Depina Wedding Prevails over COVID-19 Threat

Lisabeth Almeida and Brandon Depina both work at the Nazarene Christian Academy in New Bedford. After they got engaged back in August, they were trying to decide on a wedding date and settled on the Saturday heading into April vacation. That was months before anyone had ever heard the word coronavirus.

As the COVID-19 situation heated up last month, and April 18th was drawing closer and closer, the couple had a decision to make. They had their heart set on their wedding date and didn't want to postpone for a number of reasons, but especially because their grandparents are getting older and "tomorrow is no guarantee," said Brandon.

With the two Portuguese families merging, they were looking at a guest list of roughly 300 people. Clearly, that was going to be impossible right now, so they decided to revamp the wedding to conform to social distancing guidelines.

The wedding was moved from White's of Westport to Smith Mills Holiness Camp in Dartmouth, the very spot where Brandon proposed to Lisabeth. Instead of letting the virus ruin their wedding day, the couple embraced it as a theme. The bride and groom wore masks and got some coveted items for wedding gifts: Lysol spray, tissues, and even paper towels. Ridiculous gifts just months ago, they are now worth their weight in gold.

Friends and family pulled up in their cars and lined the property around the pavilion. They remained in their cars – socially distanced, of course – as the guests watched the ceremony being streamed on Zoom.