A British couple was devastated to learn that because of coronavirus restrictions, they would only be able to have 30 guests at their recent wedding. That meant many of their close friends couldn’t be there to share their big day. Luckily, they were able to get creative, spending nearly $2,600 on cardboard cutouts of their nearest and dearest so they could virtually attend.
- There were roughly 100 people on the initial guest list. Romanee and Sam Rondeau-Smith from Guildford in England were hoping they would have about 100 people at their wedding, but while their July wedding was pushed back to August 14 due to coronavirus, the maximum number of people they were allowed remained at 30.
- About 50 guests ‘attended’ the wedding in cardboard form. Not wanting to break the law or put anyone’s health in jeopardy, they decided they still wanted to find a way to enjoy the festivities with their friends. Soon, the idea of life-sized cardboard cutouts came to mind, and suddenly the guest list was going back up. Well, sort of!
- Only 14 people actually turned up. The couple said “I do” at The Bell in Ticehurst, East Sussex with 14 of their family members in attendance. It was a complete change of plans than what they initially envisioned when they got engaged in December 2019, but as Romanee explained, “At the end of the day, we just want to get married so let’s just go ahead – it helps that we’re not high maintenance.”
- Cardboard cutouts were a genius idea! It all started as a joke but suddenly became a real option once the couple thought about it. “One of my bridesmaids lives in Nashville and she wouldn’t be able to attend so we joked about having her as a cardboard cutout, so we thought why we don’t do that with our guests,” Romanee recalled. “We got all of our guests to send us a picture of them and it went from there – the wedding planner loved it, she found it hilarious. It worked out at the same price as what it would have cost to have them all here but we saved on the booze!” Yep, that’s about $2,500. But it’s money well-spent!
- Hawaiian Shirt Photography was there to capture the magic. The wedding photo agency must have had so much fun with this one, as I imagine it was the first wedding they’ve ever photographed where the majority of the guests were made of cardboard!
- Romanee and Sam will still have a big party one day. When all of this is over, they do plan to get everyone together in person. Maybe they can take new photos with each of the guests posing with their cardboard cutout! Now that will be a wedding to remember!
You can check out more of Hawaiian Shirt Photography’s work via their Instagram page or website.
