Love during lockdown: South African couple hold backyard 'wedding'

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Undeterred by a coronavirus diagnosis the day he was due to wed and curbs on gatherings that halted the ceremony, a South African has exchanged marriage vows with his bride in their backyard at a makeshift altar he built in his garage.

Film director Dan Mace, 30, made a video of the event that has been viewed more than 250,000 times.

β€œIt was a really difficult decision having to postpone it. I feel like I am stuck with those nerves of anticipation especially because everything was ready to go,” said his fiancee, 27-year-old law student Gabi Mace-Esterhuizen, in the YouTube clip.

The couple had scheduled their wedding for March 21 it was postponed due to his diagnosis and government-imposed restrictions on gatherings to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Mace, who has since recovered from the virus, said the curbs and subsequent fuller lockdown on March 26 had brought the couple closer together. β€œI really wanted to try do something ceremonial and sentimental to celebrate that,” he told Reuters.

The video shows Mace-Esterhuizen in a floral summer dress, walking to the altar where a friend streamed through a tablet acted as a makeshift minister to conduct a ceremony complete with cardboard cutouts of guests and wedding bands made from guitar strings.

The couple now plan to make their wedding official in December.

Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; editing by John Stonestreet

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source: reuters.com