A Scots couple were so disappointed when their wedding was cancelled as a result of Covid 19 restrictions, that they held their own ceremony complete with celebrant, fascinators, confetti and sixty guests with champagne on Zoom.
Diane Ward, 56, a driving instructor and her engineering buyer fiancé Graham Ferrier, 55, from Carnoustie were due to get married at 29 Private Members Club on Glasgow on Sunday May 10 until coronavirus rules stopped them in their tracks.
The couple had chosen the special date specifically because it marked seven years since they first met so they were keen not to lose the sense of occasion - and made an alternative wedding celebration with their wedding planner, humanist minister and guests on Zoom.
Wendy, who even had to cancel her hen night in Tenerife on March 20, was determined not to let the virus spoil their big day.
She said: “We’d sorted out our wedding banns in February and crossed all the ts and dotted the is. We couldn’t wait to celebrate with all our friends and family at 29 because we’d been on dates there and some great nights out. We realised around the start of April that the physical wedding was going to be cancelled so we set about making an alternative plan to celebrate our big day with our nearest and dearest.
“We invited people to join us on a Zoom link at 2:45pm for 3pm on Sunday and were able to have twenty one different households on with an average of three people per household.
Funnily enough, I had ordered two dresses for my wedding initially - one was slightly bigger than the other - and I ended up wearing that one due to my lockdown eating habits!”
“We asked everyone to get dressed up and couldn’t believe it when some, including Graham’s mum ended up wearing a fascinator. It was quite funny because some of them had dresses on with slippers or trainers underneath.”
We had guests join us from Paisley, Prestwick, Dundee and Carnoustie and after we all said hello fifteen minutes before the ceremony, we took them out with us to the garden.”
The couple had been sent some hanging basket floral arrangements from 29 and Graham’s sister and brother in law, and they also had a bottle of fizz ready for after their vows.
Graham, who wore his kilt for the actual ceremony, said: “It took a while to get my mum and dad who are in their eighties onto Zoom but we did a trial run with them ahead of Sunday. There was a bit of snow on the ground when we went into the garden but it soon became sunny. We set the laptop on the table beside the shed and our humanist celebrant Susan Douglas-Scott got us to read our vows. We weren’t able to meet her seven days before the wedding to pick up the official banns due to social distancing so we had a holding ceremony of promise in the meantime until we can do it in the flesh. We promised we’d marry next year and plan to have a proper legal ceremony in 29 on June 20 2021.
“My brother played Bruno Mars Marry You online and Diane’s four year old granddaughter Scarlett was our flower girl. She was able to wear her dress for the ceremony and loved dancing around her own garden with her pretty dress and shoes on. We popped open our bottle of champagne after the vows were taken and everyone toasted us from their respective homes. Our neighbour from next door even popped a confetti tube over us from a safe social distance.”
The celebrations took an hour in total and Diane joked: “Because of the Zoom limit of forty minutes we were on a bit of a timer but we managed to have a honeymoon later that night away in the back bedroom.”
Louize Hollywood, wedding manager for Lynnet Leisure who helped the couple ahead of their physical wedding: “It was lovely to be able to witness the online ceremony on these strange times. The couple booked to have their wedding with us in 2019 and contacted me when things had to change. I work closely with humanist celebrant Susan Douglas-Scott who offered to do an online promise ceremony with them and we transferred the physical date until next year. It was lovely to see the guests all have their full outfits on. We muted ourselves online while Susan read our the vows for the ceremony and then whooped as soon as they kissed.”
Diane and Graham Wedding List
Virtual invites by email
Bride and Groom outfits - Kirk and wedding dress
Guests - wedding attire including fascinators
Flower girl danced around her garden
Humanist celebrant conducted forty minute promise ceremony
Exchange vows
Flowers from brother in law and twenty nine
Confetti popped by neighbour
Photography on Zoom
Food - Guest Nibbles on their own homes
Drink - Champagne glass virtual toast
Wedding song - Bruno Mars Marry Me
Honeymoon - night away in back bedroom
From Scotland with Love
