Coronavirus: Bindi Irwin among brides who scrambled to beat the ban

A trio of lovestruck couples­, includin­g Bindi Irwin, brought forward their nuptials to beat the midnight Wednesday curfew.

Preparations for Bindi Irwin’s wedding to Chandler Powell. Picture: 7News

A trio of lovestruck couples­, includin­g conservationist Bindi Irwin, brought forward their nuptials to beat the midnight Wednesday curfew on having more than five guests at their reception.

One was held in secret on a Gold Coast beach with just parents in attendance, another involved a modest group of 30 at a remote­ rural property on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula, while the Irwin affair was an all-in extrav­a­ganza at Australia Zoo.

Bindi Irwin arrived­ for her wedding to Chandler Powell wearing a white gown, which was hidden under several white golf umbrellas. Picture: 7 News

The 21-year-old daughter of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin arrived­ for her wedding to Chandler Powell wearing a white gown, which was hidden under several white golf umbrellas. Aer­ial shots taken from television helicopters ­suggested it was a large reception, with many people commenting on Twitter that ducking the PM’s ban was irresponsible.

At the other end of the spectrum, Nicole Wheelans married Frankie Walker in a sunrise ceremony at Broadbeach attended only by parents and the celebrant.

The couple had their wedding scheduled for April 9 but decided after Scott Morrison’s announcement on Tuesday night to drive to Broadbeach from Brisbane at 3.45am yesterday to tie the knot as the sun came up, and share the news via FaceTime with the 100 guests they had invited for April.

“The marriage unfolded as the sun came up,” Ms Wheelans’s stepmother, Karryn Wheelans, told The Australian.

“We were a small but perfectly formed group: Nicole­’s father Simon, Nicole’s mother Amanda and her partner, Frankie’s parents Caroline and Stephen, me, and the marriage celebrant. When we started FaceTiming everyone with our champagne on the beach this morning to break the news, they woke up with their sleepy faces saying: ‘Where are you? What the hell? What’s going on?’

Frankie and Nicole Walker at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast after their wedding. Picture: Supplied

“But they understood and everyone is so happy. There will be a full wedding ceremony and a bigger­ party when the virus is behind­ us.”

The coronavirus outbreak had proved a logistical nightmare for the couple, with guests coming from Australia, New Zealand, and London, and one of Nicole’s four sisters in isolation after rushing back from France to beat an earlier lockdown.

“There were tears with the wedding plans changing, then crumbling,” Karryn Wheelans told The Australian. “But after the sadness Nicole and Frankie became even more ­pragmatic than usual and put it in perspective.”

There was a similar record for rescheduling when Country Fire Service firefighter Lachlan ­Hennekam, 26, married his long-term girlfriend Kristen Kossatz, 23, in the middle of their 2ha property in the tiny town of Yorketown, on the Yorke Peninsula.

There were 30 guests, six times more than the official capacity ­decreed by the PM in his latest escalation of the corona­virus lockdown.

The couple got engaged in June and were scheduled to get married on Saturday, but their plans were thrown into chaos by the PM’s announcemen­t, after which Mr Hennekam got a late-night phone call from their celebrant saying the wedding could not go ahead as planned. Instead, they decided to contact the guests and see if they could hold a snap wedding.

“We thought it through carefully,” Mr Hennekam told The Australian. “We get that this is serious­ and we didn’t want to do anything dodgy but the rules were that the changes were coming in at midnight, so we weren’t doing anything illegal or wrong …

“We were expecting some negative feedback but everyone has been totally positive in their reaction and said: ‘Good on you. congratulations, that’s great.’

“I mean, the world can do with a bit of happiness right now. At least it’s made people smile.”

The wedding caps off an eventful few months for Mr Hennekam, who helped fight the Yorketown fire in December.