Planning for a wedding is a long and very involved affair.
In fact, a lot of women have already started imagining their perfect wedding as soon as they’re old enough to understand the concept. Spending a year or more planning a wedding is not unheard of.
However, if you have a pandemic barreling down on you, expediency trumps all and you just do what you need to do. That’s the position Bindi Irwin, daughter of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, found herself in.
She and her new husband, Chandler Powell, got married on March 25 at the family’s zoo scant hours before a lockdown was to take effect banning large weddings to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.
While there were a few local journalists who took a few snaps of the couple as they said their vows and a few musicians playing music at the zoo in Queensland, the area was otherwise empty of patrons.
“We held a small ceremony and I married my best friend,” said Irwin, 21, in an Instagram post. “There are no words to describe the amount of love and light in my heart right now.”
As March 26 rolled in, Australia saw itself under a tough national lockdown that bans all non-essential gatherings for the next six months.
That means bars, restaurants, cinemas, and gyms would have to close and weddings would be limited to five guests. Funerals, however, may have up to 10 people.com
While Irwin didn’t mention how many guests attended the Australia Zoo wedding, she said that they were limited.
“We’ve planned this beautiful day for nearly a year and had to change everything, as we didn’t have guests at our wedding,” she wrote. “This was a very difficult decision but important to keep everyone safe. We wish all of our friends and family could have been there with us, however, it’s lovely that we will be able to share photos and videos.”
The Australia Zoo and the Irwin family are regularly featured in the Animal Planet series “Crikey! It’s the Irwins.”
During an appearance at BuzzFeed News’ AM to DM last October, the young couple already mentioned their plans for the wedding.
They had always planned for the wedding to happen at the family zoo. “I think we’d like to see some koalas may be walking down the aisle with us,” said Irwin. “We’ll get some snakes and crocodiles involved.”
Powell released a Twitter post simply saying they had a “safe & small private ceremony at our home,” likely out of consideration for all those whose weddings were canceled.
According to Irwin, her mother, Terri, helped her get ready while little brother Robert walked her down the aisle. And then, to honor her dad’s memory she lit a candle together with her new husband.
“Thankfully, since we all live at Australia Zoo as a family, we could be there for each other. To everyone reading this – stay safe, social distance and remember LOVE WINS!” wrote Irwin.
Replaced!