Despite change of plans, a nurse has a dream wedding.
Brooke Wallace and Russell Boremann met the old-fashioned way: They were set up on a blind date, fell in love and decided to get married. Then COVID-19 threw a kink into their happily-ever-after plans.
Wallace works as a nurse at Texas Children’s Hospital. Boremann lived in San Antonio at the time.
“A friend of mine told Russell that he had to meet this girl who was living in Houston,” she said. “So, he called me up and asked me out for drinks.”
They met at Bosscat Kitchen & Libations, a craft cocktail bar across the street from Wallace’s apartment. She figured, “If it’s a bad date, I can just walk home.”
The opposite happened — sparks flew. Drinks turned into dinner. And dinner turned into late-night dessert.
Boremann offered to drive back the following weekend so he could take Wallace out again. They went bowling.
“That was the first time he held my hand,” says Wallace, 26. “On our second date.”
Their courtship began in the summer of 2018. By February the following year, Boremann had moved to Houston, switched careers from construction to commercial real estate, and knew he wanted to propose. So he planned a ruse and asked his girlfriend if she’d accompany him to a coworker’s wedding at the Houstonian.
When Wallace searched for the fictional couple’s gift registry, nothing came up.
“I went along with it, because I didn’t want to ruin his surprise,” she said.
He proposed in the resort’s white lattice gazebo. They set the date for April 4.
Then they drove to her parents’ house in Katy, where 50 of their friends and family members were waiting to celebrate.
“The original plan was a ceremony at Houston’s First Baptist Church and then our reception at the Briar Club,” Wallace said. “In mid-March, our florist called to confirm that we were moving forward with our April 4 date because they were going to place our floral order.”
The request struck her as odd. She hadn’t thought about postponing the wedding at that point. But everything changed once the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended no events with more than 250 people, as news of the coronavirus spread.
“We started praying about it and met with the pastor who was going to marry us,” Wallace said. “I teetered back and forth between wanting to just be married and wanting to have that special day.”
With 270 names on the guest list, it could go either way. “The Sunday before we had to make our decision, the CDC said no more than 50 people could congregate. And that was our clear answer.”
Wallace was able to rebook their wedding venues and vendors to a new date, Oct. 10. But she and Boremann decided they couldn’t wait that long. On April 4, they exchanged vows inside the chapel at First Baptist.
“Our pastor, Brad Talbert, called city council to get special permission,” the bride said. “We wanted to be compliant. They said that if the weather was nice we had to be outside, but if the weather was inclement we could use the chapel. There was a torrential downpour that day, and it was such a blessing.”
The groom’s brother brought a portable speaker to stream music for Wallace’s walk down the aisle and the newlyweds’ recession — while their wedding party watched on Zoom.
The mother-of-the-bride planned the reception at their home in Katy. She spent a week collecting roses from Trader Joe’s so there would be enough rose petals to scatter across the floor.
“It looked like a garden,” Wallace said.
To practice social distancing, each household held court at a different table. And everyone wore masks — until it was time for the wedding feast from Carrabba’s Italian Grill.
“At the church I wore my wedding dress, but I didn’t want to wear it to my parent’s house because it has a big skirt. My grandmother said that she still had her wedding dress, so that’s what I ended up wearing. It’s 56 years old, and she got to see me in it,” Wallace said. “That never would’ve happened at my original wedding.”
After she and Boremann had their first dance in her parent’s foyer, and their 10 wedding guests waved glowsticks to Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration,” the bride changed into her grandmother’s vintage blue skirt suit. Married at last.
“We honeymooned at our new house, but tried to be funny about it. We turned on YouTube and listened to waves crashing on the night we were supposed to have dinner on the beach,” Wallace said.
“It was better than the 270person wedding because this was intimate, and so sweet.”
“My grandmother said that she still had her wedding dress, so that’s what I ended up wearing. It’s 56 years old, and she got to see me in it. That never would’ve happened at my original wedding.”
Brooke Wallace