Sydney schoolboys attempt to skirt coronavirus restrictions by staging fake wedding

Wedding parties in Sydney are allowed more guests than other gatherings

Credit: Anthony Devlin/PA

Two Australian schoolboys attempted to hold a fake wedding so they could have a party despite Covid-19 restrictions — but the plan unravelled when their parents discovered the scheme.

The Sydney Grammar School students concocted the plan after noticing weddings could feature 150 guests under the state’s current restrictions, as long as they followed a four square-metres per person social distancing rule. Other gatherings are allowed far fewer guests.

They planned to hold the party after their final year formal and held a “commitment ceremony” on November 12 to promote the party. After pictures of the ceremony circulated far and wide, however, the parents of one of the students, who were out of town at the time, returned to intervene.

The parents told a local newspaper that: “No legally binding ceremony took place and we shut down the planned private celebratory event as soon as we found out about it, and thankfully, nobody was put at risk.”

“Furthermore, we immediately engaged a security firm to ensure that if anyone tried to attend, they would be turned away – and no-one did actually turn up… [We are] fully aware of the extremely high level of importance of complying with all aspects of the coronavirus restrictions.”

Since the event did not go ahead, no fines were issued to the students involved.

According to New South Wales health officials, there have been zero cases of locally transmitted Covid-19 in the state in the past seven days, from more than 81,000 tests.