Incredible footage has showed the lavish extent of a Sydney wedding which saw guests thrown out of the venue for breaching its coronavirus restrictions.
Video has emerged of the event showing a huge band of drummers surrounded by guests dancing in close proximity, a woman dressed as a Prosecco wedding cake and $50 bills flying across the reception venue.
Fireworks went off as the glamorous bride and groom arrived, and big groups of men were seen jumping on one another during the raucous party.
At another point, guests were seen drinking bottles of Corona as they partied the night away, despite COVIDSafe rules saying people should be seated when drinking.
Guests at The Renaissance venue in Lidcombe in the city’s west were told to leave the venue after they allegedly refused to follow the venue’s COVID-safe rules on Sunday.
The festivities were led by one of Australia’s top rappers, Youngn Lipz, who at one point came down into the crowd where guests stuffed money into his collar.
The bride Nazife and groom Patrick (pictured) celebrate the festivities with fireworks going off by their side and a band of drummers playing in front of them
The event even featured a woman dressed as a Prosecco wedding cake (pictured) with flutes lining a metal cage surrounding her dress
In New South Wales, up to 150 people can attend a wedding but guests must follow a venue’s COVID-safe plan.
Guidelines to stop the spread of coronavirus include only allowing the bride and groom on the dance floor, but vision showed guests dancing wildly in close quarters – with one reveller even being held on another person’s shoulders.
The video also showed the bride Nazife enjoying the proceedings with bank notes littered around her wedding dress trail, and ended with a headstrong boast to camera by the guest filming the footage.
‘Let me tell you something,’ he said. ‘Nobody parties like the 60 we treat our women like queens, we put them in castles, we give them the best weddings and put big rocks on their ring.’
Footage also showed revellers standing close to a performer on stage as they jumped up and down to the music.
Guests were later removed from the venue by management, with previous footage of elaborate event drawing harsh criticism.
A spokeswoman for the venue told Daily Mail Australia the bride and groom were ‘very upset’ about guests being told to leave, but declined to comment further.
The bride Nazife (pictured) is seen ahead of the raucous wedding party at The Renaissance in Lidcombe, western Sydney on Sunday night
The bride (pictured) at the western Sydney wedding party dancing surrounded by drummers
The bride’s wedding dress was littered with bank notes (pictured, left) as revellers partied in close proximity – while one reveller held a guest on his shoulder (right)
The couple and Youngn Lipz have been contacted for comment.
Earlier in the day, Nazife and her groom Patrick arrived in lavish Rolls-Royce Phantoms and posed for pictures in Sydney’s Circular Quay before travelling to the reception venue.
The MC at Sunday’s wedding John Alten appeared on Triple M’s podcast The Briefing earlier this week on an episode of ‘The Fun Police: are COVID Marshals ruining weddings?’
‘I’ve got to act like the fun police in some cases,’ he said. ‘From my perspective it is important these restrictions are re-iterated constantly – people’s health is paramount.’
Revellers at the wedding reception (pictured). Australian Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said the scenes at the wedding were ‘beyond disappointing’
One of Australia’s top rappers Youngn Lipz (pictured, centre) – who performed at the party – is seen with the guest who filmed the boisterous wedding reception (left)
Youngn Lipz (left) could be seen having his collar stuffed with $50 bills by revellers at one point in proceedings. Pictured right is a reveller dancing with a beer in hand
Australian Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd said the scenes at the wedding were ‘beyond disappointing’ and could put ‘lives at risk’.
‘It’s really unacceptable that people are not taking this incredibly seriously,’ he told Sunrise.
‘We can have people who have no symptoms or very mild symptoms who are still very infectious to other people.
‘Lives are at risk when people breach rules and regulations that are put into place to protect us all.’
Video from the western Sydney event showed guests (pictured, with the bride) flouting social distancing measures as they danced to the music
The wild scenes, which come as the number of fines issued by the NSW government’s Department of Customer Service rises to a total of $152,500, prompted Premier Gladys Berejiklian to deliver a warning to the state’s venues.
‘Compliance is critical,’ she said. ‘If we don’t see a greater uptake in the next little while – we will consider further measures.’
The Garry Owen Hotel in Rozelle in Sydney’s inner-west was this week singled out as the ‘worst pub seen so far’ for COVID safety breaches.
The pub was issued with two fines worth a total of $10,000 for what the NSW government called a ‘complete disregard of mandated COVID safety measures’.
‘The list of breaches grew from there. In fact the venue was essentially being operated as though there were no restrictions in place,’ Liquor & Gaming NSW Director of Compliance Mr Argeres said.
The bride and groom (pictured earlier on their wedding day) were ‘very upset’ about guests being told to leave, a venue spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia
Offences included the business not being registered as COVIDSafe, not having an up-to-date COVID-19 Safety Plan, not enforcing sign-in procedures and a lack of hygiene processes.
Inspectors also observed physical distancing not being enforced and customers standing and mingling while drinking.
Staff at the hotel have said coronavirus protocols have been completely overhauled in the wake of the inspection.
‘It’s completely different, it’s completely safe and they will notice the changes we’ve enforced when they come in,’ the hotel’s new COVID safety marshal Vanessa Hardin told ABC News.
Pictured: The Renaissance function centre in Lidcombe. Weddings in New South Wales are allowed to have up to 150 people attending but with strict social distancing in place