Weird Weddings

In Saudi Arabia it is the groom who traditionally bears the cost of the marriage, and often men will put off the event to save for a bigger ceremony. So the prize of an all-expenses-paid wedding by a Saudi charity is quite an offer, even when it does come with a catch. To enter the draw you have to give up smoking. The charity "Purity", who is behind the campaign, will award the grand prize plus 20 runners-up prizes of free furniture in August, with all the winners being drawn from those men who complete a seven-day course on quitting. Hundreds of men have entered, including one who admitted taking up smoking just so he could enter by quitting (BBC News).

Mind you, it might be as well to get as healthy as possible before the big day, because according to recent research, marriage puts pounds on you. Lona Sandon, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, claims that newlyweds commonly gain up to 10 pounds in the months following the wedding. But before anyone assumes this is scientific proof that your partner has let himself/herself go, be advised that most often both partners gain weight together (Examiner).

Meanwhile, in Japan, most of the weight gain is starting to happen before the ceremony, as it is becoming increasingly common for the bride to be "eating for two". What was a shameful thing in Japan less than a generation ago is now being increasingly celebrated as a dekichatta kon or "double joy" wedding. According to Chika Hirotani of Watabe Wedding as many as 20% of weddings they supply are so blessed (Telegraph).

Another sort of double joy wedding also took place in Russia this week, when twin brothers married twin sisters in a twin ceremony. Alexei and Dimitry Semyonov finally tied the knot with their sweethearts Lilia and Liana after the four of them met at a dance party a year ago (MOS News). A video of the ceremony is also available (if you sit through the advertisement).

And if twins marrying twins seems like something out of the movies, Elvis impersonator Steve Caprice decided to wed girlfriend Barbara by recreating the marriage scene from Blue Hawaii, on the Welsh holiday beach at Porthcawl. Many of the guests joined in with the theme by turning up in grass skirts, Hawaiian shirts and leis, while 40 fellow Elvis impersonators attended as the great man himself (BBC News).

Mind you, when your future husband looks just like the man on the screen in front of you, it is perhaps preferable to be watching an Elvis movie, and not a porn film as Haylie Hocking was. A "friend" came across the film, and recognised fiancé Jason Brake, while organising Haylie's hen-night. Jason had told Haylie he was a personal trainer, and that his frequent weekend trips were spent with clients at the gym; when Haylie discovered what kind of workout he was really engaged in, she called off the wedding. Haylie admitted that Jason was romantic, a thoughtful lover and regularly bought her gifts, but said there was no way she could marry an adult film star (Telegraph).