Cut-outs and coffee make it a special lockdown wedding
A KIND-HEARTED Cardiff couple made the best of their lockdown wedding, complete with a cardboard cutout congregation and a donation of 30 coffees to the homeless.
Jordan Cuff and Bhavana Gupta, both 27, tied the knot at Cardiff’s City Hall on Monday with just Jordan’s parents, a couple of friends and family and the photographer and videographer.
The pair, who have been together five years, had been due to have a bigger wedding with up to 100 guests in the north of England – where Jordan grew up – before Covid-19 changed their plans.
Jordan said: “We were meant to be having a bigger wedding up north this month but when the pandemic set in we realised this wasn’t possible and we made the decision to just do something smaller for the time being down here instead.”
The couple, who got engaged at Rest Bay in Porthcawl in May 2019, were understandably upset but soon made new plans for a modest register office ceremony – yet, sadly, things changed again at the last minute when restrictions hit the travel plans of Bhavana’s parents, Anil and Asha and her brother Arpit.
“We were allowed 10 people, including our photographer and videographer, and then that perfectly fit the number of our immediate family,” Jordan added, “and then last week they announced that the quarantine in Italy was coming into effect the day they [Bhavana’s family] were due to come over so they couldn’t come.
“So I ordered these cardboard cutouts to take their place.”
The cutouts were a hit and certainly made for a memorable day.
“They weren’t very talkative on the day ... and they wouldn’t socially distance properly either,” joked Jordan. “You have to make the most of it haven’t you and it’s made a lot of people smile.
“I think more than anything it’s shown the adversity we’ve got to overcome and adaptability during this pandemic.”
Keeping in with the guidelines the wedding party weren’t allowed to celebrate post-ceremony, but photographs were able to be taken and the group headed over to Jordan’s favourite coffee stop to get the final few snaps.
Coffee-fan Jordan, a PhD student who works around the corner from Gorsedd Gardens where Brodies Coffee Co is based, had already “paid it forward” (pre-paying for hot drinks for homeless people) the day before his wedding with 10 coffees at the cafe. He then added 30 more with Bhavana on their happy day.
“Brodies is in the grounds and so we went there to have the last of the photos and part ways,” he said. “I’ve been going there for a few years. It’s a lovely place to end [the wedding day].
“And we worked out that if we were to have our extended family there it would be about 30 others and, rather than sitting there thinking about it, we thought we could let 30 homeless people have a nice drink.”
Bhavana, a post-doctoral researcher, had her coffee on the house, of course.
The happy couple celebrated with a meal for two at the restaurant where they had their first date, Troy, on Wellfield Road, and, said Jordan, an exotic honeymoon in Cardiff Bay.
The pair are planning a bigger celebration at a later date.