Emma has been a long term temp of ours at Peninsula Personnel. She stopped working for us in February to move to South Africa with her boyfriend who secured a work contract there. They were planning to live in South Africa for the next 1 ½ years. Emma and her boyfriend went to South Africa in February 2020 to make certain arrangements and then came back to Australia to apply for her SA visa. They decided that on the way back to SA they would go skiing in Japan but things took a turn for them.
Casey’s brother suddenly died in Florida, so they flew straight to the U.S. Whilst in Florida the law changed and Casey could not re-enter Australia as he was not a permanent resident. Marriage was always on the cards for the two, but made the decision and had 3 hours’ notice to get married and did so on the 19th of March in Naples Florida. The wedding service was at sunset with two guests (there were in fact 9 people at the wedding in total, 5 of whom they met an hour before including the celebrant) while all their families were on zoom or similar – in San Diego, London, Devon UK and Sydney.
They had no celebratory meal just takeaway and cake from the supermarket with Casey’s sons (who were there to spread Casey’s brothers ashes the day before). After an 11 hour honeymoon, Emma left the next day for Australia and didn’t see Casey for 4 weeks. It took Casey 9 days to get a visa and come back to Australia and then he had to isolate in a hotel for 2 weeks.
This story from Emma really moved us and is definitely one of the most interesting stories we’ve heard during this pandemic. We are just happy she is safe and now happily married in Australia. It is so nice to see some light at the end of the tunnel as restrictions ease and life getting slowly back to its usual pace.
As of yesterday, we are back in the office and the door is now open and will continue to stay open. We look forward to connecting with you all again whether it’s a phone call, an email or a visit to the office.
