A couple whose wedding could have sparked a coronavirus catastrophe in Sydney danced without a care in the world after tying the knot.
But blushing bride Diana Falasca, 28, should not have been there, having sneaked out of the Northern Beaches to the CBD venue despite lockdown.
She was joined by at least 18 guests also from the northern beaches, believed to be from her side of the wedding, as she wed Mark Bonifacio on Sunday.
Video showed the happy couple dancing in front of family and friends while celebrating their nuptials at Jones Bay Wharf in Pyrmont.
Mr Bonifacio did not breach the health regulations and was not fined.
Pictured: Diana Falasca, 28, and her new husband Mark Bonifacio at their wedding celebrations on Sunday
By Monday morning, Ms Falasca and the 18 guests were each fined $1,000 for defying health orders and leaving the region following a Covid-19 outbreak on December 16.
Ms Falasca’s family and members of the bridal party were among the people hit with penalties.
Officers crashed the celebration at Doltone House at 5pm after receiving a tip-off, with pictures showing guests mingling on a balcony.
They waited until the ceremony was over before they began speaking with guests and staff, and handing out fines.
Ms Falasca parents refused to comment when contacted by Daily Mail Australia at their home in Narraweena on Tuesday, and both bride and groom did not respond to messages.
Among the rule-breakers were a man and a woman, both aged 43, from Allambie Heights, a 33-year-old woman from Narraweena, and a 27-year-old man from Frenchs Forest.
Mr Bonifacio (pictured) did not breach the health regulations and was not fined
Pictured: The bride and groom (pictured centre) surrounded by friends at their wedding in Pyrmont
Three women, 19, 22 and 28, and two men, 23 and 63, from Beacon Hill were slapped with the hefty penalty.
An additional three people, including a 34-year-old man, a 36-year-old woman, both from Frenchs Forest, and a 26-year-old man from Beacon Hill will also be fined for attending the wedding.
More guests are expected to receive hefty penalties as officials comb through the guest list over the coming days to check where they came from.
Doltone House maintained it was compliant with the lockdown rules and told 9 News that Diana assured managers she and her family had been outside the Northern Beaches.
Family members told the network the couple had been trying to wed since July and had been forced to postpone their wedding twice this year due to coronavirus.
Had they postponed the event again, they would have lost thousands of dollars.
Mr Bonifacio is pictured at the wedding reception with some of the guests. The guest here are not necessarily ones who were fined
Police crashed the nuptials at Doltone House in Pyrmont at 5pm on Sunday after receiving a tip-off. Pictured: guests at the reception
‘That is the type of behaviour that risks it for everybody,’ Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
‘But I think all of us were shaking our heads, absolutely aghast that that occurred.’
‘We appreciate that those milestone events are special times for people, but please consider the greater risk you are posing to every person in NSW and the broader community of our nation.
‘Please know that if you do the wrong thing, you will get caught, especially when it is so brazen as to do that.’
Fears are growing such breaches could put the whole of Sydney in jeopardy, after three mystery cases were announced on Tuesday, including one from Wollongong, one from inner-west Sydney and another from the North Shore.
‘After speaking with staff and attendees, police recorded contact details for more than a dozen guests, who are Northern Beaches residents,’ NSW Police said.
NSW police minister David Elliott said the group of Northern Beaches residents committed a ‘bastard act’.
‘You have been living in an area where there has been a cluster… and now everyone at that wedding has to worry if they have been exposed to Covid-19,’ he said on The Today Show on Tuesday.
Police outside a wedding in Pyrmont’s Doltone House on Sunday. Guests aged between 19 and 63 were fined after leaving the city’s northern peninsula to attend a the inner-city reception
The northern zone of the Northern Beaches will remain locked down until January 9 to stop the spread of Covid-19. The southern zone will be released from lockdown on January 2
Mr Elliott warned police can fine or jail people who breach the rules and pointed to a number of ‘disgraceful acts’ of ‘blatant disregard’ for health orders over the Christmas holiday period.
‘There have been disgraceful acts of what I believe is just blatant disregard for the health orders,’ Mr Elliott said.
‘They are simply unacceptable levels of misguided behaviour when it comes to the public health orders.’
Ms Berejiklian urged Greater Sydney residents to get tested after 16,000 people got swabbed on Tuesday, down from 70,000 on Thursday.
She said ‘Greater Sydney must be on high alert’ until the source of the three new mystery cases is found.
‘I say that in order to encourage as many people as possible across the state, even if you live in the regions, if you have the mildest of symptoms please come forward to get tested,’ Ms Berejiklian said.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) urged Greater Sydney residents to get tested after 16,000 people got swabbed on Tuesday, down from 70,000 on Thursday
Some 15,000 NSW residents got tested on Sunday. Pictured: Testing in Bondi last week
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