01. why france for a wedding…in a pandemic no less…

Hi Pandemic Bride here! Hubby and I knew we wanted to get married in France, in or close to his hometown, even before we were engaged. The reason being that 99% of his family resides in France and so do most of his friends. As for me, my aunts and cousins are split between the U.S. and Ghana. It was so important for those in Ghana to easily get a French visa. For reference, the U.S. refused my aunt a visa in 2019, pre-pandemic, to my aunt for my dad’s funeral in Virginia.

The pandemic made it extremely difficult for us to plan the wedding seamlessly because all borders were closed so we couldn’t travel to France for site visits or tastings until 2 months before the wedding in June 2021.

02. pulling off a safe wedding during a pandemic

We were so lucky to have boots on the ground in France when Thomas and I couldn’t physically make it there. From our wedding planner Estelle, who lives in Paris, to family and friends who FaceTimed us for walk throughs of all of our venues, it was a huge team effort and one we most likely would not have been able pull off if we didn’t know locals in Paris and Poitiers.

We wanted all of our guests to feel safe while in France, especially the Americans that would have to submit negative tests prior to returning to the States. We made the tough decision to only invite vaccinated friends and family. We also hired a private nurse to come to the chateau to perform the COVID-19 tests prior to the wedding so that our guests would feel safer.

03. A TOAST TO MULTICULTURAL WEDDINGS

During the wedding planning process, we found it difficult searching for couples that looked like us for inspiration. In fact, our wedding Pinterest boards don’t have any couples similar to us and that was a real shame.

We wanted to make it easier for West African brides, plus size brides and black brides to find inspiration for their own intercultural weddings. The world is changing and there are loves of all kinds. It time to acknowledge them. In sharing our traditional Ghanaian ceremony as well as our white wedding, we hope you find some inspiration for your wedding or to share with friends and family that might be looking for couples that look like them.

Cheers!

Makeda Rabioux