The North Plat te Telegraph Bridal Guide 11
people to put on masks. “That’s not fun, to be the bride and tell people they’re not obeying the rules. I didn’t want to have to go and be a police (officer) at my own wedding.” That, combined with her family’s not being able to attend and the money the couple had spent booking a venue, caterer and wedding photographer, eventually made them say, “Oh my gosh, this is not worth it,” Elizabeth said. At that point, the couple simply had a private ceremony at the Prairie Arts Center with Kip’s sisters and two of Elizabeth’s brothers as witnesses, followed by a dinner at the Switchyard Pub & Grill, which was supposed to cater their event. They did it all a day earlier than they had planned. “Now everything is kind of on hold as far as big celebrations for later,” Elizabeth said. Local vendors provided a bit of a bright spot for the Thayers. The Prairie Arts Center, which they had initially booked until midnight, allowed them to use space to host their half-hour-long private ceremony. “They were great,” Elizabeth said. “They have set prices for certain things, but in this case they just said to make a donation, consider it an hour time and kind of go from there. They worked really well with us, especially changing the day.” Elizabeth also said Bible Supplies reprinted all of their personalized items with the new date, Switchyard gave their deposit back and Westfield Floral refunded their flower order. The Thayers are hoping family will be able to join them to celebrate the marriage sometime during the summer. To others in similar situations, Elizabeth advises, “Remember why you’re getting married, what the purpose at the end of the day is. And all the other stuff is just stuff.”
Elizabeth Kip and Kids: Elizabeth and Kip Thayer share a kiss after their private Nov, 27 ceremony at the Prairie Arts Center. With them are their children, 9-year-old Bently, 8-year-old Gatlyn, and 7-year-old Avery. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Thayer. ‘Oh my gosh, this is not worth it’ For others, it wasn’t quite that simple, especially with family far away. Elizabeth Thayer’s parents and nine siblings live in Connecticut and couldn’t come to the Nov. 28, 2020, event that Thayer and her then-fiancé, Kip, had been planning for a while. “It was the week of (the wedding) that my family was like, ‘We’re not coming. It’s just not going to make sense for us to come out, spend the money and potentially not even be able to celebrate with you.’” In addition, directed health measures were becoming stricter as hospitals across Nebraska filled with COVID-19 patients. They’d already planned around some of the restrictions, such as limiting their party to less than 80 people. Then the week of the wedding, Elizabeth had to send a note to all the attendees saying no children would be able to attend. And then another that no one would be able to bring a plus-one. “At this point, I was like, nobody is going to have fun. You have to sit at your table, you can’t dance,” she said, and she didn’t want to have to tell
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