A 300-person wedding in Washington State has been linked to dozens of coronavirus cases and the deaths of seven care home residents in the area, none of whom attended the wedding.
A reported seven care home residents, aged between 70 and 90, have died after staff members at the facility attended the November 7 wedding.
At the time the wedding was held, indoor ceremonies in Washington State were limited to 50 people.
In an announcement, the Grant County Health District explained that residents were staying at three care homes in Grant County, Washington, and all seven had underlying health conditions. There were also three other deaths not associated with the Long Term Care Facilities
“Our investigations have determined that there were long term care staff who tested positive for COVID-19 who attended the large wedding in Ritzville, WA reported on November 16. Because staff in these facilities care for entire units, direct contact with associated patients is not known. Our most vulnerable community members — elderly, immunocompromised, and those with chronic conditions — are especially at risk of complications due to a COVID-19 infection and we must continue to take measures to protect them from this disease.
“The best way to do that is by staying home as much as possible. Your choice to gather with those outside your household could lead to additional cases of COVID-19 and even death. Please protect those you love by staying home,” they concluded.
In a story entirely fitting for 2020, a bride would not let her positive COVID-19 diagnosis stop her from getting married.
California couple Lauren (29) and Patrick Delgado (27) have been engaged since May 2019, and had already downscaled their big day due to the pandemic. They changed their venue and guest list three times, and took it in their stride as they were excited to marry. However, things took a turn for the worse when Lauren tested positive for COVID-19 only five days before their wedding.
“Everything that could go wrong did go wrong,” Lauren told NBC News. “”I was really saddened because everything we had planned was already getting cancelled.”
Their November 21 wedding was so impromptu that Lauren didn’t even have enough time to pick up her wedding dress, and instead just wore a white dress straight from her closet.
Patrick stood outside the home as Lauren said her vows from her second floor bedroom window. Their 10 guests, who had all tested negative, wore face masks and stood socially distanced outside Lauren’s window or watched from their parked cars to enjoy the 45-minute ceremony.
In place of holding hands, the pair held each end of a flower-decorated ribbon as they exchanged their vows.
What do you do if you test positive three days before your wedding, but everyone else around you is negative? Let’s up…
“It was the most 2020 wedding I have ever shot during Covid-19,” said Jessica Jackson, the wedding photographer.
“I was just so happy and excited to be surrounded by my closest loved ones there,” Lauren added. “It wasn’t about a big wedding, it was just about celebrating our love and life together.”
After the ceremony, Patrick went to his home while Lauren stayed at her mother’s house to continue her quarantine. They ended their evening by watching the Netflix movie ‘Holidate’ and eating dinner separately over FaceTime
“It’s almost like a funny story we’ll one day tell our children,” Delgado said. “Like, we couldn’t sleep in the same bed the same day we got married.”
Lauren hopes to have a bigger ceremony with their extended families and friends some day in the future, when it is completely safe to do so.
Marriage has been a time-honoured tradition for centuries. While normally considered to be between two consenting adults, it seems marriage has a loose definition in today’s world.
It’s not only humans tying the knot with each other. Over the years, people have fallen in love with inanimate objects and decided to take the next step in their relationship by getting married. Here are a few of the unexpected things people have tied the knot with.
The Eiffel Tower
Erika La Tour Eiffel must have a thing for the tall, strong and silent type because she said ‘I do’ to the iconic Eiffel Tower. The bride is known as an “objectum sexual”, a person who falls in love with inanimate objects. Before the Eiffel Tower, she was in love with Lance, a bow that lead her to become a world champion in archery.
If you’d like to know more about Erika, there is a whole documentary called “The Woman Who Married the Eiffel Tower,” that tracks her life and her love story with this iconic landmark.
A ghost
Amanda Large Teague from Ireland claimed to have tied the knot with the ghost of a 300-year-old Haitian pirate she met while meditating for the first time. She is convinced the pirate was that of Jack Teague, who some believe to be the pirate who inspired the character of Captain Jack Sparrow in the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ franchise.
After months of communicating, the pair married aboard a boat on the Atlantic Ocean in 2016. Unfortunately, the pair did not last, and went their separate ways in 2018.
