While it wasn’t quite the fairy-tale wedding they had hoped for, a Greek Australian couple managed to spend the dying hours of pre-lockdown Sydney celebrating one of the most special days of their lives.
Newlyweds Leon and Laura Evidis had planned their special day months in advance to take place on Saturday, June 26. While cautiously observing the emerging covid situation in the days leading up to Saturday, on the day of the wedding it never crossed their mind.
As they were walking down the aisle of the St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Marrickville, Gladys was across the city announcing a full two-week lockdown of Greater Sydney.
“At the time we didn’t actually know what was going on in terms of the 6 p.m. lockdown. We had no idea because our ceremony was at midday, so I think as we were getting married, things were getting announced, what I then found out later in the afternoon,” Leon Evidis told The Greek Herald.
The new lockdown restrictions came into effect at 6 p.m. AEST, which was coincidentally the same start time of the couple’s wedding reception. However, the pair were still able to go ahead with the wedding as planned, as long as they adhered to the previously-enforced restrictions.
“Even the day before, things were sort of looking sketchy in the sense of a lot of guests being able to come because of the confusion with the restrictions,” Leon added.
“The reception sort of just put us at ease and said look, we can still legally go ahead. So we just said, we’ll go ahead with it and whoever can come, can come.”
Leon said while the glooming restrictions added some additional stress, he was “at ease” the second he walked out of the church doors.
“Once walking out the church, the second we signed the certificate, I was just at ease. I was happy, Laura was happy and then we were just glad whoever came was able to come to the reception to celebrate with us, even though it wasn’t your typical wedding,” Leon said.
Leon’s mother, Anna Evidis, said she was grateful her son and new daughter-in-law were able to celebrate their special day.
“We we were jumping up and down with joy that we made it because with everything happening and the covid that hit and everybody was getting worried,” Anna Evidis said to The Greek Herald.
“The night before the wedding, actually, we we were at sort of at the edge of cancelling the reception… then we thought we’ll bite the bullet and go for it.”
While restrictions prevented any Greek dancing or celebrations you would typically see at a Greek wedding, she was still thankful that guests were able to come and celebrate the special day.
Anna also added that she felt very sorry for the many families across Sydney who were forced to cancel or postpone their weddings, some for a third time.
“I really feel for those people. Especially you hear some of them, it’s a third time cancellation. I’m just happy that it didn’t happen to us,” Anna added.
“We were the ones that were blessed and happy that we didn’t miss the excitement. We were just happy to see our kids get married, but I really, really feel sorry for the families. I really do.”
