''Why 2020 Was My Best Year Ever''

For most of us, 2020 has been the year to block out and bury forever. But for a lucky few, it was a time marked by love, joy and triumph. As told to Cat Rodie

- Cat Rodie

POPPY LISSIMAN, 33 “We got married on the last weekend before lockdown”

Harrison and I met eight years ago at a black-tie fundraiser. He was DJing and wearing the most ludicrous outfit: head-to-toe floral. He looked so fabulous and immediately caught my eye. We have been inseparable since.

Our wedding [in Perth] was scheduled for March, and when COVID started to ramp up in February, we wondered if it would impact the big day. We saw in the news that a Sydney wedding had ended up with 35 cases and didn’t want that to happen. We sent out emails asking people to reconsider coming if they were unwell. A few pulled out at that point.

More restrictions started coming into effect as the day got closer, and we realized that if our wedding had been planned for the following weekend we would have been forced to cancel.

On an actual day, I was cool as a cucumber. We’d had a registry wedding a few days earlier, so I’d been able to get the nerves out of my system.

After the ceremony, Harrison and I took the opportunity to run off together for 10 minutes. It was special – we got to soak it all in and gush about how much we love each other. We were both so stoked about how the day was going. It sounds so cliché, but it really was the best day of my life.

The energy at the wedding was incredible – I think because everyone knew it was the last weekend before lockdown and we would all be bunkering down after that. It was actually an amazing thing; everyone got this extra energy to keep going all night because no one wanted to leave one another. It was really magical – the perfect place for our friends to party like it was the last one of 2020.