Ryan and Amelia Leahy set their wedding date of April 4, 2020, more than year ago. The couple had big plans of a wedding at Christ the King Church in Dallas with 300 family and friends to celebrate with them
Instead, it was the bride and groom, their parents, an officiant and a photographer, and “it was honestly more special than I think the wedding we'd planned would've been,” Amelia told NBC 5.
“It was very, amazing just to still see her walk down the aisle, still have the church want to have us and it was truly very special,” agreed Ryan.
As their wedding date neared, coronavirus marched across Dallas County and the orders to limit gatherings and stay at home followed.
“A few weeks before it was 50 at a gathering, so we said, we’ll trim our guest list to 50,” Amelia said. “And as it got closer, it was 10 people. So we just decided getting married was our number one priority.”
“Even if it was just Amelia and me in the church and a couple of people with just us two, it would still be a special moment for us,” Ryan said.
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So on April 4, 2020, as planned, Ryan and Amelia took their vows and married with just their parents watching.
Unbeknownst to the couple, though, a friend of Amelia’s was planning something special for the moment the newlyweds stepped outside the church.
“As we head outside, we see a long stretch of cars,” Amelia recalled. “And everyone starts laying on their horns and screaming and saying congratulations!”
The couple soon realized a parade of well-wishers had come to celebrate their big day. They stayed in their cars but honked horns and held out signs congratulating the couple. Ryan and Amelia walked along the sidewalk waving and seeing family and friends who wanted to be there to share their big moment - at a distance.
“It was so surreal, the best surprise we could've ever imagined,” Amelia said.
“Even though we didn’t have the larger gathering we intended, just still being able to get married was the important thing to us,” Ryan said.
