Bride says show must go on!
IN LOCKDOWN FOR YOUR WEDDING DAY AND YOUR FAMILY IS 700KM AWAY? ALISON COMYN TALKS TO THE BRIDE WHO STREAMED IT LIVE!
WHEN Drogheda woman Joanne Malocca couldn’t have her or her fiancé’s family at their wedding in the UK last week, she brought the wedding to them! The former Wheaton Hall resident tied the knot with her surgeon husband in the small chapel in the hospital where they both work, and the reception on their balcony at home was streamed live to family and friends in Drogheda and all over the world,
“It wasn’t exactly what we had planned, but in the end all that mattered was getting wed, and we had a lovely day,” says Joanne, who is a specialist dietician in Ipswich hospital.
“We originally only had a small wedding planned, and we fell in love with the little chapel in the hospital, so rather than potspone, we chamged our plans at the very last minute, and decided to go ahead with the day.”
Joanne and her sweetheart Andrei Moscalu met while working in the Lourdes Hospital in 2015, where he was a trainee surgeon from Romania and she was a dietician.
They worked there until they moved to the UK together in 2017, and got engaged last September 2019 and planned a wedding for both the families and friends where they live in UK for 6th June 2020.
“Of course, like so many other things, it was cancelled due to Covid, and we figured that it would be pretty difficult to get our two families together in the future due to travel restrictions or safety,” says Joanne, picking up the story.
“To add to our frustrations, the Prime Minister hadn’t announced when weddings, even the legalities, will be allowed again, and we were both part of the response to the pandemic, with my partner in particular working a very demanding schedule for two months”.
In the week coming up to their date, an idea popped into their heads about getting married in the chapel at the hospital where they work.
They fell in love with this idea after meeting the Reverend of the Chaplain who was very enthusiastic and decided to pursue it.
“However, it wasn’t as simple as that, as we had to apply for a special license from the Archbishop of Canterbury first.” she says with a laugh. “Just seven days before our proposed date on the application, we found out we got the go-ahead. We planned a whole wedding in a week, for just us and our two witnesses, my sister Elaine Gogarty and her husband Lewis, who thankfully live nearby.
So finally, last Friday 26th June, the couple livestreamed the whole thing for their friends and families at home and had a reception on the terrace of their flat afterwards.
With everything that was going on, and seeing so much sickness and death in the hospital, they thought life is short and why not just do it.
“It was honestly the best day of our lives, and even though it would have been the first time both our families met, we feel like they were there and shared the day with us.”
In fact, they had 200 views of the video so it was very popular!
Watching from their Drogheda home were mum and dad Marie and Gerry, and her large extended family.
“I wore my dress and Andrei wore his suit, and I was delighted to have my sister there to share it with us, and even though it was sad for mum not to see me on the day, they were all very supportive of us,” she adds.
“They all even dressed up too, and had a party in our honour.”
And with travel restrictions still so tight, did the couple manage to get a honeymoon?
“No, I’m afraid, we got the weekend off at home and we were back to work on Monday,” she smiles.
“We both work in frontline services, so don’t know when all this will be over, so maybe we’ll have something next year.”