On the first day of the Sydney lockdown that’s currently ending, I had a wedding booked in the Blue Mountains. I was driving down (flights had been cancelled twice) at the time the lockdown was announced and I told the couple I couldn’t attend their wedding because:

  1. The couple lived in one of the four local government area’s that had been ordered to stay at home, the NSW Premier said at the time “if you live or work in those four local government areas you should not leave your home unless you have to.”
  2. Sydney was entering a pretty severe lockdown and weddings were banned, there was literally four reasons given to leave the house. Weddings were allowed “for compassionate reasons” on the day they were married and I didn’t think that an elopement with no guests for a local couple who hadn’t communicated any compassionate reasons was more important than public safety.
  3. I would need to quarantine on arrival back to Queensland for two weeks afterward which is super fun for work and leave me making a financial loss on the wedding.

I offered to freely postpone to a time when they were allowed to marry, and if I couldn’t be there, I’d hire a celebrant in my place.

They rejected that offer and found a celebrant and photographer who would flout the stay at home orders.

Today a NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal member issued them a full refund because I told them I couldn’t come, instead of just leaving them high and dry and not turning up, because then it would have then been a force majeure event.

So just in case you were curious, lockdowns mean nothing to consumer action, law is an ever flexible and changing ball of goo, the wedding industry really is not going well after two years of this, and apparently I now it’s my job to report a couple to NSW Police for breaching stay at home orders.

Covid sucks. Covid has almost completely killed my passion for weddings.