Couple decides to tie knot with socially distant wedding
During the novel coronavirus pandemic, couples have been forced to re-evaluate wedding plans.
But cancellation was not an option for a Washington bride who decided to walk down the aisle – well, porch – Saturday, as planned, and use technology to include family and friends in the wedding and celebration.
“Around early April, we canceled (the venue), but I said I still wanted to keep the day,” said Megan Granato, who tied the knot with Brandon Granato Saturday afternoon. “We waited a year-and-a-half for this day, only to have the pandemic mess it up, and I didn’t want to let that happen.”
The couple got engaged in September 2018, when Brandon, a first-grade teacher in Uniontown Area School District, bent down on one knee and proposed to Megan at a winery in Ohio.
They set the date for their June wedding at Bramblewood, a barn wedding venue in McDonald, and invited approximately 200 guests.
But then COVID-19 started to spread.
Brandon has an underlying medical condition and is on an immunosuppressant drug, and it became clear to him and Megan they would have to change wedding plans.
“That was the driving force behind this: How do we preserve the day we’ve worked toward and make sure he and everyone stays safe?” said Megan, the memory care coordinator at Elmcroft senior Care in Bridgeville. “I was so upset when we first had to cancel, but this has uplifted my spirits.”
Determined the pandemic was not going to prevent them from becoming husband and wife, the Granatos warmed to the idea of an online wedding.
The pair had their marriage license, and they had an officiant, Bobby Dellorso, of Canonsburg.
So the wedding proceeded as scheduled, with the newlyweds’ immediate families and the bridal party watching the nuptials from the driveway of Brandon’s parents’ home.
Other family and friends joined in the wedding ceremony via Microsoft Teams, which Megan’s sister, Trish, coordinated.
Dellorso, who purchased a new cellphone to replace his old model to make sure there were no hitches, performed the ceremony from his living room.
“We had family from as far away as (the state of) California to local family members couldn’t come due to safety concerns, who (were able) to watch,” said Megan.
Afterward, everyone returned to their own homes for a virtual reception. The day included champagnes toasts, speeches by the best man and maid of honor, the father of the bride and the mother of groom, and a dinner where guests sat down and broke bread together.
The newly married couple opted to dine on Texas Roadhouse and Oakmont Bakery cupcakes.
The bride decided not to wear the wedding dress she had purchased, choosing instead to get married in a bridal suit.
She will wear her wedding dress at a reception at Bramblewood that is currently set for September.
The honeymoon, scheduled for Cape Cod, has been postponed.
“We’re going to have a staycation,” said Megan. “Luckily, we’ve been able to re-adjust the honeymoon.”
The Granatos, both graduates of California University of Pennsylvania, met through mutual friends and dated for six years before they married.
The couple is happy the didn’t delay their wedding, and the pandemic has made it clear to them how important love and family is.
“I think overall it’s hit home lately, not only in my professional career, that family means a lot, even the little moments,” said Megan. “I just didn’t really realize it until now. Even just coming home, sitting at the table, we have done that since this whole thing started, and I look forward to that, just being together. I have always said, in my profession I’ve learned there are circumstances where we have to take a step back and let things go as they may. Just make the best of it.”