Only a handful of people were allowed into the church for the marriage of Clare and Mel Keefer due to coronavirus pandemic, but the couple was still surrounded by the smiling faces of family and friends.

Their families surprised the couple on Friday by placing pictures of guests on benches at the Mount Carmel Church in St. Francesville, Louisiana, near Baton Rouge.

Keefers are both nurses in the Baton Rouge area: he works at the ER (hospital center) and she is treating Covid-19 patients at the ICU (hospital center). Mel Keefer, 35, said he met 25-year-old Clare while the two were working at the General Medical Center in Baton Rouge.

Mel Keefer told CNN he knew his mother, Pam Brignac, had gone to church before the ceremony, but he thought he was just placing flowers and other decorations.

"It was a nice surprise," he said. "It made a lot of sense and it was very crazy."

They both have large families and had planned to have about a hundred guests.

Instead, Mel's mother and three cousins, Clare's parents, two sisters, her grandmother and aunt, were present. The priest and a photographer were also there.

Dozens of photos, printed on computer paper, were hung with clothespins.

Keefer said they considered postponing the wedding so that their loved ones would not be left out, but could hardly wait for it when he proposed to them in August.

"The most important thing is that we wanted to get married," he said.

Clare's father, Jim Seghers, was wearing a mask and gloves when he accompanied him to church.

"As soon as I saw Clare coming to the altar, everything else was just turbulent. That was the thing I was focused on," Keefer said. "I was just looking at him."

Keefer said she was grateful the church had let them get married and that their mothers had really worked hard to prepare her.

â??I think mothers were more stressed than Clare and I,â? Keefer said. "They wanted her to be perfect."

Keefer did not know where the photos came from, but it turned out that his mother and Clare's mother, Michelle Seghers, had secretly contacted everyone on the guest list.

"It took about two or three weeks to get them and print them," Clare's sister, Mary Seghers Shaffo, told CNN.

Then the newlyweds got another surprise.

They had shared the ceremony on Facebook Live, so people could see it from home, but some saw the video from their cars in the church parking lot and cheered and dropped the trumpets when Keefers left the church.

There was champagne and a small cake, which Keefer did not expect. The group saw them from a safe distance as the couple cut the cake and performed the first dance.

â??We thought we were going to do it in front of our parents,â? Keefer said.

The couple wants to gather everyone after things calm down. Unable to go on their honeymoon, they returned to work to save the lives of patients with Covid-19.