Slump in Church Weddings
As more and more couples plan to say their wedding vows outside the church, Vicars are being told that they need to try and boost more church weddings in order to deal with the decline.
They will be offering incentives such as discounts as well as handing out leaflets and some Vicars are offering two-day presentations from couples they have previously married in church to gain vital feedback from them.
Reports from the CofE church have shown that the number of couples getting married at the altar has slumped from 1,110,000 to only 54,000 in a space of four years.
More couples it seems are taking advantage of the less formal surroundings held in historical castles and country houses, not to mention the unusual places to exchange their vows such as caves or underwater!
The Archbishop of Canterbury has urged Vicars to be more relaxed in their welcome of wedding guests and to ‘turn a blind eye’ when children stand on pews to gain a better look at the Bride and Groom while stood at the altar. Suggestions have also been made that photos be allowed once the vows have been said.
One vicar at the Norwich presentation said: “I’m about to retire and I’m thinking where have you been all my ministry – I’d love to have been here and heard all this 20 years ago.”
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Thieves Steal False Legs Before Wedding
Thieves have sunk to an all time low after stealing a bride-to-be’s brother’s false legs from his car that was parked outside his home in Manchester!
Anthony Booth, thirty three is to give his sister Angela away at her wedding in place of their father who has passed away and would have wanted his son to take his place as ‘father of the bride’.
Father of three Anthony after months of practising to walk without the aid of his sticks had finally mastered the art to enable him to walk Angela down the aisle on his arm.
The legs and wheelchair were both in the car that was driven away after the thieves broke into Anthony’s house and stole the keys.
Angela whose brother lost his legs at the age of nine after falling ill with meningitis has appealed to the thieves to return the false legs in time for her wedding.
Anthony who is a former wheelchair ice hockey athlete took part in the 1998 Winter Paralympics in Japan and has put down his name for the wheelchair races at the London 2012 Olympics Games.
Applicants Wanted for Four Weddings
Most of you will have seen the TV programme Four Weddings that is currently showing on Living TV. It is yet another reality style show where they ask four Brides-to-be to allow the other Brides to attend their wedding and judge their special day!
Could you let complete strangers attend your wedding day? Allow them to mingle with your wedding guests and perhaps witness the embarrassing uncle who could be passed out dribbling in the corner? If so, then apply now as ITV are advertising for future Brides to participate in another season.
If you are due to be married this year from now until November and you fancy winning a honeymoon then contact them ASAP, especially if you feel your wedding is a bit ‘way out’ in comparison to a traditional wedding.
Call them on 020 7157 3596 or email 4weddings@itv.com. You will need to provide a little bit of information about you and your partner along with some contact information and also some detail on the theme of your wedding. Good luck and remember, you have to be in it to win it!
Woman Killed During Proposal
Some women live their lives waiting for that romantic proposal that sometimes may never happen but when it does its worth waiting for. A woman from Knoxville in Tennessee was tragically killed just moments before she was to hear those words asking for her hand in marriage!
Twenty five year old Bethany Lott and her boyfriend thirty year old Richard Butler had taken a trip to North Carolina where they were enjoying a hiking trip in the mountains near Asheville. Richard’s intentions were to propose to Bethany in the place where he knew she wanted to get married.
The pair were hiking in an area called Max Patch Bald and the weather was fine but as they walked further up to the peak of the mountains there were three lightening strikes which caused Bethany, who was struck twice by the lightening, to be thrown into the air. Richard was also injured by the lightening when he suffered minor burns after his shoes were set alight.
After performing CPR on Bethany for around fifteen minutes Richard tried to pull her to an area where he could obtain a mobile signal but Richard was so weak that he was forced to leave her and run to the car where he drove to the first house he could find and call for an ambulance.
As the paramedics tried to save Bethany, Richard lovingly put the engagement ring onto her finger. Richard also commented that Bethany’s last words were about how beautiful the scenery around them was.
What a tragic and awful outcome on a day that should have been a wonderful memory for this young couple!
Wedding over World Cup?
