But after a rousing phone call from her mum, Lisa Smith, the bride-to-be together with then fiance, Christopher McDonald, rushed to bring forward their upcoming nuptials within just five hours.
“My mum rang me going, ‘Can you move it to this afternoon? Can you do it?’” Mrs McDonald said.
“And from about 11.30 am that morning we managed to organise a whole entire wedding.”On Friday afternoon the newly married couple were still in their pyjamas, enjoying a slow day at home in lieu of a honeymoon, and absorbing the events of the day before.
“I think we just got by on sheer luck,” Mrs McDonald said.
Looking back at the hours leading to the moment she exchanged vows with her husband, Mrs McDonald said it felt surreal.
“Almost like we were in a dream, everything was such a mad rush and it was like, ‘Oh my God, that's it, I'm getting married today!’” she said.
Half an hour after the lockdown announcement, the engaged couple made calls to their celebrant, photographer, and hair and make-up artist to check their availability — with all three shifting their schedules to accommodate for love.
Photographer Kayla Frizzell cancelled a shoot and at the last minute found someone to look after her children, to make sure she was there to document their extraordinary day. The next calls were to guests, to ask them to be in Warrenbayne, 15 minutes outside Benalla, by that afternoon.
While Mrs McDonald and her mother raced from Shepparton East to Cobram to have their hair and makeup squeezed in at noon, wedding guests left work early to get changed and hurry to the venue, a beautiful 120 ha property belonging to Mr McDonald’s family.
Because the revised date was only 24 hours before the ceremony was originally planned to take place, some of the final arrangements were already sorted.
“A lot of it was a throw-together though, food-wise and things like that,” Mrs McDonald said.
The guest list of about 35 people rose to the challenge, according to the bride and groom, who at late notice asked loved ones to bring a platter to share.
And although not every detail of the wedding he and his bride planned came to fruition, Mr McDonald was blown away by the final result.
“We had to forego a lot of our desired set-up, and work with what we got, and it turned out to be more than perfect in the end,” he said.
As the light faded, the temperature dropped and rain loomed on the horizon, Mr and Mrs McDonald exchanged vows to love one another and cherish life together — during good times and global disasters — for the rest of their days.
