Yahoo Lifestyle 
Coronavirus wedding: Bride dons $7 Spotlight buy to 'elope'
When her dream wedding plans were snuffed by the coronavirus pandemic back in May, Brisbane bride Kaitlin Howard didn’t panic.
Sure, her wedding dress was still being made, the couple’s venue had cancelled their booking and, under the new restrictions, their guest list was limited to just a handful of family and friends.
But, as Kaitlin wrote on her Instagram, the husband-and-wife-to-be were determined to tie the knot ‘regardless of what was going on around us’.
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So, Kaitlin and her fiancé Matthew made the snap decision to elope as soon as possible. Their loved ones rallied and the couple were soon saying ‘I do’ in an intimate, socially-distanced ceremony in their local park.
“I can’t believe this all came together,” she said in a later Instagram post.
After two months of marital bliss, Kaitlin took to her TikTok account to give her followers a behind-the-scenes look at how she pulled off her ‘COVID elopement’ in rapid speed.
She explained how she purchased her ‘back up’ wedding gown — an ivory slip dress by Shona Joy —online, which she paired with a cheap-and-cheerful ‘veil’ made from $7 pearl-studded tulle from Spotlight.
Kaitlin’s sister made the veil — as well as her bouquet — on the morning of the wedding, while Kaitlin did her own makeup.
After tying the knot in a park ‘five minutes down the road’ on May 16 the newlyweds — who got engaged in October last year — celebrated with ‘a little reception with direct family’.
“We’re still doing a wedding number two later on in the year with all of my friends and family,” Kaitlin said in the video.
Despite the setbacks, the happy bride says that her last-minute COVID elopement was ‘the most special day of my life’.
Kaitlin now has her original wedding gown by bridal designer Sphere Collective safely in her hands, after sharing a snap of herself holding a garment bag back in June.
“Okay this dress was everything I could’ve imagined and more! December 31st couldn’t come soon enough!” she captioned the pic.
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