A lot of football widows will understand that their partners feel very passionate about their football team and some of them about sport in general. Many of them will have heard their partners make quip remarks about how nothing will stop them from seeing their team in the cup final, not the birth of their first child and certainly not their wedding! For most of them it is more about the showmanship of being an avid sports fan but some actually mean what they say and don’t let any event (however important it is) stop them from seeing their team play.
Jonathan Espley was determined not to miss England play their first match of the World Cup against the USA despite the fact that he was due to be married to his partner, Sally Fielden. After realising that his wedding clashed with the game, they contacted the Wroxeter Hotel near Shrewsbury in Shropshire where they were due to have their reception to enquire about a TV in the lounge. They were disappointed to hear that they did not have one but Margot Foster, the assistant director of the hotel was happy to provide a TV in a side room during the reception.
Technician Jonathan was pleased that his Bride agreed to the TV and he, along with some other football fan guests enjoyed the match while the other guests danced their hearts out!
Polish Bride in Suspected Sham Wedding
Every once in a while you read a story that seems to disrespect the sanctity of the traditional marriage and its vows when it seems that couples are getting married because they want to stay in the country or for other personal reasons which may never come to light. Some of these stories are true and others are just pure allegation and everyone has their own opinion about which ones are genuine.
Just recently in Oxford a couple’s wedding was halted when authorities believed the ceremony to be a hoax wedding. The ceremony taking place at Oxford Register Office was raided by the UK Border Agency by an undercover officer where they arrested three people, including the Bride and Groom.
The Groom, thirty year old Amrik Singh Dahnju and his Bride, nineteen year old Kamila Snarska originally from Poland were arrested along with a forty year old man.
Miss Snarska had stated that the possibility of having a family was in their future and the couple were puzzled by where the allegations came from, particularly as they had been living together for over a year before the wedding.
The UK Border Agency were unable to comment
Judge Changes Sentence Date for Wedding
A Judge in London has moved the sentencing of a man who caused the death of a twenty year old student in order that he may be available to organise and attend the wedding of his son!
Fifty five year old David Sinclair from Barking, while out driving in his van in August last year, hit the motorbike of Mo Watts, an Aerospace engineering student from Chingford. Mr Watts was tragically killed and Mr Sinclair, who had admitted the charges of careless driving, was due to have his sentence decided on the 9th of July.
Mr Sinclair’s son is due to be married the following day on the 10th of July so Karen Dempsey, Mr Sinclair’s barrister, asked that sentencing be moved and Judge Louise Kamill granted the request at the Snaresbrook Crown Court. The planned date is now the 1st of July.
The father of Mr Watts, fifty three year old Marne Watts commented that he will never be able to attend the wedding of his son!
Wedding Guests for Hire
Apparently it’s the new thing to hire your wedding guests and what a novel and potentially life saving fad this could be to some couples.
MI Syed, the founder of the Best Guest Centre started the craze in India after a friend decided to get married despite the disapproval of their family but there was only a few people that attended the wedding. He came to the conclusion that having more people there, even though they were being paid, would make everyone have a more enjoyable time.
In Japan guests can cost quite a lot more than in other countries although some guests will be willing to go the extra mile by providing your reception with a song or even a speech.
It does of course add some extra pennies onto any wedding budget but in this case you really do get what you pay for. If you are willing to pay out more money to hire your guests your crowd will be better looking, although do you really want your guests to out shine the Bride and Groom?
Car Crash Wedding
Every Bride and Groom hopes for an incident free wedding but there always seems to be something that goes wrong. For one couple in Italy, they managed to have a car crash on their wedding day!
The un-named couple had said their vows and were travelling to their wedding reception in Treviso in northern Italy. They wanted to travel in style so had hired themselves a Ferrari worth around one hundred and thirty thousand pounds and planned to drive themselves there rather than be chauffeured by the standard wedding mode of transport.
The hire car had cost the couple around five hundred pounds for its use for just one hour as well as a twenty thousand pound deposit for its insurance but literally minutes after the pair started the engine the car was wrapped round a traffic light.
This was definitely an expensive trip for these newlyweds when they were also fined fifty pounds for damage to public property by the investigating policeman.
It is unconfirmed as to whether the car is a write off or not but officials have confirmed that the accident was not due to drink.