PHNOM PENH (CAMNODIA) – The easing of COVID related restriction came as a good news for Cambodian couple Leang Phannara and Kim Bethyliza, when they could finally wed last Friday.
While Cambodia recorded fewer than 500 cases and no deaths, lockdowns and bans on gatherings disrupted lives and left the pair forced to delay their wedding several times.
“We were able to marry in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic because restrictions were lifted, due to our country not having a large number of infections,” said Phannara, the 31-year-old groom.
“So we are very happy that we were able to marry, according to our Khmer traditions,” he added.
Though Bethyliza said it was hard trying to organise a wedding with things constantly in flux, she said she felt happy and satisfied.
The traditional wedding included a Buddhist blessing, a procession to the bride’s side of the family and a ceremony to tie a thread around the couple’s wrists, to symbolise ‘tying the knot’.
Wedding planner Heng Sokkhorn, 38, who helped arrange the couple’s wedding, was elated at these sights.
Before the pandemic, she would typically plan about 10 to 20 weddings a month. But due to restrictions and the financial pressures on clients her business is down about 80 percent and she only planned a handful a weddings in January.
“I felt relieved after the government eased the lockdown, but it is still not fully reopened and back to normal yet,” Sokkhorn said.