Sometimes plans change. Even wedding plans. That doesn’t mean that special day can’t be magical, even miraculous. When the pandemic put a damper on their original nuptials, April Tomas, who serves as Beverage Director at Civil Libation and Whiskey Kitchen in Virginia Beach, and Remo Cacatian, who works for Amazon, decided to save the date and head to the Courthouse. When even that fell through, a bit of divine intervention led to an unexpected journey to joy.
The Couple: April Tomas and Remo Cacatian
The Date: Oct. 23, 2020
The Location: Somewhere in Pungo, The Wedding Officiant’s Backyard, Virginia Beach
Guest List: The Mother of the Bride, The Mother of the Groom and the Best Man (Groom’s brother)
How They Met: April and Remo met through mutual friends in college. They became best friends and served as each other’s “wingmen.”
The Engagement: On a hike in Lake Tahoe on the couple’s 10-year dating anniversary, Remo popped the question at a waterfall. “I had a feeling it was coming,” says April, “but I still started crying happy tears. He had to ask me, ‘is that a yes?’”
Wedding Wishes: While the couple had imagined a Roaring ’20s themed wedding at the Chrysler Museum of Art, the pandemic had other plans. Conscious of the health and safety of their friends and family, like many couples in 2020, they had to make the hard decision to forego that dream wedding and take the hit on non-refundable deposits to venues and vendors.
Happy Ending: April and Remo decided they wanted to stick with the original wedding date—thinking it was bad luck to change it. April explains: “We decided to do first-look photos at Redwing Park, get married at the Virginia Beach Courthouse then continue a wedding photo shoot at Oak Grove Park.
Unfortunately, when we got to the Courthouses on our wedding day, an officer yelled, ‘Sorry you can’t get married today, they are closed due to a COVID outbreak!’ A sweet lady, who my husband calls our guardian angel, overheard and told us that the Justice of the Peace did ceremonies in his beautiful backyard in Pungo. She called him and asked if he could marry us, and he said he’d have us married by 4:30!”
What’s Next: On their one-year wedding anniversary, they took a two-week vacation to Hawaii: “It was paradise.” Parenthood is something they dream about and are looking forward to.
Hair and Makeup: Sarah Rillon, TheMakeupSchoolSR.com
Photography: Glenn Fajota, GlennFajota.com
