Getting Married During a Pandemic

pulling togther a wedding in under 24 hours on the edge of covid-19 lockdowns

What a crazy headline, who could have even imagined that the word “pandemic” would be such a part of our 2020 vernacular. This year certainly has been a rollercoaster, one we have been riding with the rest of the world, but especially with our couples. “To wed or not to wed” really has been the question along with “when?" and “with how many guests?”. One couple who chose to wed ASAP with their nearest and dearest was Nathan and Emily. We’ll let them tell you how it looked to pull together a wedding in under 24 hours on the edge of covid lockdowns, but first you can check out their wedding film.

Tell us about the lead up to your wedding day?

Our original wedding date was the 4th of April. We had everything locked in - wedding venue, reception, our dream honeymoon booked, flowers, photographers and videographers, guest lists, playlists. 

Then, about 6 weeks before our date (the date we had been dreaming about and planning towards for over a year), concern began to creep in as covid-19 started impacting Australia. 

Not concern that we wouldn’t get married, concern that it would look different. 

Next, restrictions started to come into effect. We worked with our reception venue to restructure our dream day - instead of celebrating inside, we would dine underneath the stars. We altered our guest list slightly. Our interstate friends and family let us know they may not be able to join us. The priorities of our wedding were slowly peeled away, not as quickly as an onion that makes you weep, but slowly and (mostly) gently.

On the 23rd of March (also Em’s birthday!), we had a family meeting with both sets of parents. The anxiety of the unknown was becoming more realistic. Usually people would give a sense of security, reassuring concerns with ‘I’m sure it’ll be okay’ or ‘everything will work out, don’t stress’. This wasn’t our reality, with a global sense of unrest engulfing it. We decided to get ahead of the tightening restrictions and began to plan what seemed like Wedding number 15. That night we decided to make the unfathomable decisions to abandon our original plans (including our planned reception) and decrease our wedding guest list to only immediate family and bridal party, but still on our original date.  

Things began to move quickly. Not even an hour after, our wedding began to look different again, Emily’s brother and sister in law encouraged us to move our wedding forward a week. The layers of expectation and priorities continued peeling off. Our new wedding date was only 5 sleeps away - Saturday March 29th! 

9pm Tuesday night Scott Morrison made an announcement. The one we had all been waiting for but had been working tirelessly to beat. The one that affected every Australian. The one that made us look our fear of not getting married in front of our families a reality. We could get married on our Plan B date, a measly 5 sleeps away but with only 5 people, or we could get married tomorrow, before midnight. In the end, our decision to get married on Wednesday March 25th wasn’t a hard one. If we could have any of our family with us (and hopefully our best friends) and still vow to love each other forever, why wouldn’t we? After all, for us, these were the core values of our wedding day.

What did getting married during a global pandemic look like on the day?

Our miraculous day looked extremely different to how we had originally imagined. However, in retrospect, there’s not a thing we would ever change. Our community quickly gathered around us, fighting for us to still have our wedding day, with as many special details as was possible to achieve in 18 hours and with a global pandemic. 

“We were getting married, anything in addition to that was a beautiful, optional extra.”

Nathan’s family friends generously allowed us to be married in their beautiful backyard. Emily’s brother and sister-in-law turned into head wedding planners. Nathan’s brother started building our arbour at 5am the next morning. Friends went to the flower markets and made bouquets. Emily got ready with her bridesmaids. Nathan had a beer with his mates and set up the equipment so we could livestream our ceremony and people from all around the world could join us to celebrate. Emily’s Dad walked her down the aisle to “Better Love” by Glades. We vowed our love to each other, with more emotion than we ever thought possible. We cut cake, toasted to love and shared in speeches.

That night, in a stunning hotel room, we sat across from each other, eating the food we would have had at our reception and read (and cried reading) the comments on our Facebook livestream.

Why was it so important for you to get married? 

Our wedding was always the celebration of our marriage. In hindsight, our miraculous wedding was a beautiful entrance to our marriage. It forced us to peel back the layers to what really mattered and we entered our new chapter with the love and support from our family and friend’s being made so evident. 

We are forever grateful for not only our family and friends fighting for our wedding, but our beautiful photographers and videographer who captured the joy and beauty of our day.