As the coronavirus pandemic worsens all over the world, healthcare workers are spending more and more of their time at hospitals. On what was meant to be their wedding day, these two doctors turned their workplace into an impromptu wedding venue.

Dr. Shelun Tsai, an OBGYN resident at Duke University Hospital, and Dr. Michael Sun, a resident in Duke Psychiatry’s program, were scheduled to tie the knot on Saturday, April 11 in North Carolina.

The couple have been engaged since 2016 but had to postpone their wedding amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, their colleagues at Duke University Hospital made sure that what would have been their wedding day was still a special moment.

“They knew I’d postponed my wedding but people didn’t realize it was that day until I was there [at work] and I said it was supposed to be April 11,” Tsai told Good Morning America. “It started out small, that they wanted to make me a wedding dress, then it was a veil, then flowers and then it became everyone chipping in and jumping onboard.”

“They literally started at 8 a.m. and in between patient care they’d get bits of stuff done and then had the ceremony at 3 p.m.”

Their coworkers set up a room where Sun and Tsai could have a special ‘first look’ moment. Tsai then walked down the aisle in a wedding gown her colleagues had fashioned out of paper.

A nurse ‘officiated’ the 15-minute ceremony, which was broadcast live on Zoom to the couple’s family and friends.

2 @dukesom residents had a @zoom_us wedding at @DukeHospital Birthing Center today! The ceremony commemorated what would have been their big day in NYC. Fam & friends virtually watched @dukeobgyn resident Shelun Tsai exchange vows w/ @DukePsychiatry resident Michael Sun ? ? ? pic.twitter.com/p8RKwBXBWA

— Duke OB/GYN (@dukeobgyn) April 11, 2020

When your co-resident’s wedding has been thrown off by COVID-19, you don your best PPE for a hospital ceremony @dukeobgyn pic.twitter.com/t6jAvhSonZ

— Luke Gatta, MD (@gattago) April 11, 2020

Following the ceremony, Tsai and Sun rode off in style on a hospital transportation cart decorated with “Just Married” signs as their getaway car.

“It was absolutely amazing,” Tsai said of the ceremony. “Every day I feel like we take care of our patients and we’re always so thoughtful and love what we do and to see that [my colleagues] also care so much about us and the things that mean so much to us, it was really touching.”

“They’re really my work family and we really try to take care of each other,” she said.

With the coronavirus outbreak, many are stuck at home with little to do. In an effort to entertain themselves while still maintaining social distancing, these fun neighbours posed for a creative wedding shoot.

Five neighbours in Georgetown, Texas donned their old wedding dresses to partake in a photoshoot they’ve dubbed ‘Wedding dress Wednesday’.

Behind the lens was professional photographer Elyssa Seibel, who came up with the idea along with the ‘brides’, Jamie Egloff, Bryce Ellerbroek, Shannon Thomas, Nina Wagner and Jaime Sladek.

“Nina decided that a fancy wine night was exactly what she needed and so she proceeded to put on her wedding dress and take a picture of it—and let me tell you, she had a blast,” Seibel explained to Good Morning America. “After a few glasses of wine, she decided to call it ‘Wedding Dress Wednesday’ and that’s when my photographer brain snapped on. I asked in our group chat how many of the women could come outside in their wedding dresses to take photos, and no one hesitated.”

The photoshoot was a fun way for the women, who are all good friends, to get together in a safe way and take their minds off the current crisis.

“There is a lot of disappointing news right now… so just being able to get out on the street and see each other as we’ve never seen each other before was a really good feeling. It was so ridiculous but it brought a lot of joy,” said Jaime Sladek.

“I think we take for granted, the little bit of human interaction we get each day,” Seibel added. “Even just walking down the street and saying hi to a neighbor. This definitely puts a lot of things into perspective, to be able to not only give ourselves a laugh and a little break from the stress of this crisis. I think the goal is to find as much happiness as possible in all this craziness. We’re all in this together and all helping each other find ways to cope.”

Feature image: A Joy Story Photography – https://www.ajoystoryphotography.com/

Lockdown restrictions in Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus outbreak began, are being relaxed after 76 days and allowing its citizens more access to facilities and services. One of the first things people want to do now? Get married, apparently.

According to Chinese tech platform Alipay, there was a 300% increase in traffic on the local marriage application system they run, which caused a temporary logjam that has since been fixed.

Applications on the site have been suspended throughout February and March as residents observed the government-sanctioned lockdown.

With restrictions now being eased, Wuhan can expect a marriage boom in the upcoming months.

This rush stands in strict contract to the high rates of divorce Wuhan experienced during the lockdown. The lockdown has revealed cracks in relationships of many couples who were forced to spend too much time together or were separated during quarantine, leading to many opting to split up

One good thing about the lockdown is it really made people realise who they want to, or don’t want to, be with.

Feature image: Unsplash

As the coronavirus pandemic spreads, weddings as we know them are being forcibly put on hold. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t tie the knot at all. Across the globe, lovers are getting creative and turning to technology to allow their closest friends and family to still bear witness to their big day from the comfort of their own homes.

Weddings have now become online affairs, with many couples choosing video conferencing app Zoom as their online service of choice. Zoom has now partnered up with online wedding planner Wedfuly to help couples virtually tie the knot with ease. This service allows for an interactive online wedding experience.

“Wedfuly always provides creative approaches for our couples so the collaboration with Zoom was ideal for couples who wanted to keep their wedding date on schedule during these challenging times,” founder and CEO of Wedfuly, Caroline Creidenberg said to Brides.

Essentially, the service handles all the technical gruntwork. They create a timeline for the couple and virtual guests and control the entire virtual experience. Guests are muted and unmuted throughout the ceremony and given cues to applaud when needed.

Couples, however, still need to consider their own in-state laws and secure an in-person wedding officiant and physical witnesses for the marriage to be legally binding.

While having a virtual wedding may seem unconventional, it is a product of our current time. This service also allows families and friends far apart to connect again and share in a special moment. It’s fair to say that moments of happiness and positivity are necessary as we struggle with the uncertainty of life at the moment.

Feature image: Pexels