It took some doing to finally pull off the Lester-Sherard wedding. A host of delays led to five calendar/location hops before the event came together in New Hope. Kristen Schott tracked the journey for Philadelphia Magazine.

Jewel Lester and Ameer Sherard met in Antigua on a getaway birthday celebration for a mutual friend. They started dating soon after, and two years later, Sherard proposed.

The couple’s first try at a ceremony was October 2, 2021. The date had significance, as it was Jewel’s grandmother’s 95th birthday.

But her passing a year prior — atop a host of family medical issues — diminished the couple’s appetite for that day.

They then targeted an earlier date: February 13, 2021.

That worked until the Philadelphia site, shut down in for COVID-19 lockdowns.

Lester and Sherard then found an Airbnb in New Hope willing to have them. Even the date was good.

Until it wasn’t.

Worried about the pandemic, it, too, cancelled.

River House at Odette’s, however, stepped up and said it could handle things.

All was in readiness … until Sherard tested positive for COVID-19.

One more date swap — this time to March 13 — was all it took to get the couple permanently united.

Lester credits her wedding planner for helping navigate all the changes. “She talked to me almost daily to make sure Ameer and I were okay,” she said.

More on the Lester-Sherard wedding is at Philadelphia Magazine.