A COVID Christmas Wedding with Sequins & Starbucks

Janina Brocklesby Photography

March 24, 2021

If the pandemic has taught us anything it’s that low key can still be really lovely! For Sabrina and Chris, who got married a few weeks before Christmas, this was absolutely the case. They had a Registrar’s Office ceremony, followed by a quick pitstop in Starbucks to call some loved ones who couldn’t be there, rounding the evening off with a meal with their two witnesses at the bride’s sister’s house.

“Our wedding was a last minute cosy Christmas wedding”, the bride said. “With everything that 2020 and COVID has thrown at us and the loss we’ve experienced all over the world, we really just wanted our day to just be about love and our life together. We planned the day in just over a month with next to no budget. Our budget was £900 and we spent £898.99! We chose our ceremony room and had to change our photographer (because our original one came into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID so she couldn’t make it) two days before!”

The day itself wasn’t without a few last minute panics to. “My hair stylist said my hair would only take 25 minutes so I absolutely thought I’d have enough time to get home, get my dress on and make our way to the venue… but it took 55 minutes, I left the salon at 1:50PM, our ceremony was starting at 2:30PM and we still had to drive 20 minutes to get there! We were rushing around the house, trying to take the dog out for a quick wee, the hook and eye on my dress snapped as I was putting on my heels and I was shedding sequins EVERYWHERE. Chris couldn’t get his tie on properly and had no time to do his hair (you’ll notice in the pictures), three Ubers then cancelled on us and when we finally got into ours I spent the whole journey double sided taping my dress to my boobs! We couldn’t be more grateful to John the driver who somehow got us to the venue with three minutes to spare despite all the traffic!”

They had their close friends and family watching their ceremony over Zoom and the bride’s my sister and brother-law were the in-person witnesses. “We have a niece and nephew and whilst we knew there was absolutely no way that the two year olds would enjoy sitting still for a ceremony and wandering around town to take pictures, we really wanted them to be a part of our special day so going back to my sister’s house and seeing them all dressed up in their cute little outfits cemented what was already shaping up to be a wonderful day. After spending some time with the kids and eating an amazing meal, we closed out our celebrations by taking an Uber back to our house where we spent the night drinking copious amounts of rum and whisky while playing multiple rounds of Wordsmithery and Cards Against Humanity.”

“We want to give our love to all the couples out there who have had to postpone, cancel or change their weddings because of everything we’re going through right now”, Sabrina concluded. “We postponed FOUR TIMES and it was so painful, it felt like there was absolutely no end in sight for us despite our suppliers being wonderfully accommodating. It’s easy to say that weddings aren’t important given the state of the world but we want you all to know that your feelings, frustrations and hurt are just as valid as everyone else’s and your day will come.”

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