Wedding day in Petrolia brings together 9 couples eager to tie the knot

The Town of Petrolia in Lambton County is hosting a full day of civil ceremonies on Saturday, June 26 for couples who have been unable to get married throughout the pandemic. 

Nine couples will be given half an hour each with a few attendees for their ceremony, followed by the opportunity to have pictures taken around Bridgeview Park where the events will be held. 

Mandi Pearson, the operations clerk for Petrolia, said the idea for the event came together after the town received multiple requests from couples asking for any kind of accommodation to be made. 

"We started to get calls during the pandemic of would we be able to assist with couples that had to either have their wedding cancelled, changed or postponed" Pearson said. "We noticed in the end of April, early May, the calls that we started getting were increasing with couples saying 'Please we really want to do something.'"

Due to indoor gathering restrictions at the time the town was unable to help, but with warmer weather and limits on outdoor gatherings increasing they decided to conduct the ceremonies outside. 

Initially the town had seven time slots available for the day but added two more to accommodate additional requests. Four other couples are still on a waitlist should a party cancel or if another date is added. 

One of the couples participating in the ceremonies on Saturday are Mike Bruce and Lindsay Peterson. This will be their fourth attempt at getting married after COVID-19 restrictions and cancellations forced them to wait. 

"The location was really nice, but it's very affordable. It's a civil ceremony outdoors in a beautiful space, and it's $175. Even when we were looking at other pop-up wedding opportunities, it was still between $1,500 and $3,000", Peterson said.

"We've invested a lot of time and money and we haven't been able to get all of our deposits back from different plans that we've made. And understandably, because the vendors haven't been working either."

Despite this, the couple feel a strong connection to the town and park where the ceremonies will take place. 

"When we heard that the town was doing this, it made perfect sense. It's literally the park that's in my parent's backyard. I used to go and sit there when I was a kid and daydream my world away," said Peterson. 

Though not how they would've imagined it, both are looking forward to their nuptials in a place where sometimes even day-dreams come true. 

LISTEN | Hear more about how this event came together on CBC Radio's Afternoon Drive: