75th Anniversary on Christmas Day
A lot of couples for a number of reasons choose an important date, such as their birthday to get married. One such special date is Christmas Day which a couple from Berkshire chose to say their vows on in order to save themselves money for future celebrations.
Ninety eight year old Jim Phillips and his wife May who is ninety seven met at a dance on St Patrick’s Day in London when they were just teenagers back in 1928. May attended the dance with a different partner but Jim was determined to be her escort home at the end of the evening and they finally said “I do” six years later. They decided that in order to save money for their families they would marry on Christmas Day and they saved every penny they could in the lead up to the wedding.
The happy couple are also celebrating their seventy fifth wedding anniversary this year which makes 2009 an extra special celebration for the pair. It is easy to understand of course that Jim can boast to not once forgetting the date of their wedding anniversary, never in all the years they have been married.
The duo still enjoy watching dancing which brought them together in the first place and in the past taught their friends some dance moves. Together they have two children, three grandchildren and four great grandchildren to date. They attribute their successful marriage to being able to give and take within their relationship and learning to compromise together.
Brides Set Dress Challenge
Every bride wants to be able to fit smoothly into that dream bridal gown and some will go to great lengths to lose weight before the big day and get in shape etc. Friends from Juneau in Alaska who have been married for a number of years have set themselves, and the surrounding town, a small challenge by hopefully dropping a couple of dress sizes and getting back into their old wedding dresses!
Thirty one year old Liz Lapierre and thirty four year old Genevieve McLaughlin have been friends for about ten years. The duo have admitted to enjoying a good challenge and by joining local fitness centre Curves, the pair hope to go down around four sizes by next New Year. They want to also be fitter and healthier after both having babies at the same time.
Liz wore her dress fourteen years ago when she married husband Damian and together they have a ten year old daughter Tiana and five year old Isiah. Genevieve has been married to Sean for twelve years and the couple have two girls, ten year old Anya and eight year old Sophia. The women both want to experience that special feeling of wearing their dresses again and how it made them feel and are very determined to reach their goals.
The owner of Curves, Charlene Schrader is excited about the girl’s invitation to the town to get fit and is offering prizes for successful applicants.
Surprise Airport Wedding
One traveller received a lovely surprise at the Corpus Christi International Airport in Texas when, after disembarking his plane from his Houston business trip wearing a jumper and jeans and his backpack on his back, he found his fiancée dressed in her bridal outfit waiting for him!
William Acosta from Toledo in Ohio was greeted by his smiling fiancé Robyn Moore. She held her bouquet in her hands and a Justice of the Peace, Robert Balderas was nearby ready to perform the surprise wedding ceremony in the airport terminal along with some friends and family members.
The couple have been together for over a year after meeting in Dallas in 2008 and have spent a lot of time together at airports due to William’s business schedule.
The pair sealed their vows by kissing in front of flashing photographers and went on to have some pictures taken by a decorated Christmas tree near to one of the security checkpoints.
The ceremony and some of the photos are accessible on YouTube for all to see.
No Stopping Snowed-In Bride
When bride-to-be Karen Lee woke up on the morning of her wedding to a winter wonderland scene the first thing that went through her mind was she would have to cancel her wedding due to being snowed in.
But with the help of BBC Radio Kent volunteers came forward with offers to drive the snowed-in bride, groom and 40 of their guests to the church well in time for the ceremony to take place.
Landrovers, cars and 4 x 4′s drove through the remote village of Dode after hearing the appeal on the radio with a back-up of a tractor and trailer should the snow cause too much of a hindrance for the wedding party.
Bride Karen was blown away by the generosity of the listeners who came forward to enable her to marry her groom John Lee and said she “could not thank people enough for their help”.
She added: “I think we had both resigned ourselves this morning to it not happening, then when all these people started pulling together and we realised we could get married, it was just unbelievable. It was a dream come true.
Even though the couple had to cut some things short and change things around on the day, the wedding was still able to take place and enjoyed by all.
Husband Drives Into Church
A man from Halesowen in the West Midlands gave real meaning to the title ‘wedding crasher’ when after being dumped by his wife earlier in the year he decided to drive his car straight into the Church where they had been married!
Thirty six year old Robert Knowles and his wife Leigh had been married for two years when Leigh decided to end their relationship. Robert, enraged after hearing his wife’s decision drove his Vauxhall Astra straight through the doors of the Flame Community Church located in Rowley Regis, Birmingham. After destroying numerous items within the Church such as computers, carpets and even radiators, Robert’s car became jammed within the stage area at which point he just walked away from the destruction he had caused. When questioned the next day by Police all he could say was that his wife would not take him back.
The Church’s pastor, fifty eight year old Alan Silver could not believe the devastation that had been caused by the car crash.
