They Met Online, Thousands Of Miles Apart; Now COVID Has Their Wedding Plans In Limbo
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A love story separated by thousands of miles started on social media, only to be paused by the pandemic. But a Minnesota musician won't let a year of setbacks keep him from his bride-to-be in Scotland.
The beginning goes back a few years to an Instagram post.
"I was with a friend and I was just jamming, you know, playing some guitar, just snapped an Instagram story, and she happened to follow him," Adam Rafowitz said.
Rafowitz plays in a metal-fusion band called Arch Echo. From a family of musicians herself, Alexa Henderson complimented Rafowitz's skills.
"We just started talking and we haven't stopped," Rafowitz said.
"We have so much in common but we're so far apart," Alexa Henderson said.
Eight months of phone calls and text messages led to a trip in 2018 when Henderson left Scotland for the U.S. to meet in-person.
"It's probably the craziest thing I've ever done in life I'm not gonna lie," she told us.
A few more visits back and forth from her town to the Twin Cities, and a year later, in July 2019, came a ring.
"He proposed, which was a complete surprise. I had no idea obviously," she said.
They started their paperwork for Alexa's Visa to prove their relationship.
"I think the packet I had was 73 pages," Rafowitz said of all of the evidence he put together.
Then the global pandemic put an end to their plans for a wedding last summer. Henderson's visa is in limbo as the London Embassy has been closed to the last interview she still needs.
"We're in full lockdown. There's not much to do here," Henderson says of what's happening in Scotland.
Still, they've been able to be together for the last two months with Adam able to travel there. They realize many others have had it far worse this last year.
"You have got to count your blessings during this time," Rafowitz said.
They are remaining hopeful for a wedding in Minnesota now this summer.
"Just look forward to the future, be positive rather than dwell on right now," Rafowitz said.
Rafowitz is able to teach his music classes on Zoom from Scotland, and his band has also been getting creative about how to get their music out there after the pandemic also cancelled their gigs.