KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – The coronavirus is affecting every aspect of life, including matrimony.

This is the first part of Clay Today’s wedding series where we’ll dive into the stories of brides and grooms-to-be who have had to drastically change their wedding plans as a result of the coronavirus.

Denise Wasdin and Corey Castell were set to walk the aisle and say their vows on April 4. The weather was exactly the spring sunshine Wasdin had dreamed about for years. Her entire family, including family members from Mexico, were set to be there seated alongside Castell’s family. Her grandmother, whose health has been unfortunately declining for some time now, would have been there as would she and Castell’s two 12-year-old dogs.

“It would have been perfect,” Wasdin said.

The coronavirus prevented all of that from happening and now Wasdin and Castell won’t say “I do” until April 10 of next year.

Wasdin and Castell originally picked April 4 for a number of reasons.

“We picked this day because my grandmother is not doing well and we wanted to make sure she could attend,” Wasdin said. “We also have some family from Mexico coming in, so we had to set our date quite early which is why we picked April 4 over a year ago. They had to prepare visitor visas and it’s a lot of work, work that they had already started, so this year seemed right.”

April is also Wasdin’s favorite month of the year.

“I had always dreamed of my wedding being in April,” Wasdin said. “I love spring and its nice, cool weather, and our venue is [Belle Oaks Barn in Bradford County], which is perfect for this time of the year.”

She said planning everything was, of course, extremely stressful and required a lot of planning but she remembers paying the final vendor in March and feeling the relief of knowing everything was ready to go. At that same time, the coronavirus had started making waves around the world. It hadn’t yet hit the United States in such an impactful way in early March, so Wasdin and Castell were still hopeful, as were their family and friends.

Then things began to change. The first few cases of the coronavirus started to pop up in America and people began to worry, rightfully so.

“There was one weekend when everything got significantly worse,” Wasdin said. “Everyone started saying they couldn’t go. My co-workers got worried and started to say they wouldn’t be able to make it. My family, though, was still saying they’d be there.”

Wasdin didn’t sleep well that week and found herself constantly on the verge of tears as a result of the stress. It wasn’t until her family in Mexico said they couldn’t go due to flights being cancelled that she and Castell decided to postpone the wedding.

“What’s next?” Wasdin recalls asking herself. The answer was four days of immense stress. After selecting three new dates – one in May, one in June, and April 10 of next year – she asked all seven of her wedding vendors what day would work best for everyone involved.

Be it fate, destiny, or coincidence, April 10 worked best for the vendors. Wasdin will get her April wedding like she’s always wanted, even though she and Castell have to wait another year. The couple didn’t lose a single deposit either as all vendors were “on her team, working to make sure everything was perfect.”

As great as rescheduling went – her friends and family were all on board for next year – the new date brought with it some new stresses. The health of Wasdin’s grandmother was already a worry with the original date. Now, Wasdin, Castell and their family have to wonder if her grandmother will be there for the wedding next year.

“It was a question of picking a date sooner and risk exposing her to the virus or picking a safer date, even though she’s not guaranteed to be there,” Wasdin said. “I don’t want my wedding to be the cause of her passing if she were to get the virus then so we picked a date that we hope will be out of the virus’ way. Unfortunately, now we have to wonder if she’ll be able to make it, but I’d rather take that chance than the chance of her contracting the virus at our wedding.”

That’s not all, though. Wasdin and Castell’s two 12-year-old dogs were set to walk down the aisle as the “best dog” and “dog of honor.” With their age, Wasdin isn’t sure if their dogs will be around next year to walk down the aisle.

“It was such a hard choice picking that date,” Wasdin said.

Their original wedding day recently passed, and Wasdin took it in stride.

“I tried to keep it together and with work and everything going on in the world, there wasn’t time for me to get sad over this,” Wasdin said. “Things were changing, the world was changing and every day, we were all learning something new [about the virus]. I didn’t have time to be selfish or sad about my wedding when people around the world were dying. But obviously I was sad, and I felt guilty for being sad.”

Wasdin said it wasn’t until Castell asked her how she was holding up that day that she lost it.

“I just finally broke down,” Wasdin said. “None of this was fair for anybody, but that’s what it was and together, he and I pushed through.”

Wasdin said the most irritating aspect of original date was the weather. It was perfect, she said, and everything she had dreamed it would be that day. Why couldn’t it have been awful weather, she remembers jokingly asking herself.

Because of how helpful and supportive the wedding vendors, family and friends have been, the new wedding date for next year came with relative ease. Everything is set to go so now Wasdin said she can spend the next year tweaking things and purchasing additional wedding things that originally the couple wasn’t able to fit into their wedding finances.

Because the wedding was supposed to be a rustic Mexican-fusion-themed wedding, Wasdin had been growing her very own succulents and cactuses that would have served as decoration for the wedding. Now she has an abundance of succulents and cactuses to get rid of while she re-starts the process in preparation for next year.

Despite the abundance of succulents, the worry for her grandmother and her dogs, and the wait for next year, Wasdin said she’s grateful she was able to reschedule everything so smoothly; grateful that her wedding won’t be the cause of any positive coronavirus cases; grateful that her vendors, family and friends were so supportive; and of course, grateful for her fiancé.

“We’re remaining positive,” Wasdin. “Things could be worse, things could be better, but we’re remaining positive. April 10 will be perfect.”