Bride’s unusual Covid coping strategy

This Brisbane bride had an unique way of coping with the stress of ongoing Covid lockdowns in the lead up to her big day.

4 min read

October 15, 2021 - 9:00AM

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In the two month lead up to her August wedding this year, Laura Sullivan watched every Covid press conference live. It was part of her coping strategy, she wanted to be across any potential delays or guest hurdles so she could tackle them head on.

“This was all very time consuming and I can see now that my life for approximately two months prior to the wedding revolved around press conferences, including watching them at home, work, grocery stores, carparks – if there was a press conference I was there,’’ she said.

“I do think I would have been more stressed if I didn’t have a full understanding or if I was ill informed.’’

Wedding of Laura and Mark Sullivan. Picture: Renee Mulcahy Photography

Luckily, Laura and husband Mark Sullivan managed to time their August 21 wedding at Bracknell Lodge in Wyreema on the Darling Downs between lockdowns.

Unfortunately friends and family - including two bridesmaids - were unable to make the wedding but live streamed the day.

The couple - who have been together for eight years - danced their first dance to Tennessee Whiskey by Chris Stapleton in front of 110 guests.

They honeymooned at Port Douglas, followed by a week at Kinrara Expeditions, 250km south-west of Cairns.

How did you meet?

We met through our best friends, who have been together for 12 years, and who we each met when we started high school.

How did he propose?

Mark proposed on a picnic rug with our cattledog in our backyard in Arana Hills.

Wedding of Laura and Mark Sullivan. Picture: Renee Mulcahy Photography

Any unique or surprising details about your wedding?

When people tell you the day flies by listen to them – because it does.

What was the standout moment of the day?

Finally being able to see each other at the end of the aisle – a very long aisle. Getting to share the day and celebrate with our friends and family and seeing all the hard work pay off.

What would you do differently?

Honestly there isn’t anything we would do differently.

One thing you wish people told you about planning a wedding?

Fabric serviettes are expensive. Make your own, or get your grandma to, like we did.

Best advice for other couples planning a wedding?

Be organised and be prepared, and if you are already an organised person – double it.

Wedding of Laura and Mark Sullivan. Picture: Renee Mulcahy Photography

Original wedding plans?

We were very fortunate to be able to go ahead on our original date and venue. Unfortunately 10 friends and family couldn’t make it from interstate and internationally.

Four of those were particularly special. Mark’s sister Emma was stuck in Germany and his other sister Kate was in lockdown in Melbourne. And two of my bridesmaids were locked down, Karina in Newcastle and Sam in Canberra.

Emotions around Covid disruptions?

Each time we realised that one of the girls wouldn’t realistically make it, it was very tough, it was generally followed by some very down days and tears but ultimately we knew that the day was about us and they would want us to keep going.

What were your updated wedding plans?

To have one bridesmaid and three groomsmen. Mark was unsure to begin with but I was happy and not worried about being “off balance” – I consider the boys also some of my closest friends so I knew they were there for us both.

After I walked down the aisle, Robert actually swapped from Mark’s side and stood next to Maddie on my side for the ceremony, it was a nice touch and not what people expected.

Wedding of Laura and Mark Sullivan. Picture: Renee Mulcahy Photography

What helped you get through the stress of changing plans?

This could possibly increase stress for some but for me being across every Covid development nationwide, which included watching every state press conference live every day, having news alerts on my phone and twitter notifications turned on for all Covid news.

This was very time consuming and I can see now that my life for approximately two months prior to the wedding revolved around press conferences, including watching them at home, work, grocery stores, carparks, if there was a press conference I was there.

I do think I would have been more stressed if I didn’t have a full understanding or if I was ill-informed.

Advice for other couples whose weddings are impacted by COVID?

If you are able to, hold off postponing for as long as possible.

There were two lockdowns in Brisbane in the months leading up to the wedding, where we could have easily panicked and postponed but I was mindful that we would be even more disappointed if we had postponed the wedding but by the time the date came we could have actually gone ahead.

Communication! At one point when Brisbane was in lockdown just weeks before our wedding, I created a spreadsheet with every weekend date for the next year and circulated it to all my vendors to work out their availability and a possible back-up date. Fortunately it wasn’t required.