Real Columbus Wedding: Rachel and Alex Ward

This twice-postponed wedding day was worth waiting for.

Columbus Monthly

Rachel and Alex Ward married on April 25, 2021, at Brookshire.

April 25, 2021 | Today marks the first anniversary for Champaign, Illinois, residents Rachel (Halaszynski) and Alex Ward. The pair’s love story takes them all over the Eastern U.S.; they first met in 2015 while working at Chestnut Lake Camp in Beach Lake, Pennsylvania, though Alex was then a high school history teacher in North Carolina. “We met on the first day of work, and the rest is history,” Rachel says. Alex proposed in January 2018 in Rachel’s hometown of Pittsburgh, and their wedding took place—after a few delays—here in Columbus.

“Our original wedding date was April 26, 2020, then Jan. 17, 2021, and finally April 25, 2021,” Rachel says. “When I walked into Brookshire on our wedding day and saw all of our décor, it finally hit me—it was our wedding day. … We were very fortunate we were able to safely celebrate with close family and friends this spring. It was truly the best day and worth waiting for.”

In a nod to Rachel’s Pittsburgh roots, a cookie table featured more than 80 dozen sweet treats made by family members, but that wasn’t the only thing guests got to take home with them.

“I was originally not going to have personalized koozies, but then I found [ones with] ‘about damn time’ [on them],” Rachel says. “After a three-year engagement and two postponements, it only felt appropriate.”

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