Judge John Wait from Wolverhampton Crown Court heard how Robert caused around twenty thousand pounds worth of damage to the Church and after Robert admitted his charges of criminal damage he was sentenced to a jail term of ten months and banned from driving for a year.
Groom Admits Wedding is a Sham
A man from Detroit who got married in 2002 recently admitted in Oakland County Circuit Court in Michigan that his wedding was a façade.
Eugene Pallisco married Lesley Keith at the Ritz Carlton in Dearborn in June 2002 and despite the couple spending time together and going on holidays with Lesley’s daughters, they were not intimate with each other and in fact Eugene claims that they were never anything but friends. When questioned about the high cost of the wedding, Eugene stated that it had to look real.
Eugene claims that the wedding, which cost over thirty thousand dollars, was a staged pretence on both their parts after he took advice from one of Lesley’s family members. He alleges that his business was being harassed by a Police man and as Lesley’s relation was also a Police man the advice was that the harassment would stop if it was seen that Mr Pallisco was married to Ms Keith.
Lesley who currently lives in Arizona, has taken Eugene to Court after discovering that he was already married to a woman from West Bloomfield and that they have four children together. Lesley is suing for emotional distress and claims that Eugene tricked her into marrying him.
Drunken Bridesmaid Gets Lost
How many times have you, or one of your friends, staggered home after an enjoyable evening out and not quite remembered how you got home? A woman in New Zealand completely forgot her way and not only did she not make it home but she spent hours asleep outside in the New Zealand Waitakere Ranges!
The twenty six year old bridesmaid from the Gold Coast in Australia had been celebrating at a friend’s wedding and became so drunk that after leaving the party, she did not turn up at the rented accommodation she had organised just outside of Auckland.
The Police were informed of the woman’s disappearance and a search and rescue party was sent out to find her. Sniffer dogs and even a helicopter was used to try to find the woman and after four hours of searching, she was found by a paramedic beside a bush fast asleep.
The search cost thousands of dollars but the bridesmaid wasn’t the only casualty that night as a Tasmanian fisherman had also got lost but was found in a bar two days later.
Despite trudging through the ‘bush’ in the middle of the night, the cold and hung-over bridesmaid was unharmed.
A Wedding and Birthday on the Same Day
Not all parents are married when a child is born and in today’s society it is no longer considered the wrong thing to do just because a couple have a child born out of wedlock. A woman from Wales only just recently found out that her parents actually got married on the day that she was born!
Thirty nine year old Sharon Parker is a physiotherapist at Treherbert Rugby Football Club in Tynewydd and she is due to turn forty on the 13th of December. Just recently she learnt about a secret that has been held within her family since the day of her birth and that was that her parents got married that same day and in fact, her mother sixty six year old Megan was forced to miss the reception after being married at Pontypridd Register Office.
Sharon along with her thirty seven year old sister Eleanor and thirty three year old brother Christopher were never told the date of their parent’s wedding and when asked, Megan and her husband, seventy one year old Mel would not divulge the date. It remained a mystery until recently when a representative from their insurance company asked for their wedding date.
Mel and Megan will be celebrating their fortieth wedding anniversary with a party held at the Treherbert Rugby Football Club where Sharon will also be celebrating her fortieth birthday!
Groom Updates Online Status at Altar
In today’s electronic society everyone is used to seeing people sitting in cafes with their laptops and updating their Facebook status while standing in a bus queue but it is not normally considered appropriate while standing at the altar after saying ‘I do’ to your new bride. This is exactly what one groom did recently in front of his new wife and unsuspecting guests.
Dana Hanna, a software developer from Maryland in America paused the minister before his could complete the service, got out his mobile phone and amended his ‘single’ status on his Facebook and Twitter accounts to read that he was now married. He reached into his pocket and handed another mobile to his wife Tracy Park who proceeded to change her own Facebook account. After the pair were done, he put both mobiles back in his pocket, the minister declared them man and wife and they swiftly moved on to kiss each other.
The couple used the network pages to announce their engagement which did upset some of their family members but their wedding guests saw the humour behind their latest stunt.
The clip is now available on YouTube for everyone to watch.
Adult Movies Pay for Wedding
Most couples planning to get married will forgo certain luxuries in order to save as much money as they can towards their special day. A couple from Macclesfield have decided to fund their wedding by taking part in adult movies together.
Thirty six year old Tommy Barnes and his fiancée Lisa Brand who is thirty four have earned over a thousand pounds for their parts in three separate films. The couple played different characters in each of the films and they are planning to participate in at least four more films before their big day.
They have told friends and family members of their performances and claim that they have all been understanding in their actions.
Together the couple have four children and they claim that participating in these films has made them closer as well as giving them something to laugh about when they are older. They are looking forward to their wedding day which is due to take place next June in Cancun in Mexico on the beach.