ARNOLD, Mo. — Brittany Bonds and Cavion Bonds are technically celebrating their very first anniversary after getting married on February 29, 2020, which is also Leap Day.
Cavion's birthday is the day before Leap Day, he said that this was his wife's idea.
"I heard a lot of husbands forget the anniversary, well this takes the pressure off of him. He only has to remember every four years," Brittany said.
Her decision to wed on that day was enticing because she is frugal and it would cut costs.
"Cards are expensive now, $5 to $8 for a card and then you have to go pick out the gift. ... It's probably something that's gonna end up in the trash in a couple of years, to be honest," she said.
This year the couple plans to celebrate at Wesley Roger's Buffett in Arnold, Missouri. Someone had "coupons for us," Brittany said.
Many of their loved ones thought they were joking when they said they would wait to celebrate.
"In the past we've had friends and family members text and ask us 'Uh are you celebrating on February 28th or March 1st?'," Brittany said. "I said neither, we got married on February 29."
When people ask what they do the other three years Brittany's response is "nothing." She also liked the idea of getting married on a day that Greek and Italian superstitions consider bad luck.
Fortunately, Brittany found one of the cheapest locations to get married. She and Cavion share fond memories of that day.
"I remember it was $15.99 a plate, which is really, really cheap for a wedding," she said.
The couple recalls how lucky they felt having 60 people attend their wedding. They had no idea that the timing of their wedding was the best time in 2020 for people to gather before the stipulation of limited social gatherings.
"The last three years went by fast," Cavion said.
Like many others grappling with the global COVID pandemic, the couple remembers it being a stressful time.
"Compared to our first year of marriage and this year so much has changed," Cavion said. "This year is not as stressful as that year was. It's very different in those four years."
The couple originally met when Cavion came to a Thanksgiving dinner in 2015 as a family friend. A little while later Cavion helped Brittany install a dishwasher.
"That was my in," Cavion said laughing. "I had no idea what the heck I was doing and ya the rest is history."
