REAL-WEDDINGS

Real Columbus Wedding: Ashley and Dwight Owen

Dual celebrations allowed for special inclusions without compromising safety.

Columbus Monthly

Ashley and Dwight Owen married on Aug. 7, 2020, at Short North Church, and celebrated with family and friends on Aug. 13, 2021, at the Columbus Museum of Art.

Aug. 7, 2020 | If you read the “Best of Both Worlds” story in our print issue or online, you might recognize Ashley (Martin) and Dwight Owen. The couple’s original May 2020 wedding was thrown off course when Gov. Mike DeWine prohibited mass gatherings in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19 and their planned venue, Juniper, closed for good the following month.

With the help of their wedding planner at Aisle & Co., the couple quickly changed tactics. Dwight’s father was facing health challenges, and they wanted to be sure he was part of their wedding, so they opted for a small ceremony and dinner on Aug. 7, 2020. “We are forever thankful that he was able to celebrate with us,” Ashley says; he died in 2021, before the couple’s postponed, large-scale ceremony and reception. Similarly, Ashley and Dwight were able to include their beloved dog Bella, who herself passed away just a few months after the wedding.

“After having a pandemic, a postponement, another postponement, our venue closing—when we arrived to our wedding day, it was intimate and we were fully present for the whole thing,” Ashley says. “We just felt so overwhelmed by love and gratitude in that day.”

One year and one week after their wedding, the Owens and their family and friends gathered at the Columbus Museum of Art—on “lucky Friday the 13th,” Ashley notes—for a vow ceremony and wedding reception. To honor Dwight’s late father, the couple added an iced coffee bar to their reception—a nod to his favorite beverage.

“Anytime I reflect, I feel gratitude,” Ashley says. “The wedding is the least important part. It came down to this: We have a lot of people who love us a whole lot.”

See photos from both the 2020 and 2021 celebrations in the slideshows below.

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