What’s the shortest marriage of anyone you know?

[Username721]

Just being nosy, really!

How long is the shortest marriage you’ve seen and why did it end so quickly?

Around 6 months. The husband had an affair so his wife (a colleague of mine) left him.

Wow, what happened with the second engagement? Did it last?

I had a friend at university who got married twice during the course of her three year degree course.

in fairness she has been with her third husband for many years now.

11 months - my boyfriend at the time sat at the meal and said l give them a year and l really had a go at him for saying it at the actual wedding. How right he was!

They had been together for over a decade. Assuming they lived together for most of that time, the courts would count that as part of the marriage when considering the finances. So, from the court's point of view, this was around an 11 year marriage.

Two weeks. He had cold feet but didn't have the guts to tell her. They were young and it caused a lot of stress all round, her parents were fuming as they paid for most of the very lavish wedding.

Fair enough!!

Me too. I suspect some people say their marriage was annulled to try and swerve the 'stigma' of divorce and don't fully grasp what annulment entails.

On what grounds would a marriage be annulled after 18 months without some shocking revelation of bigamy or abuse or concealed sexuality?

Exactly. I’m surprised they’d even do it. Someone I know had their marriage annulled but they had consummated it, just said they hadn’t. That was a short marriage but 18 months? Come on

She wasn't marrying my brother, she became his GF after her annulled marriage. She'd already decided she didn't want to marry her fiance but didn't tell anyone.
She only went through with it for her Dad's sake

It's not just about consumation it can be annulled if one of them has an STD for example

Or if one party is transitioning it seems

7 months, he met someone else at work and they became couple before he even left his wife and moved out.

Less than a month. Fancy destination wedding that family paid £££ for and to get to. They knew beforehand but went through with it as people had booked non- refundable flights / hotel at 4k each. Fancy Uk based wedding to Mr right two years later. That lasted a year. Third wedding was small as parents refused to pay for it 🤔

18 months

I do know a couple who decided not to register the marriage licence ( whatever it is you sign)so were never legally married despite getting married. You have so many days to take the document to registry office after the ceremony in order to be married.

Friend of a friend’s daughter, decades ago, fancy expensive London wedding. She was quite young, very traditional, protective Catholic parents, her dad hit the roof when he found out she was sleeping with her boyfriend and I suspect they were pressured to marry to ‘do the right thing’.

Anyway it came out very quickly that the groom had been sleeping with someone else from before they got married. Took a year to get the divorce through; she has been happily married again(twice - her second husband died from cancer) since then.

DD’s friend’s mother, married on the rebound after being widowed. It never worked - there were issues with a stepchild and it sounds as if he wasn’t quite who he made himself out to be. Split within the year.

I know someone who was widowed 2 weeks after the wedding. Also a car crash. So tragic.

6 months. The wedding cost upwards of £40k, totally over the top own wedding vows, I said at the time I give it 2 years tops. The relationship was very odd anyway, got a feeling the bride didn't want to be single when she turned 40 and wanted a big fancy wedding, but not marriage, and the groom was just desperate I think!

Friend of mine, huge, lavish, expensive wedding. After a couple of months, dh announces he wanted to go travelling, see the world, but on his own she divorced him before his 'work tour' started

One of my friends and her fiancé at the time booked a last minute wedding venue cancellation before booking the registrar who was unavailable. They had a celebrant instead and planned to go and make it official the week after. They had the (£12k total) wedding but ended up splitting up the very next week and never actually made it official. I mean it saves them money on divorce costs but I can't believe they paid £12k for a fake wedding just to end up single the next week 😂

How sad, I hope she's doing OK now x

Annulment is not an easy option, as you have to supply proof of all the grounds , for example consanguinity, bigamy or deception , except non consommation. For the latter, you both have to supply sworn affidavits of the non consommation , with reasons ( changing your mind isn’t acceptable, there have to be continuing reasons such as physical incapacity on either side, or attested mental health conditions which make intimacy impossible ) . If one partner will not provide the affidavit, you both have to go to court and a judge will decide who is telling the truth - and whether it will be granted.

I know someone who had her marriage annulled, it was a terrible situation, far worse ( yes really) than discovering one of you was sleeping with someone else. I went with her to court, and I have never seen people (mainly women) in the waiting room who looked as shattered by distress.

Me! 5 months. I was young and thought it was what I wanted. Knew on the wedding day but went through with it to save face. Lasted 5 months before I ended things. He did absolutely nothing wrong, but I wasn't in love with him. If only I was old and cynical like I am now, I wouldn't have gone ahead with it!

For annulment it's only sex AFTER the wedding that counts