Love has triumphed on a "beautiful, magic" day for a Dubbo couple who found a way to make their vows in a coronavirus world.
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Amanda Brownlow and Conrado Ciarliero married on Saturday, surrounded by 23 of their "nearest and dearest".
Engaged two years ago, they met working for the Royal Flying Doctor Service at Broken Hill, and are expecting a baby next month.
They had originally set the big day for last year, but then the transfers to Dubbo they'd been waiting for came through, and they set about settling into new jobs and a new city, bride Amanda said.
They thought 2020 was going to be the year, and then COVID-19 hit.
With the pandemic preventing some family travelling from overseas and restrictions on weddings changing and changing again, the couple had been forced to reassess their plans on a number of occasions this year.
But in July as the NSW government announced tighter restrictions in response to new cases of COVID-19, the couple did some "soul-searching" and then reorganised their big day to take place not in the Hunter Valley, but in Dubbo, within two weeks, Amanda said.
"We were like 'are we still going to do this', and we were really committed to doing it by that stage, emotionally committed, we just really wanted to get married," she said.
"And we realised the smart thing to do was to actually do it here in Dubbo, so at least if no one else could travel, we could travel."
Amanda, a doctor, said sadly her sister from Queensland and her family, as well as pilot Conrado's family from Argentina could not attend because of border closures.
...it was a beautiful, magic, very special day.
- Bride Amanda Brownlow
Having "all the people who are special and important" to them present is the only part of the day the newlyweds would change.
"...Even though there were people who were missing, and we would have loved to have been there, and that's Conrado's family [and] our amazing circle of friends who adore us, I certainly don't think we've missed out on anything, it was a beautiful, magic, very special day," Amanda said.
They had deliberately kept the wedding small, because they knew there was a "significant risk" they might have to change their plans, or not be able to go ahead, or potentially have to go back to having only five guests, she said.
With a mere two weeks to re-organise their wedding, the couple had to make the arrangements quickly.
They are grateful to all the vendors who pulled out all stops.
"...We felt like everyone just wanted to look after us really nicely," Amanda said.
Two days out, the bride-to-be decided a wet weather venue was necessary, and her big day became the first wedding ceremony held at the newly-restored The Exchange.
"I'd happened to look through The Exchange earlier this year, and been shown around by Jill, and just been so impressed by it, that I went 'I know this would be an amazing space for us to use', and it was," Amanda said.
Her advice to other couples navigating COVID is "be flexible in your expectations" and "work out what it is that's really important to you about getting married".