Weird Wedding Facts
In today’s world of weird and wonderful weddings from getting married while bungee jumping to whole wedding parties being arrested, we can still be shocked when we hear news of weddings that go wrong or funny happenings during ceremonies.
There are thousands of wedding facts from all over the world and some of these facts go back hundreds of years. A tiny few that have been recorded as actual fact can make fascinating reading and remind us that sometimes things can go drastically wrong on wedding days.
Distressing Wedding Facts
One bride, after discovering her groom-to-be wearing her wedding dress and locked in the arms of the best man in a passionate embrace on the night before their big day, quite rightly cancelled the wedding.
The knife used to cut up their wedding cake was again put in use shortly after at the reception when a French bride stabbed her husband of a few hours in 1995.
Keeping track of all his many lovers was impossible for Casanova and when he went to ask for his girlfriend Leonilda’s hand in marriage her mother screamed and fainted when she realised he was to be her future son-in-law. She had in the past been one of Casanova’s lovers and Leonilda was actually his own daughter.
Half way through his wedding ceremony the King of France (Philip I Augustus) decided he did not like his bride. Immediately after the ceremony he locked up his new Danish wife Ingeborg in a nunnery where she lived out her remaining years.
One bride must hold the record for the most distressful wedding day ever! Princess Maria del Pozzo della Cisterno wedding was marked by not one unforgettable event but six of them. The day she married the Duke D’Aosta, who was the son of the King of Italy, in 1867 her wardrobe mistress hung herself and the palace gatekeeper cut his throat. Further events to mar the day was the death of the colonel who was leading the wedding procession when he collapsed from sunstroke and the stationmaster was crushed to death underneath the honeymoon train’s wheels. If that was not enough the best man shot himself and the King’s aide fell from his horse and was killed instantly.
Amusing Wedding Facts
A best man found himself married to the bride after a mix up in 1920. Albert Muldoon had walked up to the Alter with the groom and stood on his left but on seeing him in the position the priest addressed all the questions to him. Muldoon replied to them all and the mix up was only discovered when the real groom wanted to sign the register. A second wedding ceremony was quickly arranged.
A 3ft 1in tall bride Natalie Lucius was towered over by her 6ft 2in tall husband Fabien Pretou at their wedding in France in 1990.
In 1976 Los Angeles secretary Jannene Swift officially married a 50lb rock. The ceremony was witnessed by more than 20 people.
Movie star Joan Crawford would change over all the toilet seats in her house whenever she married a new husband.
Record Breaking Wedding Facts
Minnie Munro from Australia is the oldest bride to marry. She was a mere 102 years when she married her boyfriend of 82 years.
In 1993 over 30,000 guests attended a wedding in Jerusalem making it the largest wedding attendance on record.
An engagement between a Mexican couple lasted for 67 years before they finally tied the knot in 1969.
The most expensive wedding cost over £22 million and was held in a purpose built stadium in Dubai for a Sheikh’s son.
Temulji Nairman and Lady Nairman hold the record for the longest ever recorded marriage of 86 years. They were married at 5 years old.
Elton John’s once charged £2 million to secure him singing at a wedding.
One man notched up 104 bigamous marriages in 15 countries between 1949 and 1981. When he was brought to charge they were unsure which aliases he used as he had so many. He was sentenced in 1983 to 34 years in prison and died in 1991.
Tit Bits of Wedding Facts
Scotsmen once kidnapped their future brides and the one who excelled at the abduction was given the title of best man. A term that is still very much in use today.
All of Henry VIII’s wives were related to each other.
The longest wedding dress was found in Germany with a length of 515 feet.
Egyptian men thought it distasteful to deflower their new brides and gave the chore to a hired servant.
In China 26,000 couples get married ever day.
When he was due to marry Marie Henrietta in 1853, Leopold II, King of the Belgians was too sick so his brother the Archduke Charles stood in for him by proxy.
A Malaysian man holds the record for being the best man at over 1000 weddings.
Harry Bidwell of Brighton was 101when he was divorced from his 65-year-old wife in 1980.
So when you get a run in your stockings or one of the flower girls get moody in church, say a silent prayer that is all you have to complain about on your wedding day.
