Victoria, Australia—All’s well that ends well, as one man and woman, dubbed by the groom’s brother as the “couple who refuses to let COVID stop them”, discovered on their wedding day.
Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria, announced a “state of disaster” on August 2, announcing a nightly 8pm to 5am curfew and banning all outdoor trips after 671 new infections in one day were reported.
Mr Andrews said, “I’ve had the job of leading this state for almost six years — more than 2,000 days. And today is by far the hardest day — and the hardest decision. Where you slept last night is where you’ll need to stay for the next six weeks.”
This would have been very hard indeed for one Singaporean couple based in Melbourne, Edmund Choo and Amy She Min, who had set their wedding day for this coming Saturday, August 8.
As the new lockdown is scheduled to last until September 13, the couple went into overdrive and chose to bump their ceremony up when they heard of the premier’s announcement.
Thankfully, they were able to put together a wedding from 2:30 in the afternoon until 7:20, when the party packed up and headed home, otherwise they would be fined.
One of the groom’s brothers, Felix Xavier Choo, recounted the full story of the photo-finish wedding in humorous detail in a series of social media posts, complete with photos of the happy couple.
When he arrived at the church where the ceremony was held, Mr Felix Choo wrote, “The ceremony has to finish within the next 1.5hrs. Count down begins! The most exciting wedding I’ve ever experienced! ”
The groom’s brother played a big role from start to finish, humorously designating himself the “advance party” and writing about the whole event as though it were a military operation.
In his first post he wrote, “Open mobilisation in Melbourne!
Due to impending restrictions announced today, we have decided to move Edmund and Amy’s wedding forward.
I feel the adrenalin rush. Just like when open mob comes along…. just short of the green soldier flashing on TV.”
He wrote later that after the premier had announced the lockdown at 2:30 pm, the groom asked at 3:17 him if he could make it if the wedding were moved up.
“Yes!” *because I am “Siao-On”* he replied.
At 3:30 they decided to push through with the wedding, and Mr Choo wrote, “Operation #edmyofficially *mental picture of flashing green soldier comes up with the all too familiar announcement ‘This is an open mobilisation for the personal with the following code names…..’”
The family started organising in earnest and by 4pm Mr Choo had made arrangements for his children (including buying KFC) and three quarters of an hour later he departed for the church. But when he arrived at 5:30, the building was locked.
The groom arrived 15 minutes later and they found the pastor was inside the building.
Five minutes before 6:00 pm, they began setting up the place. “1755hrs: commence set up… damn siong with only 2 men. Gotta move furniture, set up camera, etc etc. nearly break into sweat.”
Things did not run smoothly after this, as they “discovered multiple technical problems including Bluetooth connections and hotspot (we still haven’t manage to set everything up as they should yet.”
But by 6:30, it was all set and the bride arrived.
Thirty minutes later, he wrote, “Thanks to the excellent Pastor Craig Kingsley Clark, we managed to conclude on time. *And we have officially married the couple who refuses to let COVID stop them*”
The bridal party packed up immediately and by 7:20, “Everyone evacuated the church building with a hefty fine looming over our heads if we don’t reach our respective home bases by 1959hrs.”
Happily, Mr Choo made it home in time, but ended up posting a facepalm emoji as he had forgotten to give the couple their ang pao.
However, he wrote. “Tea ceremony is going to have to be post lock down. Still got chance.” -/TISG
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