Burke, NY – When a Canadian bride struggled to have a family at a U.S. wedding due to COVID-19 restrictions, she took the next best thing – she took the wedding to the limit. I did.
Karen Mahony and her new husband Brian Ray told CNN that they met 35 years ago because they loved skiing. When they finally got engaged in March, the ski instructors didn’t want to wait for them to get married. But Mahony said there was only one thing that was really important to her. That is, the wedding has parents and a 96-year-old grandmother.
“She is my only living grandparent and the only grandparent I have ever known, so it is very important to me that she have the happiest day of my life. It was important to me, ”said Mahony. “The most important part of the day for us was the promise we made to each other. We wanted our parents and grandmother to experience this. “
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States has restricted non-essential land travel with Canada, increasing those restrictions on a monthly basis. Air travel between countries is possible, but Mahony said she felt that even if her family were vaccinated, she would be at greater risk, especially given her grandmother’s age.
According to Mahony, the couple had a friend who worked for border patrols and was dating their family at a previously closed border, even when Ray asked his father, Paul, to marry. It was said that it was. So they asked a friend to help make it work again.
He explained all the rules, including making sure they stayed on their side and didn’t exchange anything, and what would happen if they saw the ceremony with a camera around. I’ve informed the patrol on duty about this. They met on the border on the outskirts of Burke, New York, the day before their scheduled wedding on September 25th.
Border crossings are similar to meadows with country markings. There were no gates or fences in the way. Mahony’s parents were on the Canadian side, the couple, the wedding reception, and the officers on the other.
“We wouldn’t have missed it, not around the world,” Mahony’s father told CNN-affiliated WPTZ.
They ended all weddings except for signing a marriage license and booked a major wedding the next day at Mahony’s home in Caddyville, NY.
Ray and Mahony said the experience was touching.
“The pastor asked if they (my parents) would admit that Brian swore to love the rest of our lives and they accepted him into the Mahony clan and responded. “We do,” and it was very emotional, “Mahoney said.
“I cried,” said Ray. “It was good for me because I knew how much it meant to her to see my parents and grandmother here, and we took an oath.”
The couple met in 1985 while Ray Mahony was teaching skiing. They remained friends for many years, even after they both got married and each had two boys. About 10 years ago, Ray was the one who taught Mahoney boys to ski.
After each was married for 19 years, they divorced and were put together in a Facebook post in which Mahony sold his beloved car. Ray knew she loved cars and they started talking about them and the rest was history.
They’ve been together for a year, and in March Ray used his love of skiing to propose marriage to the top of a mountain in Vermont.
“A spectacular day of skiing and bluebird heaven. It was perfect, ”said Mahony.
“Forever and a day and then a few more. That’s us, ”said Ray.
COVID-19 restrictions prevented her family from attending her wedding, so she got married on the Canadian border
