A NEWLYWED couple have explained how they did a wedding on a budget during the pandemic – using YouTube.

Matthew and Jennie Taylor had planned to tie the knot in front of all their friends and family at a church in November but, like many others, had to shelve their plans in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Boris Johnson banned wedding ceremonies from taking place in March in an efforts to control the spread of Covid-19.

Restrictions were eased at the end of July when small wedding receptions were given the green light.

In September couples were then told to cull large numbers of guests to just 15 – all of whom must stay socially distanced and wear face masks, but after they came back, nuptials were banned once again in the second national lockdown from November 5.

Mrs Taylor, 30, who works at Regent's Park College and lived in Cowley until moving Slough this month, said as soon as the idea of a second lockdown was floated, they ‘scrambled’ everybody together to sign the papers and make it official.

She said: “We had time to have a quick legal ceremony with the people we would have had at the 15-person limit.

“We scrambled everyone together on the Tuesday before lockdown.

“But we still wanted to share the day with everyone, and they were at work.

“So, we just did the legal bit first and went ahead with the wedding over YouTube on the day we wanted to have the wedding.

Oxford Mail:

“It was so good because we could invite who we wanted to with no cost factor involved.

“Some of my friends are abroad as well so they could watch it later that day, another friend said she had just watched it twice, the second time with her mum for fun – even though her mum’s never met me.

“One of the really cool things was seeing the live chat. Our set up was our camera on the iPad and we also had a laptop so we could see the comments and live stream on YouTube.

“It felt like people were there and not just like we were doing it into a void.”

Oxford Mail:

Mr Taylor, 28, said he was told people were even watching the wedding, which has now had more than 800 views, during their weekly shop in Asda and others at work.

He said: “Andrew Perryman, the pastor at the church, was really good. When we found out about lockdown he called us and told us about all of the options we had for doing it legally and then online.

“Another couple, David and Brenda, did a similar thing earlier in the year but in reverse. They did the YouTube wedding first and then did the legal bit after lockdown.”

Oxford Mail:

Mrs Taylor said another perk was that she got to wear her wedding dress twice.

She gave 'full credit' to her husband who helped her get dressed, and said: "It was a bit weird though, normally you wouldn't get ready together but it was really nice."