Bindi Irwin’s wedding plans were derailed in more ways than one. The young conservationist had been looking forward to marrying her longtime love, Chandler Powell, and was working out the details of their special day when the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything.
The couple initially planned to marry on April 4, 2020 at the Australia Zoo and have all of their friends and family at their wedding, but eventually decided to move up the date and not have guests at the event out of concern for everyone’s safety. They ended up tying the knot in a small, private ceremony on March 25th, mere hours before Australia implemented strict quarantine restrictions.
“We thought about postponing, because you want to share this day with everyone, but when it boiled down to it, we both just said, ‘Look, we desperately want to get married, and no matter what the future holds, at least we’ll be husband and wife. We can take on the world together,'” Irwin told People.
Moving her wedding day up was 'a very difficult decision' for Bindi Irwin
It was a beautiful ceremony, but not the one Irwin had planned on. “We’ve planned this beautiful day for nearly a year and had to change everything, as we didn’t have guests at our wedding,” she wrote in the caption of an Instagram post. “This was a very difficult decision but important to keep everyone safe. Right now we’re encouraging the world to hold onto hope and love, which will carry us forward during this profound time in history.”
Still, Irwin was determined to make the best of things. In another Instagram post, Irwin wrote about how difficult it was to change all of her wedding plans, but that local vendors worked with her to make sure that her wedding went off without a hitch. Things might have fallen into place if the paparazzi hadn’t crashed her wedding, forcing Irwin to change not just her wedding date but the venue as well.
Bindi Irwin refused to let the paparazzi spoil her big day
Irwin opened up about the unpleasant surprise in her Instagram post. “On our wedding day we were finally about to get married and the paparazzi flew over us in a helicopter scaring our wildlife,” she wrote. “We had to leave our stunning wedding venue on the African Savannah for their safety. I said goodbye to the place I had dreamed of getting married for so many years. At that moment I remembered the filming barn where I’d spent much of my life with my family working on Crocodile Hunter and Bindi The Jungle Girl. I knew we could make it work and our zoo crew helped us to move everything inside.”
Irwin was understandably frustrated, but she made the best out of the stressful event. Even though nothing — aside from her wedding dress, which she had picked out months earlier — was as she had originally planned it, Irwin refused to be upset and was able to appreciate the miracle of her big day.
“I watched love win,” she said. “I was there in my wedding dress, husband-to-be by my side, moving tables and flowers and trying to make our day finally become a reality. At one point I sat on a chair in the corner doing my best not to think about how overwhelming things seemed. I missed the people who couldn’t be there, my dad, Chandler’s family, our dear friends, my family. Chandler stopped what he was doing and sat next to me. I asked him to list me happy things. He proceeded to remind me that love ALWAYS wins.”
Bindi Irwin got her happily ever after
Things may not have gone as planned, but Irwin was still able to get the ultimate wedding video as their nuptials were filmed for Crickey! It’s the Irwins: Bindi’s Wedding. Ahead of the wedding, Irwin was recorded for the special (via ET) saying, “We just want to get married before the world changes… We’re going to change everything and we’re just gonna make it work.”
In spite of all the setbacks and their original wedding being ruined, Irwin and Powell did indeed make everything work. The chaos proved to be the first big challenge of Irwin’s married life, and it gave her now-husband the chance to step up to the plate. “Chandler has the most calming presence,” Irwin told ET of how her hubby helped her through the whole ordeal. “He was very nice just to say, ‘Everything’s gonna be OK.’ But it was crazy.”
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