-379-5775
►For the latest weather conditions and forecast text the keyword WEATHER to 336-379-5775
►For local news stories right to your phone text the keyword NEWS to 336-379-5775
►Need our Call for Action Team? Text keyword CFA to 336-379-5775
►For traffic alerts text the word TRAFFIC to 336-379-5775