Sydney neighbour’s surprise act to bride and groom in lockdown

A Sydney couple who got married in their backyard without any family in lockdown received a touching surprise from their neighbour.

For more than a decade, Melissa Voyias has spent her weekends playing at weddings or engagement parties.

The professional violinist was supposed to be in Byron Bay last Saturday for a wedding, but like many people in Sydney has been unable to work due to the coronavirus outbreak.

“It’s been really hard, especially in the wedding industry,” Ms Voyias told news.com.au.

“We haven’t been able to do any sort of functions … it’s almost three months now I haven’t played.”

So when her dad spotted their newly-married neighbours returning from their church ceremony, the 28-year-old woman from the Sydney inner west suburb of Strathfield decided to treat them to a special performance.

“They were just taking a few photos when my dad spotted them. They were just going to go inside and sit down as that’s it, that’s all they can do,” Ms Voyias said.

Ms Voyias has been a professional violinist for over 10 years. Picture: Instagram/@violinbymel.

On Saturday restrictions were eased so that couples in Sydney and other locked-down regions of the state were able to marry.

But only with a maximum of five guests, plus a photographer and celebrant.

Ms Voyias and her sister approached the groom with their plan when he came out to get something from his car, organising the “little surprise” for his new wife.

After organising the song with the groom, Ms Voyias approached the couple. Picture: TikTok/@violinbymel.

She played Ed Sheeran’s Perfect. Picture: TikTok/@violinbymel.

When the couple emerged again from inside their home Ms Voyias crossed the street playing Ed Sheeran’s Perfect.

The couple, who got married without their families who live overseas, were touched by her gesture.

“It was a really special moment, I think the violin brings out everyone’s emotions,” Ms Voyias said.

Ms Voyias’ sister was also filming the moment, posting the video to her Instagram story where they blew up.

“We had so many replies on the story which seemed quite unusual, it just felt like a nice little gesture,” she said.

“But people were really responding.”

The ‘beautiful’ gesture also got an emotional reaction when it was posted to TikTok. Picture: TikTok/@violinbymel.

The reaction prompted Ms Voyias to make a TikTok video – her very first one – which she posted on Monday.

The viral video has been watched over 200,000 times and received more than 1200 comments, where it has been labelled “incredible to watch”.

“I’m crying, what a beautiful gesture,” one person wrote.

“Tears are rolling down my face,” another commented. “Faith in humanity restored.”

“Beautiful to see someone doing such a kind gesture during these difficult times,” one comment read.

Ms Voyias said she had been blown away by the response to the video and hoped it could help inspire more kind acts during lockdown.

“It’s so touching to hear that people really love the video and appreciated such a small act of kindness,” she said.

“It’s so beautiful to see that it has touched people in lots of different ways.”