Photos: A woman asked her grandmothers to be her bridesmaids

Megan Kennedy and Thomas Cahoon have been together since 2017.

Kennedy and Cahoon met on Match.com in 2017.

Both recently opened their profiles when they combined; Kennedy had created his account just nine days before sending a message to Cahoon.

“He responded immediately and we met four days later,” said Kennedy. “We have literally been together ever since.”

“It was the best online dating success story,” she added.

The couple were supposed to get married in March 2020, but had to postpone because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Their wedding was supposed to have 200 guests originally, so it wasn’t going to work.

They rescheduled the wedding for October 2020 and planned to have just 30 guests in order to comply with security guidelines in London at the time.

But two weeks before the wedding, they had to further limit the guest list.

“They changed the guidelines, so only 15 people could attend our wedding,” Kennedy told Insider.

Since then, the UK has been in blockade to try to contain the virus, but at the time, small groups could still get together.

Cahoon and Kennedy only invited family members to the wedding, which meant that most of Kennedy’s bridesmaids, including his bridesmaid, could not attend.

While she was thinking about how to change her wedding party, Kennedy decided to find two very special bridesmaids.

Kennedy decided to ask his grandmothers to be his bridesmaids.

Kennedy is close to her grandparents: Gillian Holloway, 80, and Mary Kennedy, 90.

Since they play such an important role in her life and the event would be so small, she thought it made sense that they were her bridesmaids.

“I just said, ‘Look, I would love it if you were with me. You are my most important people,'” Kennedy said of how she asked her grandmothers to be her bridesmaids.

“We just want you to feel like a VIP,” she also told them.

The grandmothers thought she was joking at first, but when they finally believed she was serious, they accepted.

Kennedy made the safety of his grandmothers a priority during the marriage.

The ceremony took place in a church that can accommodate 200 people, but only 15 people were present on the wedding day.

Both Kennedy’s grandmothers sat with people from their own families and were socially distant from everyone else, and everyone in the church had to use hand sanitizer when entering and leaving. All the guests also wore masks.

Kennedy and Cahoon isolated themselves as much as they could in the 10 days prior to the wedding to decrease their chances of becoming ill.

No one was exposed to the coronavirus at the wedding.

Both grandmothers use a wheelchair, but one was able to walk with a cane and support during the wedding.

They arrived at the ceremony just before Kennedy, and she told Insider that she was thrilled to see them.

“It was very exciting, because I just couldn’t believe that we were finally going to get married after such a great year,” she said.

In addition, Kennedy hadn’t been able to see his grandmothers much over the year, so having them at their wedding seemed extremely important.

Kennedy and his grandmothers carried bouquets made by Bloom East.

Kennedy said his grandmothers loved to attend the wedding.

They were “so proud” of being bridesmaids, according to Kennedy.

“There has only been bad news this year, especially for them, and it has been a really scary time,” she continued. “It was good for them to feel special.”

Both grandmothers were at home during the vast majority of the pandemic, so it was refreshing for them to go out and be at such an important event for their granddaughter.

The grandmothers were able to pose for some pictures before leaving the ceremony.

After the ceremony, Kennedy’s grandmothers were removed from the rest of the group so that they could celebrate briefly from a safe distance.

When they posed for pictures, they were outside and it took less than a minute for the photographer, Kristian Leven, to take their photos.

They then left, ensuring that they were as close to other people as possible throughout the day – while still celebrating their granddaughter.

Kennedy told Insider that walking down the hall was his favorite part of the wedding day.

She said the moment was special because, as she walked down the hall, she realized that she was finally getting married, her grandmothers were there and Cahoon seemed “very happy” to see her.

Her friends also surprised her with a farewell socially away from the street, which made the day even more special.