It was meant to be a family Irish Wedding, it turned out be a romantic Wedding at Point Grace, Turks and Caicos. This is a love story of Maria and Tim, a sweet couple that saw their dream turned upside down by the pandemic. A different plan, but certainly a great call, as “The entire experience in Turks and Caicos Islands has surpassed our expectations“.

A few months ago, I started to ask my brides to write a few words to make my blog posts more personal… I love this new tradition, so “let’s pass the microphone” to Maria:

“We were going to Turks and Caicos on our honeymoon from the very beginning after spending a week in Ireland. We decided to just elope on our honeymoon in Turks and Caicos. We were able to keep our same wedding  date, October 10, 2020. It was honestly one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. All the stress and heartbreak of Ireland turned Providenciales in the British West Indies a dream come true for us. Our Wedding at Point Grace was absolutely gorgeous from sunrise to sunset. It was perfect in every way.

Let’s start from the beginning:

“Tim and I met on Coffee Meets Bagel, the dating App. I am a nurse and Tim is an electrician. He proposed to me 17 months later at my favorite spot in Penny Pack park in Philadelphia. The engagement took place in March, the week everything started shutting down due to Covid.  We kept the engagement only to family in hopes to have a small ceremony under 100 people in Ireland.

Little did we know, Covid wasn’t going away anytime soon. I had my whole wedding planned within 2 weeks for Corlough, County Cavan, Ireland with 90 family members. Tim and I visited Ireland the September prior. I fell in love with of Corlough, Tim’s mother little town – I felt like I was transported in a Wallmark movie. We decided to get married at the same church his parents were married in, St. Patrick’s in Corlough. All summer I waited to see if things would get better with the quarantine in Ireland, but it did not. I had a glimmer of hope when Ireland came out with a green list but unfortunately the U.S. was not on that list due to the highest cases of Covid in the world.

I had a milestone birthday in August, turning 40, and just needed to get past my birthday with positive vibes only. Then I officially canceled all my wedding plans in Ireland – we were heartbroken over this. But we decided we were ready to be married and we were going to try hard not to let Covid stop us. Eloping to Turks and Caicos was the answer.

Ileana helped me get into my wedding dress and was my best friend that day. She also was very helpful in recommending Point Grace Resort, as well as Pastor Sherlock Padmore as the officiant. Tim and I are both Catholic. We still hope to have a Catholic ceremony in the future at St. Patrick’s church in Ireland. Pastor Sherlock made the ceremony religious for us and included the readings we wanted. We also said the Hail Mary. It was a dream come true for Tim and I.

There is always hope and a blessing in disguise. As Tim likes to say, a candle in the window on a cold dark winter’s night to quote the song lyric. This is our love story.

“The skies were clear and the sunset was the color of love. I truly felt like my prayers were answered and every loved on we had was there in spirit with Tim and I. It was the best day of our lives”.

© Attimi Photography – Turks and Caicos Photographer