Twelve months into the pandemic, My Little Big Day (RTÉ One, 9.35pm) marks the anniversary with hope, fortitude and a dash of humour. We meet six couples pressing ahead with tying the knot despite the never-ending lockdowns and the dystopian exigencies of social distancing.
Together these stories provide a beacon at a time when the sheer purgatorial dreariness of Covid-19 feels as if it has seeped into the bones of society. Vows are exchanged, newlyweds pose for photographs, dresses are smoothed in the wind. If it weren’t for the face masks, it could almost be the old normal.
There isn’t much to this documentary. But then there isn’t much to everyday life, yet we all miss it now it has been snatched away. Nor should we discount the sheer novelty of a film that has at its heart a message of optimism. Doom and despair are inescapable at the moment. But sometimes it’s nice to take a break from the gloom. My Little Big Day provides just such an escape hatch.
Just as no two couples are alike, so the weddings vary hugely. In Roscommon, Ciara and Brendan have decided to push forward theirs – at the Cliffs of Moher – so that Ciara’s terminally ill grandfather, Packie, can give his blessing to, and remotely watch, the nuptials. There’s a heartbreaking coda as a caption informs us he passed away not long after.
Dani and Jo, a Tallaght couple, have their wedding at City Hall, in the middle of Dublin, while the evangelical Christians Abraham and Kim swap vows at the Hope Centre in Crumlin, having initially struck up a connection virtually. And, in Cork, Siobhan and Graham have had to make peace with the fact that the big wedding of their dreams is going to be downsized significantly.
Each couple has a different reason for pressing ahead with marriage when large social gatherings are prohibited. But all are united in their defiance and a determination to live their best lives in the face of coronavirus. And so this portrait of love in the time of Covid has a message that resonates beyond the immediate subject matter. It’s about hanging on and carrying on.
“We decided not to let this control our lives but rather to control our lives and move on,” says Aysha, who is originally from Malaysia, and who met her future husband, Kieran, at UCC. “Having this wedding has given me strength to cope with the pandemic.”
