When Douglas Parr proposed to Nadine Christensen a year ago, the two knew almost immediately that they would be married at their home in Brisbane, Australia and that they would be married on New Year’s Eve 2020.
The end of the year and the beginning of the new mark the end of what has been the most difficult decade for them and the beginning of something new. In 2011, Mr. Parr was hit by a car in a collision and his rehab became a “full-time effort for both of us,” Ms. Christensen said.
For the next seven years, Mr. Parr would once again learn to walk, drive, and do many of the things that came naturally to him before the accident, all with Mrs. Christensen by his side. In the last 12 to 18 months, their lives have begun to return to normal, the couple said in a telephone interview.
“The start of the new decade is a transformative moment for us,” Parr said. “We finally have a moment to move forward and everyone we love will be around us when we enter this occasion.”
For many couples, playing the new year with family and friends after marriage marks the beginning of a new chapter. For others it is convenient, as family members are already in the city and can save people the cost of traveling for a wedding on another date.
“In recent years, New Year’s Eve weddings have become popular, even on weekdays,” said Jeanne Eid, a wedding planner in Windsor, Ontario. “Everyone would love to go out and get dressed and a wedding is fun for guests to come in, celebrate, drink and celebrate the couple and the new year at the same time.”
This year, Mrs. Eid’s assistant is getting married on New Year’s Eve and Mrs. Eid is the starting point during the event.
Dan Scott, manager of Panama’s dining venue, a popular wedding venue in Melbourne, Australia, said there has been a “huge demand” for weddings on New Year’s Eve over the past two years.
“It’s booked as soon as possible,” he said, adding that couples like the date because “the family is already together in one place and we have a fantastic view of the Melbourne skyline, so people it also has a free fire castle. “
Amanda Luu, a florist and co-founder of Studio Mondine in San Francisco, said New Year’s weddings can be hard to find specific flowers.
“It’s a tough date if you have a really particular look to your wedding,” she said. “It’s the worst flower season because it comes out of all the holiday stuff and everything is bright and red and white.”
In Tallahassee, Florida, when the clock strikes midnight and the new year and decade begins, Mary Margaret Earnhart and her fiancé Heath Purvis will dance with friends and family.
The couple met on New Year’s Eve seven years ago and wanted to keep their birthday the same. The 31st also has sentimental value for Mrs. Earnhart because it was her maternal grandmother’s birthday.
“The fact that it’s 2021 and not just any new year is fun,” Ms. Earnhart. “Imagine playing the year with friends and family and as a newlywed couple.”
The couple is getting married at Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park in Tallahassee, a place they are excited about, but who landed after struggling to find a place open during the holidays or affordable.
Preston Bailey, an event designer who worked on the weddings of Serena Williams, LeBron James and Eva Longoria, said planning a New Year’s Eve wedding can be difficult and expensive, as popular locations go fast because demand it is high or because the staff working on a popular holiday is expensive.
“As an event designer and producer, it’s harder than usual to get people to work that night and because a lot of hotels and venues have their own events,” Bailey said.
Macy Urrutia, a physiotherapy student in Arizona, and her fiancé Alec Basterrechea, a medical student in Texas, will be married on December 31, 2021 and have already booked the wedding venue: the Grove Hotel in Boise, Idaho, because they knew other couples were looking at it 16 months before the date.
Kelly Timmons, who planned the wedding of Mrs. Christensen and Mr. Parr in Brisbane, echoed the sentiment and noted that she would work only until eight in the evening and then planned to leave the wedding to attend a party.
It was, after all, New Year’s Eve.
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