Across the world, bans on social gatherings are still in place to curb the spread of coronavirus. However, recently many have broken rules for their own pleasure. A Lebanese beauty queen did the same and hosted her wedding on August 1.

The beauty queen and actress, Valerie Abou Charca, who happens to be Miss Lebanon 2015, married Lebanese businessman, Ziyad Ammar, in an open-space wedding venue in Bkerke. After the wedding ceremony, a wedding gala was held for family and friends of the newlyweds.

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This occurred despite the government-imposed lockdown, with strict regulations by the health and interior ministries.

Some Lebanese citizens took to social media to express how irresponsible Charca was for allowing her wedding plans to continue despite the upsurge in coronavirus cases and the strict lockdown in the country. They criticised the couple and said that they were socially irresponsible.

Others, however, sang her praise and said that her wedding was beautiful.

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Following the criticism, several ministries made statements about how some rescheduled weddings were allowed to go ahead with regulations in place, according to Arab News.

Health Minister Dr. Hamad Hassan, in a televised interview, said that he had made exceptions for seven specific weddings to continue despite the lockdown. However, if they had not followed procedural rules then the wedding would be reconsidered by the Interior Ministry.

“We have to adapt and live the joys and sorrows, but with certain procedures,” he said.

There has been no confirmation that Charca’s nuptials were one of the seven functions that were allowed. However, an official told Arab News that “Part of the regulations were that the party be held outdoors, social distancing be respected and the number of invitees must be limited in accordance to the venue’s seating and accommodation”.

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According to a member of Lebanese media, Yomna Sherry, the wedding was stopped by officials, however this has not been confirmed by any official or Charca herself.

Image: Instagram / Valerie Abou Chacra Magazine

With the coronavirus pandemic still ongoing, most couples are significantly scaling down their wedding ceremonies. This means that many are not making use of traditional vendors such as photographers.

One New York couple decided they would marry on the Brooklyn Bridge, with nothing but an officiant and a stunning view. However, they were in luck as a woman passing by decided it would be a terrible shame for them to go without a single wedding photo to remember the day by.

Nevona Friedman took a stroll on the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday, 26 July. Along the way, she stumbled upon a couple getting married all by their lonesome, apart from the officiant. She decided she would help out by snapping some shots of the special moment.

“I realized there was no one else there — no family watching or photographer. I really can’t imagine getting married with no photos,” she told the New York Post.

Excited to share what she’d done, and hopefully find the couple to gift them with the photos, she took to Twitter.

“If you were getting married on the Brooklyn Bridge this evening, I’ve got some photos for you!” she wrote.

if you were getting married on the brooklyn bridge this evening, i’ve got some photos for you! pic.twitter.com/c61eDmAIaM

— nevona (@nevona) July 27, 2020

According to the New York Post, Friedman went on a search for the couple, tagging as many journalists as she could and posting the photo to various social media groups. She eventually found a mutual friend who put her in touch with the bride, Nikolina Kovalenko, a 32-year-old artist from Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

After getting engaged last month, Kovalenko and her now-husband, Stefan Ponova (30), decided they would have a wedding without all the fuss.

“We knew we wouldn’t be able to have a wedding where all our friends and family could attend,” she told The Post. Their lack of photographer was in an effort to keep to social distancing regulations and not put anyone at risk.

Another Twitter user seems to have captured the ceremony too and posted his photograph in the comments of Friedman’s post.

I was the second wedding witness ?? pic.twitter.com/Fz6ASbF0Eg

— John Prieto (@Johnick3000) July 30, 2020

Other Twitter users responded overwhelmingly positively, with one saying that this is all you need for a wedding.

Stunning dress, stunning scenery… all you need for a perfect wedding day if you ask me! The love of your life & a stunning sunset ? ❤️?????????

— Ruth Holcombe (@RuthHolcombe) July 28, 2020

This is really all you need when you get married. You & your intended, starring so deeply into each other’s eyes that you don’t care about the view behind you.