A smartphone
It seems this guy saw the movie “Her” one too many times. Back in 2016, Aaron Chervenak from Los Angeles travelled to The Little Vegas Chapel in Nevada to say ‘I do’ to his cellphone.
His marriage, while not legally recognised, was done to make a point about society’s growing obsession and reliance on smartphones.
A sex-doll
Kazakhstani Bodybuilder Yuri Tolochko recently married his sex-doll girlfriend Margo after proposing back in December 2019. The pair were meant to marry sooner, but were forced to postpone due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an interview, Tolochko claimed to have paid for Margo to have plastic surgery, as she “began to develop a complex” after receiving criticism over her looks following their engagement announcement.
“She has changed a lot. At first it was hard to accept, but I got used to it later on. It was at a real clinic with real doctors,” he said.
Back in 2018, mother of two Kate Cunningham said ‘I do’ to an elder tree at Rimsose Valley Country Park in order to bring attention to how green spaces in the area were being destroyed.
The marriage idea began as a way to prevent the local government from building a bypass road that would run through the Valley.
A hologram
Akihiko Kondo from Japan married a hologram of cyber celebrity Hatsune Miku back in 2018. He fell in love with her a decade before when he first heard her music.
After falling into a deep depression, Kondo explains that the hologram, which is programmed to speak and respond, helped bring colour to his life. His bride lives in his Gatebox device, which creates the flickering hologram of Miku.
Despite Daft Punk’s famous lyric, it seems that many newlyweds aren’t ‘up all night to get lucky’.
A recent campaign by Compare.bet/en-au/ surveyed 980 couples across 44 countries with the highest populations to find out if they consummated their marriage on the night they tied the knot. They then created a map showing the top 10 countries most likely to consummate their marriage on their wedding night, and the bottom 10 countries who didn’t find the time to make it ‘official’.
The results are in:
The newlyweds most interested in getting jiggy straight after they tied the knot were from Finland, with a whopping 89% saying they consummated their marriage on their wedding night.
Following closely behind was Egypt, with 88% of couples saying they had sex on their first night being married, whilst 12% didn’t.
In third place was unsurprisingly the hot-blooded Brazilians, with 87% doing the deed on their first night as man and wife. South Africans ranked pretty high, with 82% consummating the marriage on wedding night.
Japan and Russia had the second and third lowest percentage of consummating couples. And it was bad news for the Australians, who came trailing in last place, with only 36% getting laid on their wedding night, compared to 64% of couples who didn’t mark the occasion.
It turns out not even a wedding day can stop this committed sportsman from playing for his team. Soon after tying the knot, Queensland Lions football player Luke Borean quickly traded in this tux for his goalkeeper gloves to win a 4-1 victory over Peninsula Power on the very same day.
Borean and partner Ellen Hepburn’s big day clashed with the football match after the COVID-19 pandemic extended the season.
Lions coach Darren Sime told ABC News that he asked Borean to help him prepare reserve keeper Ryan Murphy for the match, but Boren told him it’s all under control.
“‘There was never any hesitation. Soccer has always come first with us,” Ellen said. “And, come on, it’s Luke, so what else was going to happen?”
The pair said ‘I do’ to one another on Saturday, November 21. Soon after exchanging vows, the pair headed out to Brisbane where Borean joined his team to compete in the match. Hepburn, still in her wedding gown, cheered her new husband on from the sidelines.
“Obviously the club would never, ever stand in the way of a player’s wedding, you have to celebrate those moments,” said coach Sime. “But they chose to celebrate that moment with us, which we’re really thankful for.”
“It is not every day you get to bring your bride and wedding party to a game of football!!” joked the Lions social media. “Tonight, Luke Borean our goalkeeper married his partner, Ellen Hepburn in a great ceremony. They enjoyed the reception and then all headed out to Peninsula to watch Luke play for a spot in next week’s grand final.”
Weddings have become sites of super-spreader events amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, couples and guests continue to ignore safety regulations.
Mikayla and Anthony Bishop had their wedding in October 2020 and almost half of their guests contracted the COVID-19 virus. When Mikayla was walking down the aisle, she immediately noticed that despite her provision and distribution of masks, almost no one was wearing one.
