Nothing was going to stop Abby Holman and Brennan Norman from getting married — not even a global pandemic. In fact, they ended up having their wedding two weeks earlier than originally planned.
Both 21, the two met sophomore year of high school, in math class. They dated for three years, and even talked about marriage, but broke up in 2017 when they went on separate church missions. They stayed in touch, and when Norman got back from his mission in November 2019 they got back together.
"We still loved each other and still wanted to get married," Holman told Insider. "And then of course all of this started to happen," she said, referring to the pandemic, "But we decided, you know what, we might as well get married now because we don't really want to wait anymore."
Their original wedding date was set for April 25, but they ended up getting married on April 10
"I'm a girl, so I've been thinking about my wedding for a long time," Holman said, adding that she's known what color scheme she wanted for years.
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As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original plan included a ceremony inside of a temple with a few family members, before a reception in a farmhouse-style venue. "A lot of wood, super cute twinkle lights, kind of more of a rustic venue," she said.
Luckily, when she first started hearing about the coronavirus, Holman got in touch with the venue and arranged to be able to reschedule.
"So we're still planning on doing a reception, just hopefully later on this year if all this passes," she said.
Still determined to get married, however, the two had to get creative
Understanding the gravity of the situation, and feeling like more businesses would be closing, they decided to get their marriage license and move up their wedding date.
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Two days before they ended up actually getting married, the two were on a walk and passed a "super pretty field" she says that they drive by every single day.
According to Holman, her now-husband joked that they should just get married there.
Two days later, they did.
Norman found the owner of the field and asked for permission to get married there. Then, they thought of ways they could get married with friends and family in attendance while maintaining social distance and came up with the idea of having guests stay in their cars.
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With the help of a man from their neighborhood who is known for setting up Christmas lights that are synced to music, Norman set up a radio transmitter and speakers so that guests could listen to their ceremony from the safety of their cars.
"It was awesome. Everybody got to stay in their cars, turned to our radio station, and they said that they could hear [the ceremony] perfectly, they could hear the music when I walked down the aisle and the music when we left. So it worked out great," Holman said.
Around 30 cars showed up to their impromptu ceremony
Despite having had a vision for her wedding for years, Holman took the changes in her stride. In fact, Holman, a physical therapist aide studying radiology, took a final exam that morning. Her wedding took place at 4 p.m.
"I think it was better than anything we could have planned because the day was probably the least stressful day ever," she said. "I didn't really have to think too much about it, I knew it's going to be simple, it's going to be awesome."
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She got ready at Norman's mother's house with both his and her sisters, before getting picked up by her father who then walked her down the aisle to some freestanding barn doors. The wedding was officiated by a family friend, and then the newlywed couple waved to their guests and drove off to a weekend getaway.
"My favorite moment was probably driving away and just waving to everybody and realizing that we're finally married after five years," she said.
"We were scared that we weren't going to be able to share this day with the people that we love the most," Holman said. "And so it was awesome just to be able to see all the support we have, and that they are willing to drive out there just to sit and watch for 10 minutes and then drive back to wherever they're from."
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Holman says the impromptu wedding was even better than she thought it would be. Besides unexpectedly glorious weather wedged between stretches of rain, she said "I think it was even better in that we were able to just focus on what we were really there for and not get caught up in all of the typical wedding stuff."
"So yeah, I think it definitely exceeded our expectations," she said.
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