The rest of the wedding show isn’t necessary if you have that.

— East2West ?? (@CarolynEast2) July 27, 2020

Stunning photo at that! They are so lucky you were there! Perfect bit of kismet, especially needed to refresh our souls in these times! So glad you found them, Twitter!

— laurawinge (@laurawinge) July 28, 2020

Image: Twitter / Nevona

When we hear the phrase “your future is written in the cards”, we never expect it to be very literal. However, for this couple it was. A man used the card game called Taboo to propose to his girlfriend, completely taking her by surprise.

Taboo is a word guessing party game. The point of the game is for a player to get their partner’s to guess the word on their cards, without using the word written on the card and without using 5 other words written on the card.

Daunta, the man proposing, pre-arranged the Taboo cards “will”, “you”, “merry”, and “me” to come up. “Merry”, was there to ensure that his girlfriend didn’t catch on to the marriage proposal that was on its way.

Christina, his now-fiance, had the job of ensuring that Daunta didn’t use any of the words on the card in his attempt to get others to guess the word.

His partners guessed the words correctly, and Daunta threw the cards on the ground as they guessed each one. At the end of the round they tried to remember how many of the words they guessed correctly. In order to examine this, Daunta got down on one knee to look at the cards he threw on the floor.

As he picked them up he read each one, “Will. You. Merry. Me”.

It took her a while, but once she understood she was absolutely shocked!

Watch it all happen here:

Image: Screenshot from video

Despite rules and regulations on public gatherings due to COVID-19, many are still going about their lives as usual. While many couples have significantly scaled down their weddings and others have cancelled their celebrations altogether, others refuse to do so. Now, a San Francisco couple is realizing the error of their ways.

A couple celebrated their wedding in early July with approximately 100 guests at the SS Peter and Paul’s Church in San Francisco, California. Guests came from across the US, including Texas and Arizona. The large gathering has led to the newlyweds, along with eight of their friends, contracting coronavirus.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the couple also held a rehearsal dinner on the evening before their wedding, which was attended by over 40 people.

Despite being aware of the restrictions implemented, including a governmental order on the closure of indoor operations including religious services, the couple still held their wedding as planned. They were reportedly ware that they were breaking rules according to the Daily Mail, who claim that the father of the bride instructed guests to enter the venue from the back door so as to ensure that the event was not obviously visible.

According to the Independent, a city official arrived at the event as guests made their way inside and instructed those participating that the wedding should not continue due to the high number of guests.

Thereafter, the couple had a smaller ceremony with most guests watching online and some still in the church.

However, within five days of the ceremony the couple and eight of their guests started showing symptoms and tested positive for the virus.

According to a Pastor involved with the church,  the church had agreed to the wedding but had not agreed to the number of guests.

“I had said to them they had to comply with the minimum number for the service and when they showed up with more people, they agreed with sending them away,” he said.

Image: Unsplash

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed many restrictions on various industries, including weddings. This creative couple found an ingenious way to go ahead with their wedding safely while still having their family physically present, despite travel restrictions.

Norwegian bride Camilla Øyjord and Swedish groom Alexander Clern wanted their families there for their big day. However, travel restrictions due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic made this difficult.

As Sweden does not have a formal lockdown in place, its neighbouring countries have placed restrictions to prevent their citizens travelling to the country. This couple found a loophole by hosting their wedding ceremony across the border of Sweden and Norway.

The wedding was held in the woods of the south-eastern Holebekk region, and family and friends remained in their respective countries, separated by a white ribbon to mark the border. Police were present to make sure guests did not cross the line. The couple even organised separate catering for their guests on either side of the border.

“We did not want to change the date… all we wanted was to get married!” Oyjord told the BBC. She says the idea came to them as a joke, but as they neared their wedding date they saw it as a viable solution.

Feature image: Unsplash