Kerry-Anne Perkins and Michael Gordon had made plans to have a ‘mega wedding’ at Legacy Castle in New Jersey when coronavirus struck. The Philly couple then decided to postpone their wedding to 2021 due to the pandemic.
The two later changed their minds and though protests have engulfed the city in the wake of George Floyd’s death, they still went ahead with their nuptials.
Kerry-Anne, 35, and Michael, 42, chose to have a small wedding on the lawn of the Logan Hotel, little did they know that their memorable day would draw a much larger crowd than they had planned.
After tying the knot, the two were taking photos outside the Logan Hotel on Saturday when hundreds of people participating in a march against racial injustice and police brutality following Floyd’s death passed by on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
The newlyweds then decided to join the demonstration as they exited the hotel in full wedding attire, holding hands and walking into the crowd amid cheers from protesters.
A video on social media shows the crowd parting ways for Kerry-Anne and Michael as they raise their fists in the air and later share a kiss, receiving cheers and applause from the crowd.
Photo: TYGER WILLIAMS/THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER VIA AP
“It ended up being a very powerful moment,” Kerry-Anne told ABC News. “Not only are we feeling the movement of the people … but I’m meeting my husband, on our wedding day, as a strong black man and a good representative of who we are as people, what our men are like, what our culture is like. It was just a very, very empowering moment for us considering all of this is happening at one moment in one time.”
Kerry-Anne was born in Jamaica while her husband Michael is of Caribbean descent. The two said getting married amid protests over Floyd’s death made their wedding day “more memorable.”
“We all see this injustice. We all want to see this needle shift away from the status quo and … that made this day more memorable in ways,” Michael said.
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