DAVINA + DAVID

Covid-19 wedding at the Canada US border

The story of David and Davina’s wedding is one of our favourites from this past year. It’s a perfect example of finding a way when the cards are stacked against you. The wedding took pace in Stanstead, QC, where the border between Canada and the US is a row of flower pots and some caution tape. Yup.

As we understood it, you don’t book the spot, you just show up and hope that border patrol is in a good mood that day. They were :)

We asked Davina and David to tell us their story for our blog. Enjoy!

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Davina (from Ottawa) and David (from Washington, DC) met in New York City, where they both have been living since 2016. After a year of nagging from both of their mothers, Davina and David reluctantly found themselves attending a young adult Friday night dinner at the local Jewish Community Centre. Well, it turns out mothers do always know best, and from the moment they walked in the doors serendipitously at the exact same time, they knew there was a special connection that flourished quickly. Soon they were engaged and had an entire wedding planned and booked at Ottawa's National Arts Centre for September 6, 2020.

As soon as COVID hit, they quickly realized their wedding plans may have to change -- perhaps be downsized. However, the closure of the Canada-US border brought a whole new level of adjustments to be made. So, Davina and David (with some creativity from Davina's brother), decided to host their wedding right at the border between Canada and the US so that David's American family and Davina's Canadian families could be together (albeit - separated by yellow tape and forbidden from touching!)

They found a border location which separated the countries only by flower pots and tape, making it an ideal wedding venue!! Davina and David stood under the Jewish wedding canopy (the chuppah) on the American side of the border, with her parents and brother (who also served as the wedding musician) standing just across the tape. The wedding was 12 people instead of 250, and the "reception" was on a picnic blanket on a public intersection rather than the NAC, but it was filled with even more love and happiness than they could have ever planned.

They reached out to Union Eleven to see if they would be willing to make the trek out to Stanstead, QC and take pictures of the event from a different country. Union Eleven was enthusiastic about the challenge and said yes in a heartbeat. Davina and David wanted their friends and family to be part of the day, so asked Union Eleven to livestream the event. Despite having no power source, no wifi, and no ability to attach mics to the Rabbi or the bride and groom, (remember - no touching across border), Andrew and Derrick made it happen flawlessly! Friends and family were able to watch all around the world, (including a watch party on a big screen at Davina's grandmother's in Ottawa) and said they saw and heard the ceremony even better than they would have in person! Derrick captured the day in photos beautifully and creatively.

While they are unlikely to forget this day, Davina and David are so thrilled to have such stunning photos to tell the story with for the rest of their lives.