LANE | Surprise receiving line gives Louisville couple a wedding day they won't forget

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Katie and Ryan Loveall had planned their wedding day for years. Big reception. More than 300 people.

The emergency room nurses had to postpone the reception due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the vows couldn't wait. The couple married Saturday.

"We weren't gonna let any kind of virus or any kind of pandemic come between what Ryan and I have," Katie Loveall said. "That's why we wanted to say, 'You know what, this is it; we're gonna seal the deal.'"

The Lovealls thought it would be a nice, quiet ceremony and afternoon. Their friends, meanwhile, cooked up an idea. They gathered in a parking lot a couple of blocks away, decorated their cars and surprised the newlyweds with a socially distant parade past their house. A receiving line the couple will never forget.

"We're hoping this cheers them up and puts a smile on their face," said Lindsey Renn, a friend of the Lovealls. "Makes it a little better day for them."

"They're our boating buddies," added Tyler Boone, another friend and parade participant. "We hang out on the Ohio River on the weekends. They're great people ... and they're on the front line, and we appreciate 'em. We're happy to be able to bring some cheer and some love and joy to some people that deserve it."

Ryan Loveall is also a volunteer fireman in Fern Creek, so three fire trucks led the lengthy parade with horns blasting. The surprised couple whooped and laughed and took in the moment as rain fell around them.

"We expected today to be small because of everything that has been going on," Ryan Loveall said. "We couldn't have our big day, but they made it huge. We couldn't ask for anything more."

It had been an especially hard week for Katie Loveall; the grandmother who helped raise her died Monday. She was at a funeral Friday and got married the next day.

"This was the one person," she said as she gathered her thoughts. "I wanted her here. She's not but she's with me. She lives in us. It's been hard, but I'm seeing my blessings."

The Lovealls are hoping to have the planned reception in August, but it may be hard to top the emotions and outpouring of love they received on what became a very special wedding day.