“I didn’t think that almost half of our wedding guests were gonna get sick,” Mikayla told the Washington Post. “You’re in the moment. You’re having fun. You don’t think about covid anymore.”
On the venue’s Facebook page, photos of the wedding decorations and safety measures were posted. In the first photo, there is a basketful of hand sanitizer bottles for guests beside a container holding disposable white masks.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Brian Kruse, the recreation director with Blue Ash Parks who oversees the venue where the wedding was held, said the facility had signs indicating guests must wear a mask and are to consume all food and beverages while seated, among other precautions.
On the day of the wedding, it was only the couple’s grandparents who wore masks at all times, yet they tested positive for the virus, and two spent time in the emergency room with severe symptoms.
The couple experienced symptoms on their honeymoon. Soon, they started getting calls about more and more guests testing positive. They decided to tell their story in hopes of warning others against holding large weddings.
“Every single day we’re getting a call. Oh here’s another person. Here’s another person. Here’s another person,” Mikayla said. “And it starts to take a toll on you.”
Pictures: Unsplash/ Facebook (Cooper Creek Event Center)
Finding your dream dress is always a special moment, but when it’s out off your price range that dream turns into a nightmare. Luckily, this bride was able to get her gown thanks to an unlikely celebrity source.
A woman went on social media and posted about an A-line dress from David’s Bridal with floral details and removable neckline sleeves that she fell in love with, but also mentioned that she could not afford it.
“I’m getting married in March and trying to move home,” Twitter user Ireanna wrote. “Excited but overwhelmed. I saved some money, but it’s still a struggle. I found the dress of my dreams and want to have it so badly, but come in saving for the move, I don’t think it will be possible.”
She then asked her followers to consider donating to her Cash app to help make her dream come true. Out of the people that the tweet reached, Missy Elliot responded with: “Congratulations early on. God bless you both with an unbreakable Union full of love and happiness”.
Im getting Married in March &trying to move into our own place. Excited but overwhelmed. I have been saving money; but its still a struggle. I found my dream dress and I want to get it so bad but between saving for the move- i dnt think it will be possible….. pic.twitter.com/OO6GftGZbK
Itumeleng Khune and Siphelele Makhunga have reached an exciting milestone. The Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper and his beautiful wife have officially been married for one year.
The sports star ‘put a ring on it’ in 2019, but they have been a couple for three years.
“3 years of loving each other down, Forever to go. Happy Anniversary my love?” Makhunga wrote on Instagram to mark their two special anniversaries.
While he didn’t make a post of his own, Khune commented of his partner’s post: “Here’s to more years wifey.”
We all know the tragic story of Princess Charles and the late Princess Diana. The young Diana, plucked from her normal life, became the world’s obsession when it was announced she would marry the future king, Prince Charles.
What many people don’t know, however, is that she very nearly did not become princess. Before they met, Prince Charles was pressured into proposing to someone else.
Prince Charles famously dated future second wife Camilla Parker-Bowles when they were younger, but was forced to break things off because his family had determined she was not a suitable partner for the future King.
In the years after, the prince was pushed toward his cousin (not a first cousin) Amanda Knatchbull. Charles’ great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten had encouraged him to strike up a relationship with Knatchbull, who was his granddaughter, reports royal historian and biographer Robert Lacey.
“Over the years the two cousins did grow close, developing a mutual respect and friendship that has lasted to the present day. But when the prince finally made his proposal in the summer of 1979—shortly before Lord Mountbatten’s assassination by the IRA—the independent-minded Amanda politely turned him down,” wrote Lacey in Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult.
“The surrender of self to a system, she explained, was so absolute when joining the royal family, it involved a loss of independence ‘far greater than matrimony usually invites,'” Lacey writes in the book.
Her reasoning for not accepting the proposal reportedly greatly impacted the future king, and served to confirm his “own belief that to marry into the House of Windsor was a sacrifice that no-one should be expected to make,” wrote Charles’ biographer, Jonathan Dimbleby.
The prince went on to date Diana in 1980, after meeting her through her older sister Lady Sarah, whom he also used to date. The pair announced their engagement on February 24 and married later that year on July 29.
