Duval County

“Don’t put love on hold” Local couple overcomes challenges to plan St. Augustine wedding amid COVID-19

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — I do.

OR

I do… just not quite yet.

Couples with wedding plans during the COVID-19 pandemic are facing some tough decisions.

Action News Jax Courtney Cole spoke to a couple who’s letting love win and how it’s impacting the decisions of other bride-and-grooms-to-be.

“It’s nothing like what we want it, but we’re still doing it because it’s just about unity,” said Cheree Beard.

Cheree Beard and Daniel Moros are planning a wedding 37 years in the making!

They were both born at the old Flagler Hospital, in rooms next door to one another, in Downtown St. Augustine on November 12th.

Life brought them back together in kindergarten, 5th grader, 7th grade, and then again by the way of a little searching and a “Happy Birthday” message on Facebook.

“Oh my gosh, I couldn’t believe it, because we hadn’t seen each other in 15 years,” the bride-to-be told Action News Jax Courtney Cole.

Moros invited her to his employee Christmas party and it was history from there!

“Everybody says it’s a crazy story, but we lived it, so it’s just us!” Moros laughed as he explained their story to Cole.

The St. Augustine natives are getting married at the Castillo de San Marcos Fort on October 10th.

The Fort allows them to have the ceremony safely, social distanced, but it also holds a special mean, because it’s where they had their first date, as 7th graders on the 4th of July.

“We were just kids,” Beard told Cole as smiled from the inside out, “We thought that would be the perfect spot to get married.”

Beard told Cole the final decision to continue with the ceremony came after a lot of thought.

“Well, let’s just go with me and you. And then it was, ‘oh no let’s go ahead and do it and will just have our parents.’ And then it was,  ‘let’s cancel altogether and then we’ll figure it out another time. ‘And then finally, last minute, we are in hustle-bustle and we’re trying to get everything together in less than three months. It’s been fun, but stressful at the same time.,” Beard told Action News Jax.

While Beard and Moros are figuring out a way to make their plans work during the pandemic, some other couples haven’t had the same experience.

And that's hurting the $78-billion-dollar wedding industry.

According to the wedding website, The Knot:

  • 96% of couples are going to re-schedule their weddings
  • 65% are pushing their special day to later in 2020

-AND-

For now, the rest are undecided.

But even with all of the stress, this happy couple has this advice for other couples:

“I would say, don’t put love on hold,' Beard told Cole.

The couple will also be having a virtual ceremony for all of their loved ones who can’t be there due to pandemic restrictions.

“We’re holding off on the reception until the COVID stuff goes down, so we can have everyone that we want to be there,” Moros said.