Category Archives: Weddings

Couples may soon be able to marry in the sea in Cornwall

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Bude Sea Pool could become what is believed would be only the seawater wedding venue in England

Couples may soon be able to get married while floating on the tide, should Bude Sea Pool in Cornwall become the first such venue in England to receive a wedding licence.

A mass commitment ceremony was held earlier this month to raise funds for the application, with organisers saying they believe it would be the only place in the country where people would be able to marry in seawater.

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US couple, 100 and 96, marry in Normandy, France: ‘We get butterflies’

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Second world war veteran Harold Terens and Jeanne Swerlin enjoy wedding party – with Macron and Biden

Together, the collective age of the bride and groom was nearly 200. But second world war veteran Harold Terens and his sweetheart, Jeanne Swerlin, proved that love is eternal as they tied the knot Saturday inland of the D-Day beaches in Normandy, France.

Their respective ages – he’s 100, she’s 96 – made their nuptials an almost double-century celebration.

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California hospital hosts wedding so ailing dad can walk daughter down aisle

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Abraham Arceo was diagnosed with cancer a year ago, and family not sure he would make it to ceremony – until hospital intervened

Hospital staff in California helped a dying man fulfill his wish of walking his daughter down the aisle by hosting the pushed-up wedding ceremony in the facility’s chapel.

Abraham Arceo was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a year ago, and his condition worsened in recent weeks to the point his family members were not sure he would make it to the planned date of his daughter Brittny’s marriage to her fiance, Alan Tran, on 28 June.

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Littler India: why Britain’s south Asian garment stores are struggling

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They have been resilient amid wider high street decline – but units are now emptying in areas such as Southall, west London

The south Asian high street is facing a fight for its future in Britain as customers scale back wedding celebrations because of the cost of living crisis and young people’s changing preferences.

Businesses in London and Manchester have said they have witnessed a huge decline in customers after the pandemic with the cost of living crisis prompting many to decide against the traditional big south Asian wedding and to seek out cheaper products online.

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Wedding photographer at centre of row with vicars calls for truce

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Rachel Roberts and more than 900 photographers had signed petition about clergy obstructing their work

A wedding photographer at the centre of a row with vicars that has sparked an intervention by a former archbishop has called for the two camps to put aside their differences and work in peaceful harmony.

Last week more than 900 wedding photographers signed a petition started by photographer Rachel Roberts, who urged vicars to “improve” their working conditions after complaints that some clergymen and women had been making it difficult to take photos inside church premises.

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Sainsbury’s launches bridal collection with £22 Tu wedding dress

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The supermarket hopes its new range will see cash-conscious brides stepping from one aisle to another

Milk, bread, eggs … wedding dress? Brides-to-be can usually be found browsing in chic boutiques or stuffy department stores but now Sainsbury’s is hoping it can persuade them to hit the supermarket aisle instead as they go in pursuit of the perfect wedding dress.

This week its mass market fashion brand, Tu clothing, launched its first bridal collection.

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‘Like a poll tax’: Church of England should stop charging couples for weddings, say vicars

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Call for high fees to be scrapped as church marriages fall by half in England and Wales between 1999 and 2019

High fees are putting church weddings beyond the reach of many couples and should be scrapped or set at a nominal amount, according to clergy in one of the most deprived areas of England.

Marriage fees, which can be as high as £641, are a contributory factor to the decline in church weddings, they claim. A proposal to be debated this week at the Church of England’s ruling body, the General Synod, calls for fees to be abolished or reduced to a minimal amount “in order to demonstrate the church’s commitment to marriage and pastoral care”.

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Your sand in marriage: plans to relax wedding rules in England and Wales

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Beaches and theme parks could all host ceremonies as Law Commission says couples should have more choice

Couples could soon marry on a cruise, in their kitchen or during a day out at the beach under proposals to tear up current restrictions on where weddings can be held.

In what would be the biggest overhaul to marriage regulations in England and Wales since the 19th century, the Law Commission is recommending that weddings should be able to take place anywhere, providing the presiding official considers it safe and dignified.

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Outdoor weddings legalised permanently in England and Wales

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Temporary measures introduced during Covid crisis will be made made permanent from April

Outdoor weddings and civil partnerships are to be legalised permanently in England and Wales, ministers have announced.

Since last summer, couples have been able to hold their civil wedding or ceremony outside under temporary measures introduced during the coronavirus pandemic.

