“This is the beginning of the end.”

Friends and Family, 

We miss you all and hope that things are going alright for you in 2020. What strong spirits we all are. It has been 2 months since we got married and we are pleased to report that we are still very happy and are getting used to calling each other husband and wife.

We now present to you our COVID wedding story!

No matter what - we were set on getting married August 1st, 2020. Despite all of the outside noise, we were on a mission to become The Millers. 

With big weddings called off in 2020 and LA City Halls closed, the LA County Registrar was only offering Zoom ceremonies, however, these ceremonies were completely booked with no option for reservations. This put us in a pickle but we slept on it.

Matt woke up the next morning and said, “I had a dream that we went to a drive thru chapel in LA.”  And hey, that didn't sound like such a bad idea, but we thought drive thru chapels were only in Las Vegas. A simple google search did the trick and believe it or not we found one drive thru wedding chapel about 10 miles from our house. Could this be it?!

Alberton’s Chapel had a 10am, 12pm, and 2pm appointment available. But due to COVID19 restrictions, the bride and groom were the only ones allowed at the ceremony. Although this was a bit of hard news, it was another reminder that our wedding day is truly just about the two of us and our commitment to a life long partnership. We reserved the 2pm time slot and decided to let August 1st be the first and only time we ever go to Alberston’s Chapel.

On our wedding day, we got ready separately and met in our backyard for our first look. I came down the stairs to meet Matt in our garden and it felt so special and perfect for the both of us. Moments later, a new and dear friend took our photos and video on film. After capturing our joy and excitement, the two of us headed off ALONE to the chapel in Matt’s grandfather’s 1977 Mercedes that we had imported from Italy last year.

As we drove deeper into Los Angeles, the gas gauge of the Mercedes started to act up, bouncing from empty to full. “Uh oh…better safe than sorry, we better stop to get some gas.” We pulled off to the nearest gas station, in a very busy intersection, full of people, in let's say not the nicest neighborhood. We received numerous looks, several honks, hoots, and hollers. A great pitstop and addition to the whole wedding story.

We were quickly on our way and arrived promptly at 2pm to Albertson’s Chapel. Not quite what we pictured, the chapel was in a small strip  mall in a shared parking lot with a dry cleaner and a donut shop. It appeared to be more like a curbside service than a drive thru. Again, another great addition to our story. We checked in and were told that they were running a bit behind and would let us know when they were ready for us. “Please go ahead and wait in your car with AC until then”, the hostess said.

Well… our lovely car does not have AC, so we waited outside the chapel in a small sliver of shade. We used the extra time to take pictures and soak up our last moments as single people.

Finally our officiant, David, came to greet us. “The Millers! Thank you so much for waiting, our sincerest apologies for the delay. Because you have been so patient and understanding we would love to offer you a free upgrade and marry you inside the chapel! If you are ready please follow me inside.”

The chapel was decorated beautifully, with chandeliers and fake white flowers hanging from the ceiling. Several empty chairs filled the space with just the two of us and David (who was amazing). We set up our tripod and took a few selfies before the ceremony. “David, may we take off our masks for the ceremony?” I asked. “Unfortunately we are required to keep our masks on, my sincerest apologies”, David said. Thank goodness my sister, Chiyo, made us black and white silk masks to match our attire. Our ceremony was short and sweet, traditional and personal vows were exchanged, and our first kiss happened with masks on - talk about a COVID wedding - and just like that we officially became THE MILLERS.

The next day we went on our honeymoon, a staycation at the house Matt grew up in. While everything did not go as originally planned, we can honestly say that our wedding experience was perfect and we could not be happier. While we missed each and every one of you, your messages, love, and support of our relationship has been felt since day 1. All of you have played a part in our story.  THANK YOU TO EVERYONE. We hope we can celebrate our union together in the future (don’t worry the rave will still happen) but until then we send our deepest thanks and gratitude to each of you for your kind words, gifts, flowers, and love! We hope that you all have been hanging in alright during these unprecedented and trying times, cherishing what's most important. We love you all so much and send big hugs your way.


xoxo,

The Millers