So You Think YOUR Wedding Was Bad?

The following stores are all true (well, at least I have seen them printed in reputable sources). Other true (and false) wedding stories can be found in the Wedding Urban Legends Reference Pages. Enjoy, but remember to come back!

From excite.com, August 16, 1999:

COUPLE SELLS ADS TO PAY FOR WEDDING

Talk about a marriage of love and money. Tom Anderson and his bride Sabrina Root paid for their $34,000 wedding this weekend by selling advertising space at the ceremony and reception.

Everything from the wedding rings to a week at a penthouse in Cancun, Mexico, were donated after Anderson got 24 companies to sponsor the nuptials in exchange for having their names appear six times from the invitations to the thank-you cards.

Anderson, 24, a bartender, did cough up his own money for his wife's $1,400 engagement ring, while Root, 33, a hair stylist, paid $1,600 for her dress.

The groom got the idea of corporate sponsorships while working in a small struggling animation studio that often had to barter for services.

"So I was in a sales mode, and I got to thinking," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer, which ran a photo of the couple sitting among their corporate-sponsored wedding "gifts" in its Sunday editions.

The bride drew the line at having advertising banners draped across the aisle. But her perfume came from a local distributor, and coffee was provided gratis from a neighborhood supplier.

Advertisers had their names appear on the invitations and thank-you cards, on cards at the buffet, on scrolls at the dinner table, in an ad placed in a local independent newspaper and in a verbal "thank you" that followed the first toast.

The Inquirer said the groom had bought two addresses on the Internet's World Wide Web, namely: sponsoredwedding.com and weddingsponsors.com.

From Newsday, August 1, 1997:

RUN! HERE COME THE BRIDES

Police had to be called in to restrain a rowdy crowd at a bridal shop in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Women swarmed in to make sure the store, which is closing, would deliver their gowns on time.

Only a few of the hundred people outside were allowed in the store at a time, and by mid-morning police were called in to control the crowd outside.

When anyone left the store carrying a dress covered in pink plastic, the crowd clapped and yelled their support.

From Newsday, March 24, 1997:

DOWN AISLE, BEHIND BARS

The groom had to use cash received as wedding gifts to post his new wife's bail after the New Jersey newlyweds and several guests were arrested after a brawl at their reception.

Police said a melee involving about 20 people broke out at the Camden reception hall Friday night. When police arrived, several guests attacked the officers. The 19-year-old bride allegedly punched one police officer in the eye and spat on another. She was charged with two counts of aggravated assault on police officers and was released after her husband posted $1,500 bail.

From the Daily News, May 28, 1997:

FOR RICHER OR POORER

Continuing to practice austerity pretty much just for the heck of it, Pakistani lawmakers have outlawed extravagant wedding feasts in public places. The traditional opulent valima wedding meal may continue to be held in private homes, but if you want your celebration at a fancy hotel or club or something, from now on you're allowed to serve only soft drinks. All this is spelled out under something actually called the Marriages (Prohibition of Wasteful Expenses) Bill. Violators face fines of thousands of dollars.

From the New York Post, May 28, 1997:

STUNNED WIFE SUES HER GENDER-BENDING "HUBBY"
by David K. Li, Post Correspondent

Santa Ana, California -- You can't argue with this as grounds for divorce.

A California woman ended her marriage in March when she found out -- after almost a year -- that her spouse was another woman, court papers said.

Now Correen Zahnzinger, 24, is suing alleged gender-bender Valerie Inga, 29, for fraud and infliction of emotional distress.

Zahnzinger claims she believed -- during two years of dating and their married life together -- that Inga was actually Antonia Marciano, a man.

The lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court last week does not explain how Zahnzinger was fooled.

Zahnzinger's lawyer, Steven Zwick, said Inga targeted his client.

"You'd pick her out of a crowd. She's an attractive woman," he said.

Inga could not be reached for comment, but a close friend said she knew exactly what she was getting.

"There was no fraud. She knew what she was doing. They lived together for two years. How could she not have known?" the pal said.

Zahnzinger is also suing for breach of contract, claiming Inga failed to pay her $300,000 in hush money to keep quiet about their marriage.

From the Chicago Tribune, August 3, 1993:

WEDDING CAKE RITE LEADS TO ARRESTS... OF THE NEW BRIDE AND GROOM

A bride and groom in Westport, Conn., got into a fight over the tradition of cramming wedding cake into the face of one's beloved.

Tracey and John O'Donnell were arrested at their wedding reception Saturday for disturbing the peace.Tracey O'Donnell said her husband fed her the cake too roughly, after she had told him to take it easy, police reported. Fighting ensued when she responded in kind, police said. The couple were later released. They are due in court Sept. 14.

(Thanks to the Urban Legends Reference Pages for this one)

From Reuters, March 15, 1994:

WEDDING GUESTS SEE BESTIALITY VIDEO BY MISTAKE

A British man was found guilty on Tuesday of having sex with a dog after a video he made of the act was inadvertently shown to speechless wedding guests expecting to see a replay of a marriage ceremony.

The 59-year-old lent his video recorder to a friend to film the wedding, but forgot to erase from the tape scenes of himself in sex acts with a neighbour's bull terrier named Ronnie.

The man said the 10-minute film shown to the jury had been an attempt at trick photography and featured only simulated sex acts. He will be sentenced after psychiatric and other reports have been made available.

And the same story from Press Association Newsfile, March 15, 1994:

CANINE SEX VIDEO UPSET WEDDING GUESTS

Wedding guests were shocked when they sat down at a reception to watch film of the ceremony but instead saw sex scenes involving a naked man and a dog, a court heard today. Derek Jeffrey, 59, who had filmed himself in sex acts with a neighbour's bull terrier - named Ronnie - had later lent his camcorder to a friend to video a wedding thinking the footage had been erased.

Jeffrey, of Saunder's Way, Camber, East Sussex, denied bestiality with a dog, but was found guilty today by a jury at Hove Crown Court which was shown a 10-minute version of the video he made in his bedroom. He was remanded on bail for psychiatric and other reports.

Jeffrey told the jury that he made the recording with the dog after he and a group of friends had watched a porn video involving sex between humans and animals. He claimed he was trying to demonstrate that such sex scenes could be filmed by trick photography and said his video showed only simulated acts. "When I sobered up I was disgusted and ashamed." Jeffrey said that when he lent his camcorder to a friend he thought the scenes with the dog had been erased.