Amid the pandemic, we all are missing those big events and celebrations. But since staying safe is the priority right now, social distancing norms don’t allow such crowded events to take place. Weddings are one of those occasions that have witnessed a few constraints due to the current situation. Romanee and Sam Rondeau-Smith faced this issue with the number of guests but came up with a brilliant idea to deal with it!
Initially, when the lockdown was imposed, the restrictions were quite strict. It was next to impossible to organize an event or even plan a wedding. People could not gather in one place and that caused a lot of trouble. But it was all for our safety!
However, the lockdown eased and a few curtailments were removed. That might have been a relief for a few who had planned their big day with their close family and friends but for Romanee and Sam Rondeau-Smith, from Bramley, Guildford, things seemed a little hard when they prepared their guest list.
In England, only 30 people are allowed to be present at a wedding venue following all the rules of social distancing. But Romanee and Sam had 100 guests who were supposed to come and celebrate as the couple commences a new journey together.
They had fixed their date for the wedding in July but they postponed it to August 14 considering the pandemic and lockdown. They hoped for things to get better around their big day but that definitely didn’t happen.
When this couple realized that most of their family and friends won’t be able to celebrate with them as they take the plunge, they had a genius idea.
They had cardboard cutouts built of their friends and family members who could not attend their wedding. The couple expended £2,000 on those cardboard cutouts that stood at The Bell in Ticehurst, East Sussex with 14 real people.
“We had about 100 people on our guest list but when coronavirus hit, we had to rework our plans and the venue were really flexible. At the end of the day, we just want to get married so let’s just go ahead – it helps that we’re not high maintenance,” Romanee shared.
They were thrilled about this whole unique kind of ceremony and have no regrets!
“One of my bridesmaids lives in Nashville and she wouldn’t be able to attend so we joked about having her as a cardboard cut-out, so we thought why we don’t do that with our guests. We got all of our guests to send us a picture of them and it went from there – the wedding planner loved it, she found it hilarious,” the bride revealed.
“It worked out at the same price as what it would have cost to have them all here but we saved on the booze!”
They had an amazing time at the wedding. The cutouts of their friends filled the void to a great extent.
“I’m sure there will be a massive party at some point – just somewhere low key. It was perfect. It was really relaxed. We weren’t disappointed at all. Just being simple and having our immediate family there was perfect,” she concluded.
