KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sonny Tallavajhala and Nicolette Lewis have been together for 10 years. They had been planning their dream wedding for almost two years.
In February, they were able to get married in India and go on their honeymoon before major travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"None of the travel sanctions occurred until about two weeks after we got back," Tallavajhala said.
"We were really fortunate not to get stuck there and not to get sick while traveling," Lewis added.
Shortly after they returned home to Kansas City, Kansas, Gov. Laura Kelly issued guidance limiting gatherings to 250 people. That's about how many people they were planning to have at their American wedding.
Next, gatherings were limited to 50.
"That was the point where we were like, 'Well, things are going to be different.' So we spent the next couple of days planning a ceremony for 50," Lewis said.
Not long after that, the limit changed to 10 people. They knew this would be a problem for their April ceremony.
"At that point we just kind of paused everything and started trying to figure out what we were going to do next," Lewis said.
Instead, they chose to keep the April ceremony, but only have their officiant and two witnesses join them. They shared the ceremony with their close family and friends using Facebook Live.
"It was a nice way to be able to celebrate the day and look nice and wear the wedding dress and wedding suit. Everyone really enjoyed it," Tallavajhala said.
"People were really glad that they got to participate in some way," Lewis added.
They said one of the hardest parts of the change was not having their families there.
"One of the best parts about our little small ceremony was just that the whole day we were really able to make it just about the two of us. Something that we weren't anticipating because we were having a huge celebration with, you know, a couple hundred people and really our big celebration was really done for our guests," Lewis said. "We wanted to celebrate with our guests and so we weren't planning on having a day that was strictly about us and I think having that day and having our small hangout with the dogs and just being together was a blessing."
The big reception will have to wait until next year, but it will still happen.
"I've already planned almost everything, so it should be less stressful this time around," Lewis said. "At this point, all of the thousands of dollars we've put in deposits is just kind of sitting there waiting for our new date."
"If we had to cancel completely and only go with the small ceremony we would have lost pretty much half the cost of the (wedding). We wouldn't have gotten it back," Tallavajhala added.
