Weddings are getting smaller and going virtual in the time of coronavirus.

Everything was set for the elaborate April 11 wedding of Anna Kong and Ali Maheri. Kong, who is of Chinese descent, had two dresses ready: a white Western wedding gown and a red Chinese wedding dress. To honor Maheri’s heritage, a Persian ceremony was also planned. As Covid-19 spread, Kong and Maheri – both physicians – came to the realization they would have to postpone the wedding.

“We were following it closely – a little too closely when you think about it,” says Kong, who works as a family physician for Valle Verde Medical Group in Salinas and delivers babies at Natividad. (Maheri is a hospitalist in Contra Costa County.) “I think I was more crushed because I’m a woman and I planned all this, but another part of me was not surprised.”

At first they postponed the wedding to June, but after all the planning and anticipation of being wed on April 11, they decided to elope that day on the sand of Carmel River State Beach. They chose the location because it had a Wi-Fi connection, and their officiant, a friend in San Bernardino County, appeared via a group chat, along with select guests. Their witness was their wedding photographer, Michael Dadula of Gonzales.

Dadula, who has photographed four weddings since shelter-in-place started, says compared to past formal weddings, these small weddings are more intimate. “They are able to focus on just being present in the moment,” he says.

Since SIP, some couples have canceled or postponed their weddings until a time when they can have the big ceremony and reception, but others have opted to go small and virtual. It’s forced everyone to get creative.

“It was basically ‘fake it until you make it,’” says wedding planner Patti Spears of Salinas-based Every Last Detail. She’s seeing more backyard weddings and small groups using Zoom. “The term du jour is ‘micro-wedding.’ It’s basically an elopement,” Spears says. One couple she’s working with is eloping on their original date, but planning a “show wedding” and reception in Hawaii in 2021.

Local officiant Brian Borgia has conducted about 10 virtual weddings from a remote location, like Kong and Maheri did, using Zoom. In one case, guests participated from all over the world.

“It was unusual in the sense that I really like to go up and talk to people and get to know them and be a part of the celebration,” Borgia says. “It’s different, but just like anything in this world you have to make the best of the situation.”

The only hiccup of the day was the groom’s phone lost signal mid-vows. At the moment it was his turn to respond, the screen froze. After initially wondering if the groom got cold feet, Borgia realized what happened after the screen went blank. The signal returned, and they started the vows over.

There’s using a phone, and then there’s what could be described as the Cadillac of streaming weddings at Folktale Winery. They plan to offer a package that includes a five-camera livestreamed event using a professional video production crew, says Folktale VP John Fitzgerald.

For a base price of $5,000, the one-hour package provides couples with the ceremony; speeches; wedding toast; cutting the cake, provided by bakery Rise + Roam in Carmel; and a first dance to live music. The winery sends guests a personalized bottle of sparkling wine ahead of the ceremony so everyone may join in on the toast.

Folktale provides a private YouTube channel, and can provide a large-screen TV tuned into Zoom, so the couple can see the faces of their guests. (The winery is waiting on a go-ahead from the county Health Department before starting virtual weddings, expected by mid-July.)

Meanwhile, wedding planning during Covid-19 or farther out continues to zig and zag depending on the latest in SIP orders. “People will continue to get married, even if it’s not what they envisioned. Love will go on,” Spears says. “We make changes when we need to, but at the end of the day they’ll still be Mr. and Mrs. and start their life.”