Amelinda lives in Melbourne, and has been with her partner Chris for four years. After a year-long engagement, she told The Feed they decided to upend their original wedding plans and proceed during the shutdown, without family and friends present. And as everyone across the country isolates with their immediate households, this carries a unique experience for Amelinda and Chris: they've also started living together for the very first time.
Amelinda is originally from Indonesia, and the bulk of her family live and work there - her initial plan was to have everyone fly in for the event. The recent restrictions on wedding guests and international travel meant this couldn't happen, so adjusting to two witnesses, a priest and themselves has been hard on her.
"I just miss my family, and my family seeing me there," she told The Feed.
"So in that, the emotion is...I think it's a gray area when I'm happy that I get married. But at the same time I really want them to come here as well, but I can't control that. It's out of my control."
A small saving grace has been that her husband Chris' best man set up a Facebook Live for the ceremony. Amelinda says that process left her in between emotions.
Chris and Amelinda taking a selfie on their wedding day. Source: Supplied
"This is the first time I've actually felt glad that we have technology," she said.
"But at the same time I'm sad because I can't hug them."
They've enjoyed married life together, in isolation, for a week.
"We used to Skype every single night before we sleep, just so we felt that we're sleeping together in the same bed," she told The Feed.
Amelinda searches for the words to describe what it's like now they can actually share a bed, Chris jumps in to say it was the moment they became grown ups.
"It's really, really hard to share a bed with somebody because I'm 29 right now and for 29 years, I only use a bed for myself," she said.
"But now I have to share it with somebody with my husband, so it's actually a huge change for me."
For the committed couple, getting married now instead of waiting until the shutdown is over, held another, more serious meaning. They want to start a family as soon as possible and are applying for a partner visa - Amelinda's current visa runs out in a year.
Amelinda and Chris posing for a photo after their wedding. Source: Supplied
"It's provided some sort of, I wouldn't say stability. But, we at least know where we stand until the middle of next year when her visa runs out," Chris told The Feed. They also want to start being a family as soon as possible.
Live streaming on Zoom and photo cutouts of guests
Sylvina moved to Sydney seven years from Germany ago to live with her partner Mark. The physical separation from her family left her feeling that her mother in particular had missed some of the bigger moments in her life.
"She's not so much part of my life as much as she was before," Sylvina told The Feed.
Sylvina and Mark had planned to get hitched this April, and while they were still planning all the details, including the guest list, Sylvina's mother and sister flew ahead and landed in Sydney a month ago, before the current international border closures.
This stroke of luck meant that last Saturday, in a park outside her apartment, Sylvina shared one of the most important days of her life with her mother: her wedding day.
"I think it meant the world. It was really lovely for me to have her there for that moment and, and walk down [the aisle] with her," she said.
Mark was responsible for spearheading organisational matters of the day: arranging the laptop and dongle for a Zoom livestream. Remote guests were all on board, contributing the same level of effort as if they were turning up in person.
Sylvina with husband Mark, her mother and sister. Source: Supplied
"They all took [the Zoom conference] really seriously like everybody was dressed up in their homes and having little viewing parties and champagne in their homes watching us," she said.
And Mark was determined to surprise his bride: he created a makeshift aisle in the park with empty plastic garden chairs.
Weddings guests watching on the Zoom live stream. Source: Supplied
"[He] put up photos of all the family members in the bridal party and attached them to the chair, so it looked like the family was there sitting," Sylvina said.
"When I came out, I didn't know this, so it was a really special moment to kind of walk down this makeshift aisle looking at everyone."
For many, cutting back on wedding guests is a difficult and fraught process. When the federal government announced that weddings had to be restricted to five people, there was a slight element of relief for Sylvina.
Sylvina and Mark after their wedding. Source: Supplied
"I think in some ways that worked really well hearing the restriction says five people - a celebrant, [the couple] and two witnesses," she said.
"Well these guys [her mother, sister and partner] have been living in a household for the last six weeks so I think if they'd be there then it's just made it a little bit easier in a sense."
A surprise wedding with a twist
Kat and her partner Terri live and work in Lara, a small regional town in Victoria, and have been together for over a year. They were planning an engagement party on Easter Sunday with a twist: once the guests were assembled, they were going to tie the knot.
Coronavirus restrictions meant they had to pivot a bit from the original plans.
Most of Kat's family lives in Queensland. She'd already let her mum in on the secret, and when the border closed, Kat's parents told her to go ahead with the wedding without her family.
"She just said, I think you need to do it. Just for you, so you have that control," she told The Feed.
Kat married her partner Terri on the last weekend of March, and despite not having her family present she made the most of her day.
Kat and Terri on their wedding day. Source: Love St Photography
"We made a little arbor out of some branches," she said.
"We took everything that we had with us, made some signs and just made it beautiful in our own regard, the weather really put on a show."
The surprise wedding was still intact, they filmed the ceremony and sent it to friends and family the next day.
"When they opened the video, they were like, 'oh my god. Wow,'" she said.
"So that worked really well, the surprise element."
Kat spoke to her parents after the ceremony. Her father was too emotional to talk to her on the day because he wasn't able to walk her down the aisle, so instead he sent her the speech he would've read out on her wedding day.
Kat and Terri blowing each other kisses underneath their homemade arbor. Source: Love St Photography
"I said, well maybe you should keep it for when we have our party, but I know it was very hard for them," she said.
The timing of Kat's wedding and the restrictions on numbers and travel reminded her parents of their wedding day -- a story Kat had never heard before.
"When my parents got married, there was a power strike, and a postal strike," she said.
"So mum said 'oh my god, it reminds me of our wedding. We could only have two light bulbs on and nobody could send us any telegrams'."
Kat says when her parents were getting married, telegrams would be sent from people who couldn't make the ceremony.
"Just just knowing that they went through that hardship as well, but they still made the best moments out of it," she said.
"Really helped a lot for me to sort of go, this is life, this is how it is."
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