A Dublin couple have tied the knot after being forced to postpone their wedding plans twice this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It was a case of third time lucky for Adam and Emma Jesson (nee Patje) who celebrated their wedding at the Church of the Nativity in Beaumont today, after being left devastated earlier in the year by public health restrictions.
Friends gathered in a socially distant manner outside the groom’s home to cheer him on, while others peered in through the windows of the church to catch a glimpse of the newlyweds.
Under the current Covid-19 public health guidelines the couple were permitted to have 25 guests at the ceremony.
“This is our third time lucky,” said Mr Jesson.
“We had two cancellations because of Covid. We decided to go ahead, reduce our numbers and celebrate it before Christmas.”
They said they were devastated when they had to cancel their original wedding date.
“We were all set. Our originally numbers were nearly 210 people at Darver Castle up in Louth,” Mr Jesson said.
“We had everything set, everything was done, most stuff was bought. Then Covid happened.
“We were supposed to get married in early June – that had to be postponed. We were both devastated over that one.
“Then with the numbers [of cases] started to get lower again there was a bit of a glimmer of hope.”
The second wedding date was set for September but the spread of Covid-19 worsened.
“It was full lockdown, we couldn’t get married at all then. So I think we knew that was coming so it wasn’t as big a blow as the first time.
This time, we didn’t know when we could do it again. We were happy enough to go ahead.”
With siblings living abroad they said the hard part was getting them home for the wedding. The groom’s younger brother is based in Canada, while the bride’s twin sister lives in Australia, where the borders were closed.
“Emma’s sister is home, my brother is home so we bit the bullet and said we’d go for it with a smaller party,” Mr Jesson said.
The bride said it was a “big thing” to have her twin sister home for the day.
They had started planning a summer wedding but they ended up with a Christmas one.
“It’s completely different. It’s freezing but it’s worked out,” she said. “Everything we had to buy twice but it is what it is.”
They added they were just happy to finally have their big day.
“We’re delighted,” they added.
