Gemma Halliday | Best Wedding Stories...

My latest book, Mayhem in High Heels, follows fashion designer turned amateur sleuth, Maddie Springer, as she investigates the death of a wedding planner. Unfortunately, hers. As the killer closes in and wedding disasters from hideous bridesmaid dresses to incontinent doves pile up, Maddie’s race to the altar quickly becomes a race against time. Sounds fun? Post a comment here today and you’ll be entered to win a signed copy of your own!

Since this book is about weddings, one of my favorite things about writing it was collecting wedding stories. Some made me laugh, some made me cry and go “awww”, but my absolute favorite one came from a young woman who posted hers on a wedding forum. I laughed so hard I think I pulled something the first time I heard this story. Here’s what happened at her wedding:

She was just 19 when she got married, and the night before her wedding she let her husband-to-be borrow her car to go to his bachelor party. Only it he didn’t come home that night. The next morning he still hadn’t brought the car back, and the bride was beginning to worry. Finally, an hour before the wedding is supposed to start, the groom shows up at her house. Only he didn’t bring her car back. He’s in a tiny purple car. He tells her he knows purple is her favorite color, so he borrowed that one to make her happy. So, the two get in the purple car, pile the best and maid of honor in the back, and drive into the city to the Justice of the Peace where they’re getting married. But they can’t fid the place. The end up asking a police officer, who gives them a police escort – lights and sirens and all – to the justice of the peace. When they finally arrive, they realize, to their surprise, they’re in Chinatown. The JP’s assistant comes out and rings a giant bong three times before the JP makes his ceremonial appearance. He starts the service, his accent is so thick that when he tells them to repeat the vows after him, they can’t understand what he’s saying. They totally wing it, making up the vows themselves as they go. After the ceremony he brought out little glasses with drinks for a toast. The bride and groom – water. The JP – vodka. When, after containing their laughter from the mangled ceremony, the bride and groom signed the marriage license and paid the JP, he argued that it wasn’t enough money. They got the “deluxe” ceremony. So, they all started digging in purses and pockets, and between the four of them finally came up with enough to satisfy the JP.

As they were leaving the JP’s, his assistant threw rice at them… and accidentally hit a bee’s nest. Angry bees came flying out and chased the wedding party all the way to their car. When we left they were throwing rice at us and some hit a bee's nest the bee's chases us all the way to the car. Oh yeah, the purple car? Once it was time to leave for the honeymoon, the groom confessed that he and his friends had been so drunk the night before, they’d completely lost her car. He’d borrowed the purple one at the last minute, but didn’t want to tell her until it was too late for her to call off the ceremony. So, the bride’s father ended up driving them to their honeymoon destination, in the back of his station wagon. Very romantic.

With a wedding like that, I can only imagine how fun the marriage will be. :) If you have any great wedding stories, feel free to pop over to my website and share them in my Wedding Stories Contest: www.gemmahalliday.com/contests.

Gemma Halliday
GemmaHalliday.com

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