Couple Who Got Married After Joining Black Lives Matter Protest Said They Planned for A Quiet Ceremony Until Their Wedding Went Viral

What was supposed to be a simple wedding has become extra memorable as it went viral on social media.

"Some people were saying this is an example of black love, an example of Black Lives Matter, and I felt it all," Kerry Anne Gordon told BuzzFeed News.

Couple planned for a quiet ceremony until their wedding went viral

Surgeon and OB-GYN Kerry Anne went out on Saturday, June 6, raised her fist in the air, along with thousands of protesters along the streets of Philadelphia together with Michael Gordon, an IT professional whom she married later that day.

The couple said their vows at the Logan Hotel, which ended up becoming a powerful symbol of black love and community support as protesters stopped to offer them cheers, compliments, and best wishes.

"It was extremely powerful, it's hard to even describe what it was like," the bride told BuzzFeed adding that she was unsure "if people were thinking about love or protesting, or some combination" of both. "Some people were saying this is an example of Black love, an example of Black Lives Matter, and I felt it all," Mrs. Gordon said.

The newlyweds have been together for about five years. They were supposed to marry in New Jersey in May, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed their plans, particularly since Kerry Anne is a healthcare professional. However, she felt down when their wedding would be delayed by almost a year.

The couple originally rescheduled their wedding for June 2021, but when the Logan Hotel opened its lawn for free for couples whose weddings were affected by the pandemic, they then considered the option of eloping.

Unexpected wedding, unexpected viral photo

The Jamaican-born physician said she could understand all of the changes the pandemic was making. "A lot of our guests are international, so when the borders closed in March, that's when it became a real conversation that we were having about postponing the wedding," she said.

"Mike has always been for just getting the marriage part done and having the celebration part later, but I wanted everything to be done at once," the bride said. She then decided to make the most out of the two weeks they have to prepare for the wedding.

They chose one of two dates offered to them by the hotel, informed their immediate family, officiant, and photographers. Surprisingly, they arranged for their big day with just two weeks' notice.

"Our families did not know this was happening," said Gordon adding they did not even set up Zoom for live feeds with their families. "We wanted to privately and quietly say our vows together," she said.

The big day - a wedding and a protest

However, the night before the wedding became quite a stressful one as they learned about a protest scheduled the following day and en route the Logan Hotel, so streets and highways would be closed. They made early morning calls to confirm guests were coming in time for the ceremony.

Rev. Roxanne Birchfield, the couple's officiant, had been working with the Gordons for nearly a year for their wedding and she suggested the couple to elope instead of waiting for another year to marry. She felt anxious about her experience on that day. "Nothing about the day was easy," she told BuzzFeed.

However, Rev. Birchfield noted that she witnessed "the highlight of the day" just moments before the ceremony. She heard people shouting from the street, so she walked out to hear protesters cheering Kerry Anne, and when Michael joined, she thought she had to capture the moment.

"I immediately thought, this has to be recorded, we can never describe this to anybody without proof," said Birchfield as people can take it in various ways. "I felt that it was a monumental moment that uplifted and gave hope to the movement itself because Black lives mattering starts with a family and a community," the officiant said.

"It was a symbol of hope, symbol of peace, symbol of justice for the Black community," she added. In her Instagram, Birchfield shared photos and snap of the moment and wrote: "My first in-person elopement since quarantine... It couldn't be a better @marriedbyrevroxy WEDDING... First looks in the heart of protest... #blacklivesmatter."

The snap already gathered more than 355,625 views while a photo of the couple got over 2,000 likes and picked up by various media outlets.