Couple Get Married at Border of Two Countries to Allow Bride’s Family to Witness Wedding
- Karen Mahoney and her husband Brian Ray went to the extreme to ensure the bride's parents witnessed the biggest day of her life
- The two got married at the US-Canadian border due to Covid-19 restrictions imposed by both countries
- The couple met 35 years ago but became an item in 2020 after going through 19 years in other relationships
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A couple decided to get married at the border of two countries in order to allow the bride's parents to witness their wedding.
Karen Mahoney and her new husband, Brian Ray, decided not to wait any longer for Covid-19 restrictions to be lifted, as they wanted to be an item as soon as possible.
According to CNN, the two met 35 years ago over a love for skiing but only engaged in March 2021.
This was because they were only friends and married to other people, with each having two kids.
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However, they got divorced around the same time, and after 19 years, they decided it was time they pursued their relationship after their first meeting in 1985.
Karen could not leave out her parents and grandmother on the best day of her life, and the only way they could witness the nuptial was at the border.
Despite her family being fully vaccinated, the US has reportedly been limiting non-essential travel with Canada at the land crossing, and the restrictions keep adding every month.
Karen's family could have opted for air travel, but she felt it would put her very old grandma at great risk.
They contacted a friend who works for the border patrol and was able to get them a nice space without any obstacles for a nice experience.
On Friday, September 24, a day before their planned wedding, they met at the border with Karen's family on the Canadian side and the other party, including the officiant, on the US side.
They were not allowed to have close interaction but still enjoyed the wedding, with the only thing not done being the signing of the certificate, which was to take place at their planned, bigger wedding on the following day in New York.
Karen's parents were able to hand over their daughter to Ray, and they noted the experience was emotional.
Couple hold drive-thru wedding
In other wedding news, a couple in Malaysia did not allow the coronavirus pandemic to stop them from holding a big wedding as 10,000 guests attended their nuptials.
According to the Covid-19 restriction in Malaysia in 2020, weddings did not exceed 20 people, but the couple decided to hold a drive-thru wedding, Yahoo! News reports.
Tengku Muhammed Hafiz, the son of former cabinet minister Tengku Adnan, got married to his bride Oceane Alagia on Sunday, December 20, 2020.
Guests at the event, which took place outside a grand government building in Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, adhered to social distancing rules.
The newlyweds were seated outside the building while guests slowly drove past in their cars. The guests only got a distant wave from the wedding party.
Source: Briefly News
Maryn Blignaut (Human-Interest HOD) Maryn Blignaut is the Human Interest manager and feature writer. She holds a BA degree in Communication Science, which she obtained from the University of South Africa in 2016. She joined the Briefly - South African News team shortly after graduating and has over six years of experience in the journalism field. Maryn passed the AFP Digital Investigation Techniques course (Google News Initiative), as well as a set of trainings for journalists by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at: maryn.blignaut@briefly.co.za
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.