Anna and Steven were planning to have their dream wedding in Greece this summer.
Now the Greek-Australian bride has been forced to postpone her wedding plans because of the corona virus outbreak.
“We were really excited to fly back home and celebrate our love in Greece with our favorite people, our children and my elderly parents who live in Kalymnos but unfortunately with everything that’s been happening around the world and the corona virus epidemic, we decided to review our arrangements and postpone the wedding. It was just too risky,” says Anna Macarounas, who was born in Australia from migrant parents that settled in Darwin in the late 1950’s.
Anna, together with her parents and four siblings moved back to Greece in 1981 where she continued her schooling before returning to Australia to resume her studies.
After moving back to Greece in 1993 and spending years working and running her own business, Anna decided to move back to Australia due to the Greek financial crisis.
She met Steven in Darwin in 2017 and the couple decided to tie the knot in Greece this summer.
“Last year while we were holidaying in Greece, Steven proposed to me. Initially we were going to have the wedding in Kalymnos because it’s such a beautiful place and my elderly parents live there but it got too hard to organise from here so I chose another place that’s always been very close to my heart and slightly easier to get to – Delphi,” Anna says.
She spent months organising and planning for her big day with the help of the locals and all was set to go for the wedding on 4 July, until coronavirus put a dampener on the ceremony.
READ MORE: Greece’s latest popular wedding destination
In line with government advice for Australia and Greece, Anna and Steven decided to postpone their wedding being particularly conscious of government and health experts’ advice in relation to both the wellbeing of older family members and their 110 guests.
“We were going to have people attend the ceremony and reception from Europe, the USA and Australia. We were planning to meet earlier in June and take everyone on a fun tour around Greece and visit the Parthenon, the Acropolis Museum, Plaka, Monastiraki, Agora and Cape Sounio before heading to Delphi for the wedding. After Delphi the tour was going to continue to Meteora, Olympia, Nafplio before flying off to Kalymnos for a few days, but that could prove to be a time bomb given what’s happening with Covid-19.”
The 51-year-old recruitment officer says although postponing her wedding was incredibly disappointing, she realises the urgency of the situation and feels that at this point, staying safe and healthy should be everyone’s priority.
“Everything we planned for has been wiped out. I am mentally drained and emotionally exhausted but to me the worst part is the uncertainty and the fear that we have entered a new era and the things we once took for granted are now lost. We are obviously very sad, but we realise other people are suffering much more and we are philosophical about it.
“Everyone we love is well and Steven and I are just grateful for the fact that everyone we dealt with in Greece as we postponed our plans was incredibly helpful and supportive. The man I love is beside me and if it takes us a little longer to unite our love in marriage then we just need to wait out the storm because that is exactly what this is, a storm; and like all storms, it will pass.
“Right now, the most important thing is for people to show love, kindness and understanding towards each other. Not only to those we love but to all people as we are all human and all suffer in one way or another,” Anna concludes.