My Wife And I Planned A DIY Wedding During The Pandemic — In Just Five Days

Warning: major cottagecore vibes ahead!

A DIY-vegan-cottagecore wedding, in the middle of a pandemic? Oh, and we planned it all within five days.

It sounds pretty chaotic, right? Just two weeks after my wife proposed, we decided to tie the knot.

Marisa Green

I'll give you a little bit of background. My wife and I are definitely the kind of couple that makes other people throw up, but we're kinda okay with that. Ever since we met as co-workers at a summer camp, we've been making googly-eyes at each other non-stop. As soon as we were engaged, we both knew that we were ready to take the next step and commit ourselves forever. The only problem being: we were pretty broke and in the middle of a global pandemic.

Here's how it went down...

As soon as we decided we were actually doing it, we started to come up with every feasible idea. Initially, we considered a quick affair in a courthouse, but we immediately learned that our township wasn't performing weddings during the pandemic.

After a lot of consideration, and a few terrible ideas (I'm looking at you, drive-through chapel in Atlantic City), we finally settled on a backyard wedding. It helps that my in-laws have a truly enormous garden, so we knew there was plenty of scope to create the most magical evening.

Things got pretty weird, pretty fast.

Marisa Green

If you can believe it, I tied the knot inside...a batting cage. Despite the fact that "I can't throw or catch," (paired with a bit of a pout) is practically my catchphrase, I decided to marry my beloved inside a structure dedicated to ball games.

At first, we were incredibly dubious. How could we turn this metal frame into something whimsical? It wasn't exactly the lofty atrium that we had dreamed of, but the open-top meant that our ceremony took place under the stars.

The night before the ceremony, my wife and I spent hours threading plastic flowers onto fishing wire. We had raided the discount bin at our local Michael's, so we had plenty of foliage to decorate our venue. With a little tape, some cable ties, and plenty of elbow grease, we were able to transform the sporting equipment into a romantic scene.

We also had NO time to order anything, so another major project we had no choice but to undertake was baking our own wedding cake.

Marisa Green

Since my wife and I are vegan, we were hardly able to order a custom cake in time for our ceremony — in fact, most bakeries were quoting us seven days and $200!

Thankfully, I had been preparing for this moment my entire life. As an avid fan of The Great British Bake Off, I had watched my fair share of cake disasters. In the end, this turned out to be a fairly easy process.

We chose a simple recipe, and kept our flavors classic. Our sponge was vanilla bean, and the layers were sandwiched with homemade lemon curd and vanilla buttercream. With the help of a cake turntable, a Pinterest board, and Mary Berry's wise words ringing in my brain, we managed to concoct a cake that looked as good as it tasted! (The edible flowers were a nice touch too, right?)

Making a bouquet is harder than you might think.

Marisa Green

Of all the tasks we decided to undertake, the bouquets were perhaps the most Herculean. Just like all trendy brides from the past few years, we knew that we wanted baby's breath in our bouquet. We decided to add eucalyptus leaves for a muted pop of color, and set to work clearing out the $1.99 bunches from our local grocery store.

If you assume floral arrangement is an easy job, you couldn't be more wrong. Picture the scene: ten to fifteen bundles of flowers laying on my bed (which had been covered in a layer of protective plastic) whilst tears stream down my face and blood drips from my fingertips.

Still, after a quick tantrum and plenty of twine, our bouquets were practically artwork.

Conclusion: It was all worth it in the end.

Marisa Green

Sure, if someone asked me to plan their wedding in five days, I would definitely say no.

I wouldn't change my experience for the world, though, because it resulted in the perfect wedding day. Although some things were rushed, some were forgotten, and some just a huge disaster, I couldn't have cared any less when I was saying (sobbing), "I do."