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‘Lazio in love’: Italian region offers couples €2,000 wedding payment

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Initiative aimed at boosting Covid-hit sector is open to Italians and foreigners who marry this year

Whether the nuptials are in Rome, in a castle or on a beach, authorities in Lazio are giving €2,000 (£1,670) to couples who get married in the region as they seek to salvage the wedding sector from the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

The initiative, called “In Lazio with love”, is open to Italians and foreigners who marry or have a civil union in the region between 1 January and 31 December 2022.

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Guests at a Kerala wedding included Marx and Lenin. Guess the groom’s name?

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Newlywed Engels was also joined by Ho Chi Minh at southern India ceremony highlighting popularity of communist names

Marx, Lenin and Ho Chi Minh gathered in southern India at the weekend to watch Engels tie the knot.

But there wasn’t a German, Russian or Vietnamese in sight as members of the local Communist party in Kerala state attended the wedding at a boutique tourist destination.

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‘We love everybody’: the French drag couple making non-traditional wedding dresses

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James and ViviAnn Du Fermoir-de-Monsac want to create an atmosphere where those who don’t fit the vision of an ideal bride feel comfortable

On the third floor of a typical Alsatian building in Strasbourg, a door opens on to a bright atelier, dotted with mannequins draped in bridal wear. This is where James and ViviAnn Du Fermoir-de-Monsac live and work, designing couture wedding gowns watched over by their cheerful mascot – a yellow parakeet named Adam. And they do it in drag.

The pair say seeing clients in their drag personas creates an atmosphere where people can be accepted for who they are. They know the traditional experience of buying a wedding dress is not always easy for everyone in a world where the vision of an ideal bride is often still someone thin, white and able-bodied.

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Couple marry on Covid ward 46 years after first meeting

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Ceremony at Coventry university hospital follows urgent Twitter appeal for registrar

A couple have been married in a hospital’s coronavirus ward after an urgent appeal for a registrar, more than 46 years after they first met on the set of a pantomime.

Philip, 78, and Patricia, 88, were married at Coventry university hospital, where Patricia is being treated for Covid-19, on Friday.

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‘The brides feel like Cinderella’: the free wedding shop helping India’s poor

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Fashion designer’s scheme provides secondhand shoes, clothes and jewellery free to women who can’t pay for their big day

A section of a boutique in Pappinisseri town in Kerala’s Kannur district brims over with colourful bridal lehengas, saris, gowns and shiny salwar suits.

An exuberance of fabrics adorns mannequins that stand next to tables spread with sparkly sandals, shoes, bangles and beaded bags. Tableware, bedlinen and miscellaneous items are scattered in other spaces.

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Couples ‘heartbroken and exhausted’ as English weddings cancelled – again

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Couples alter weddings up to four times amid constantly changing Covid rules

They have had to reschedule the best day of their lives not once, twice or thrice – but four times. Now couples forced to alter their wedding plans repeatedly due to changing coronavirus measures have told of being left “heartbroken and exhausted”, amid a lack of government support for the wedding industry.

Under the regulations for England’s second national lockdown this week, weddings will not be permitted to take place except where one of those getting married is seriously ill and not expected to recover. These ceremonies will be limited to six people, leaving thousands more couples scrambling to rearrange their nuptials.

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Princess Beatrice marries in secret ceremony attended by Queen

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Marriage to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi followed social distancing guidelines, says palace

The Queen’s granddaughter Princess Beatrice has married the property tycoon Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a secret ceremony attended by the Queen and close family.

In what is believed to be the first family gathering that the Queen and Prince Philip have attended since lockdown, the wedding of Beatrice and Mapelli Mozzi took place at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at Royal Lodge in Windsor, after being initially delayed from 29 May due to the coronavirus outbreak.

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Couple live-streams wedding during coronavirus lockdown – video

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A ban on weddings, and other public events did not deter one couple from 'tying the knot' in Slough over the weekend. While it wasn't a legally recognised ceremony, David Howell and Brenda Rolfe made vows to each other in front of their pastor who appeared on a YouTube live stream. After the ceremony guests were invited to the wedding reception on the Zoom app, and  asked to wear wedding attire (from the waist up at least) and bring cake to eat

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Spanish couple hold wedding from their window to beat coronavirus lockdown

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Pair lighten a grim week by getting married with the street as witness in Spain’s answer to Italy’s balcony singing

Nearly a year of planning had gone into the day: fresh flowers filled the venue, name cards sat at each of the 190 place settings and the final nips and tucks had been sewn into the bridal gown.

Related: Coronavirus: the week the world shut down

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