Plan B: a Front Porch Wedding

Before the coronavirus started making its way through New Jersey, Julie Samuels and Joe Hillyer had planned a simple town hall wedding with just witnesses, followed by an intimate dinner at home. It wasn’t to be. Weeks before the civil ceremony scheduled for March 27 in Montclair, N.J., friends and family members started petitioning to…

Jenna Kaye-Kauderer, Scott Steinberg

Jenna Blair Kaye-Kauderer and Scott Michael Steinberg are to be married March 29 in Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Halley Kaye-Kauderer, the bride’s sister, who is affiliated with Open Ministry, is to officiate. The couple had originally planned to wed at the Champagne Powder Room, an events space at the top of…

Margaret Walker, Aran Clair

Margaret Frances Matilda Walker and Aran Lundgren Clair were married March 25 on the plaza of the Arlington Courthouse in Arlington, Va. Isabel Kaldenbach, a civil celebrant authorized by the Arlington County Circuit Court, officiated. The couple originally planned to marry at the First Presbyterian Church in Nashville before the Centers for Disease Control and…

Strangers in an Empty Dorm

Andrew Platt answered the knock on his dormitory door a week before classes began at Grinnell College in August 2009. He found Sarah Mayer standing there. Mr. Platt, then an incoming freshman, arrived early to the campus in Grinnell, Iowa, so he could go on a canoe trip for students, while Ms. Mayer, a sophomore,…

They Overcame Marriage Fears

Because marriage is an ever-evolving experience, we constantly shift, change and, in some cases, start over. In It’s No Secret, couples share thoughts about commitment and tell us what they have learned, revealing their secret to making it work. (Answers are edited for context and space.) Who Alexa Pulitzer, 48, and Seth Levine, 42. Occupations…

Brittany Harris, Naseem Beauchman

Brittany Virginia Lucille Harris and Dr. Naseem Neon Beauchman were married March 21 at the home of Ms. Harris’s parents in Oakland, Calif. Leon F. Beauchman, the father of the groom and a Universal Life minister, officiated. The couple had originally planned to wed at the Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa, Calif., before the…

Justine Roach, Hrishikesh Desai

Justine Victoria Roach and Hrishikesh Padmanabh Desai were married March 21 at the home of Ms. Roach’s parents in Beverly Hills, Calif. Rabbi Laura Geller officiated at a ceremony incorporating Jewish and Hindu wedding traditions. The couple had planned to wed at the Ojai Valley Inn, a resort in Ojai, Calif., before the Centers for…

Alex Fishman, Anthony Shirk

Alex Ethan Fishman and Anthony Richard Shirk were married March 21 at their home in New York. Rabbi Gary Katz officiated. On Nov. 8, the couple is to have a celebratory ceremony led by Rabbi Matthew L. Green at the Roundhouse, an events space in Beacon, N.Y. Mr. Fishman (left), 29, is a senior innovation…