Coronavirus Pandemic Changes Wedding Plans For Area Couple

AGAWAM, MA — On Leap Year Night just a month ago, friends and family of Ilyssa Riley and Anthony Boido gathered at the Dante Club in West Springfield, Mass. for a Jack & Jill party to celebrate the couple's upcoming nuptials on May 2. Just days later, with the onset of the new coronavirus pandemic, those plans have been thrown into disarray, as have those of literally hundreds of engaged couples across New England.

Riley, a 2009 graduate of Enfield High School, and her fiance became engaged on Feb. 23, 2019 in Lake George, N.Y., and immediately began making arrangements for their special day. The first thing they did was book La Notte, a busy banquet hall in East Windsor, then began all the other preparations associated with weddings - finding a DJ, videographer, photographer, makeup artist, florist, dress shop ... as any bride will attest, there is a lot of ground to cover.

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Invitations were sent to a guest list numbering around 200 people. Shortly after they were mailed, the world began changing, and before long, the young couple was faced with having to postpone the event, and trying to reschedule all their selected vendors.

Riley say they were able to find some common availability dates for their vendors, but the big task would be rebooking the banquet hall. La Notte was able to come up with two dates compatible with the couple's other essential personnel - Friday, June 19 or a date in mid-October.

Despite a Friday not being ideal for some people, Riley said she and Boido are leaning toward the June date, with the understanding it may change again due to the uncertainty of the pandemic. The next step was figuring out how to notify all the guests; their solution was to post the news on Facebook, which Riley did Tuesday morning.

To all our wedding guests: This was a much easier way to get this out. We were almost a month away from our big day but due to the unfortunate event of the Covid-19 pandemic we had to cancel. We are now looking at June 19th or Oct 17th. New invites will go out in a couple weeks when we see how this all plays out. Stay safe everyone!

"Very few of the guests are over 60, and almost all of them are on Facebook, so we figured we'd do it that way," Riley said in a phone interview with Patch. Knowing they will have to resend invitations, she contacted the online provider Shutterfly, which agreed to supply the next order at no charge.

That savings will certainly help the couple, as Boido's business, TNT Tent and Table Rentals in Agawam, has been hurt tremendously by the fallout from the pandemic. The cancellation of St. Patrick's Day festivities at western Massachusetts bars, as well as many colleges shutting down early and opting to forego graduation ceremonies, has taken its toll on party rental companies.

One final aspect of the wedding experience is planning a honeymoon. Riley and Boido had planned a trip to Costa Rica immediately following their ceremony, but depending on travel restrictions, they may wait until winter before embarking on their dream excursion.

Despite the pressure of having to rearrange a year's worth of planning in a few hectic weeks, Riley is taking it all in stride.

"There's nothing you can do, just got to go with the flow."

This article originally appeared on the Enfield Patch