Coronavirus modifies, but doesn’t cancel, Daisytown wedding
Hannah and Michiah pose for a picture with their wedding party. From left are Jacob Ford, bride’s brother & groomsmen; Scott Ford, bride’s father; Kathe Ford, bride’s mother; Abigail Ford, bride’s sister and maid of honor); and Hannah and Michiah Maxwell (Groom).
Hannah and Michiah Maxwell walk down the aisle after being married last Saturday in Daisytown.
Hannah and Michiah Maxwell pose for a picture with Michiah’s parents Katherine and Brian Maxwell.
She spent eight months planning her wedding.
But when it happened Saturday, the ceremony didn’t look anything like what Hannah Maxwell (née Ford) had previously envisioned.
Instead of hundreds, the guest list was pared down to immediate family as a precaution against the coronavirus. She had intended to hold the service and reception at her church and its adjacent gymnasium, but it was held outdoors on the grounds of her paternal grandparents’ farm in Daisytown.
All that didn’t matter in the end.
“It was perfect,”‘ said Hannah, 20, of her and Michiah Maxwell’s, 23, big day. “God gave us a perfect day, and it was really special to be able to still get married the day that we wanted.”
Michiah’s parents traveled from Vermont. The newlyweds said they were planning to move to the town of Island Pond, in the north of that state, this week.
Hannah said the small grouping meant the couple was able to spend time with everyone there. Later in the day, they visited the grandparents on each side of Hannah’s family for a meal to make up for the lack of a reception.
Hannah’s pastor, Ken Barter of Crossroads Ministries in Finleyville, still officiated the ceremony.
“It went very well,” said Kathe Ford, Hannah’s mother. She and her husband, Scott, live in Richeyville, just down the road from his parents. “We were blessed with a beautiful day.”
Hannah and Michiah met while they were each studying in a two-year program at Word of Life Bible Institute, in northeastern New York state. Bride and groom said they believed their wedding day was divinely ordained.
“We didn’t let everything that was going on stop us, because we knew that it was God’s will for us to get married,” Hannah said.
So they modified their plans. In a way, Hannah said the changes were a stroke of good fortune – her dream had been to get married on her grandparents’ farm.
“It’s definitely possible to still get married, but I think it really shows a lot of the couple’s values and what they value the most,” Hannah said. “We didn’t value a huge party, that’s not what we valued the most. Of course, we were going to have one, but … what we valued the most was the two of us, coming before God, saying our vows to become one.”