Lockdown and engaged: Proposals thriving during COVID pandemic

Turns out Australians are a romantic bunch, even in times of crisis with jewellers and wedding vendors seeing a boom in engaged couples following the Christmas holidays.

Young couples looking for stability in the middle of a global pandemic are rushing to seal the deal, with jewellers across Sydney struggling to keep up with booming engagement ring demands.

Experts say the coronavirus pandemic has made Australians realise how fragile life is — pushing many to pop the big question earlier.

“This kind of thing happens in war time where ­people develop a much shorter timeframe, and have the attitude that you only live once, life is fragile and we shouldn’t delay the things we want in case we miss out on opportunity,” psychologist Dianna Kenny said.

Ms Kenny said couples could also be getting engaged to “substitute” the happiness they would get from travel and socialising.

Sian Jones from Bert Jewellers in Bondi has seen a surge in engagements during Covid. Picture: David Swift

“Normal sources of excitement have been seriously restricted by the fact you can’t go overseas, you can’t go to big gatherings and people are looking for sources of excitement and happiness,” she said. “Long-term couples might think this is as good a time as any to get married.”

Sian Jones from Bondi’s Bert Jewellery agreed that living in lockdown had forced couples to accelerate the development of their relationships.

“It has been made clear to couples that if they could make it through 2020 together, they could make it through anything,” she said.

“I had a couple of customers who had only just met at the very beginning of COVID and this fast-tracked their relationship, as they ended up moving in together much quicker than they usually would have, which resulted in proposals less than six months later.”

Cody Taylor and Peta Watson say their engagement was unintentionally fast-tracked by COVID. Picture: Christian Gilles

Online wedding band retailer Alex Hernandez, from Australian Wedding Rings, said the lead-up to Christmas had been their busiest period.

“This year, we are already receiving lots of wedding ring inquiries from excited, newly engaged couples who kissed 2020 goodbye by getting engaged,” he said.

Naomi Korolew from the The Pop Up Wedding Collective said her business had been “overwhelmed” with inquiries since Christmas.

Catholic archdiocese of Sydney marriage educator Francine Pirola said more couples were taking the step towards marriage because they had spent more time together in the past 12 months.

“COVID has left us thinking about our mortality, our relationships, what’s important and establishing a family,” she said. “More time together is when the real conver­sations happen.”

Cody Taylor and Peta Watson recently got engaged and are looking at getting married in 2022. Picture: Christian Gilles

Anglican Reverend Richard James warned couples to make sure they were engaged for the right reasons, citing social media jealousy as the possible reason behind the surge in proposed nuptials.

“When someone makes an announcement of the perfect photos and a romantic story ... it makes everyone else feel jealous and inadequate,” he said.

Cobbitty resident Peta Watson, 23, and her partner Cody Taylor, 24, have been together for seven years, and made it official in October.

“COVID definitely fast-tracked some things unintentionally. Because I started working from home, I had no need to be living in the city,” Ms Watson said.