San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
With these hoops I thee wed
With pandemic canceling plans, couple marries at Chase Center
Love in the time of coronavirus requires innovation. Patience and perspective. Flexibility and creativity.
All the things that make a good marriage.
So, when Lindsay Hirsch and Dustin Schneider realized their wedding plans were being upended by the pandemic, they pivoted. The San Francisco couple lives a short distance from two beautiful, currently unused venues: Oracle Park and Chase Center. When their planned wedding at Disney World in Orlando was clearly impossible, they got creative.
“We thought, let’s get married here and celebrate the city that we love,” Dustin said.
The pivot, naturally, took them toward basketball. Toward the Chase Center. They had attended a few events there, loved the energy it brought to their neighborhood. They reached out to Chronicle Warriors beat writer Connor Le
“We thought, let’s get married here and celebrate the city that we love.”
Dustin Schneider, who married Lindsay Hirsch outside Chase Center after their plans for a Disney World wedding were scuttled by the coronavirus
tourneau, who put them in touch with Warriors senior vice president of communications Raymond Ridder, and the wheels were set in motion.
Which is how, on a glorious San Francisco Saturday morning, on the plaza outside the new arena, Dustin and Lindsay became husband and wife, with Warriors rookie Jordan Poole acting as their witness.
“I couldn’t say no to that,” said Poole, who immediately agreed to be a witness when asked.
He wore a mask, a Warriors jersey that said Schneider above the date 523 and presented the couple with their rings.
“This is quite dope,” Poole said, noting that it was cool that Dustin is a graduate of Michigan, where Poole played ball. When the couple were pronounced husband and wife, with their family and friends watching virtually on Facebook Live, the giant big screen outside of Chase lit up with fireworks and words of congratulations.
“It surpassed my expectations,” Dustin said.
The couple met through the dating site, the League. Dustin, originally from New York, works for Facebook. Lindsay, who studied Chinese and international marketing, had been traveling and working abroad for a few years, but was planning to move to San Francisco in early 2019. The couple spent hours on the phone getting to know each other before Lindsay made the move. When they were finally in the same place, they arranged to meet in Alamo Square. When they spotted each other, Lindsay leapt into Dustin’s arms and kissed him.
“We’ve been inseparable from that point on,” Dustin said.
They both knew what they wanted. Lindsay had lost her father, making her painfully aware of what is important in life. Dustin had already been through a marriage and divorce. As Lindsay, 31, said in her vows to Dustin, 37, “you are my person, let’s do this.”
In December, they got engaged at the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. Lindsay is from what Dustin terms a “Disney family,” visiting the parks regularly. The proposal combined that love with an iconic view of the Golden Gate Bridge, a symbol of their new home.
Lindsay’s family was planning a trip to Disney World in May. The couple, who didn’t want a long engagement and are eager to start a family, decided to turn that family trip into the chance for an intimate wedding. They had watches engraved with their 523 wedding date, napkins printed with it. They were ready to roll.
But in March the park, along with much of life, closed down.
Time to pivot.
Getting a marriage license was challenging. The couple was ready to gas up the car and drive to the only clerk’s office they could find open, in Orange County, when their officiant Rebeca Delgadillo learned that Alameda County was open. She helped them with their paperwork and 523 became a reality.
Lindsay was lent a dress from Kinsley James (borrowed), got a spray tan from Get into the Limelight (new), had a bouquet of flowers donated by Rae and Rose (with some blue) and donned a watch of her father’s (old). She in her high heels and veil, and Dustin in his tux, walked the five blocks to Chase Center, hearing cars honk and passersby applaud as they went.
They didn’t wear masks for the ceremony, but Delgadillo did — covered with hearts. She spoke of marriage as “an act of complete faith, especially in uncertain times.” Dustin’s vows noted that life may not be easy but that they would make it by
“going through it side by side.” Lindsay told him, “I found home when I found you.”
When the ceremony, with the handful of attendees (a few photographers, reporters and team employees), was over and the virtual fireworks went off, the couple embraced. And then donned custom Warriors jerseys.
“It’s just made us really appreciate what we have,” Lindsay said.
They hope to honeymoon sometime in Peru but aren’t sure when they’ll be able to. They’ll get to Disney World sometime, though the NBA might beat them there, if the league carries out a plan to hold playoffs at the resort. There are a lot of questions.
But on Saturday, there was one lifechanging answer.
“This,” said Dustin, looking at his new wife, “is the important part. We know that.”