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After months of planning, Brad Wilson and Brooke Cook tied the knot last weekend.
Only nothing went as planned.
The couple was supposed to get married Saturday in Dallas in front of friends and family. But as the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, began to dominate headlines as it spread across the United States, Wilson decided they couldn't wait.
Wilson and Cook live in New York, but Wilson is a Jefferson City native and his mother, Nancy Wilson, still resides in the area. Nancy Wilson said her son saw the virus spreading and businesses closing and was afraid he and his fiance wouldn't be able to leave New York if they waited longer.
That was March 12.
"They took off and did not know where they were going," Nancy Wilson said.
Everything was waiting in Dallas for the wedding that was supposed to take place the following weekend, including Cook's wedding dress. But the couple figured, correctly, nothing would be open by that point.
By March 14, they were in Charlottesville, Virginia, where Cook went to law school, scrambling to put together a wedding for that day.
"(Cook) cried the whole way there," Nancy Wilson said.
They tried multiple churches, as Nancy Wilson said "they wanted a big church wedding," but none were allowing people inside. They then tried three different wineries, she said, before finding one that was available.
The wedding was on.
Hundreds of miles away in Jefferson City sat Nancy Wilson, heartbroken at not being able to attend.
"It was certainly a let down," she said. "We were excited to see all his friends and all her friends."
The original wedding date was chosen with purpose - the birthday of her late husband and the groom's late father, Richard, was last week. Richard Wilson died in 2012 and served as president of Jefferson Bank.
As her voice cracked with emotion, Nancy Wilson described how her son and new daughter-in-law have handled the wedding and last-minute honeymoon (the original plan to visit the British Virgin Islands had to be scrapped). Though she's immensely proud of the couple, she began to cry when asked how she felt, being unable to attend.
"Terrible," she said.
She said they had made it clear she was not to leave her home, for her own health and safety. After a night in Virginia, the couple headed to start their honeymoon in Georgia before going to Florida. Nancy Wilson said nothing is planned - they're going day by day, which is a bit nerve-wracking for a parent.
"I know they'll be fine. It's just going through it," she said. "It's almost like they're on the run trying to outrun the coronavirus. They're taking each day as it comes right now."
Luckily, they are in positions where they can work remotely. Nancy Wilson said Cook has a yearlong internship starting in September in New Jersey.
"I'm very proud of how they handled everything," she said.
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