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What’s the shortest marriage of anyone you know?

228 replies

Username721 · 07/03/2023 21:04

Just being nosy, really!

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

OP posts:
supersop60 · 11/03/2023 18:43

6 months. The bride was already sering someone else - the OM (unbeknownst to us) was on our table at the reception. They later married and have been happy for 20 yrs with 2 sons.

Littlepiggietoes · 11/03/2023 18:45

Mine. I didn’t really want to go through with it as caught him cheating the week before but I was too embarrassed to cancel and thought I could just get through it. Ok the wedding day he was so drunk that I actually can’t believe the registrar married us. He got worse through the reception and it escalated, and by 10pm my ring was off. It was awful. Happily married now though, and my ex (child’s father) and I have a really good co-parenting relationship.

Aquamarine1029 · 11/03/2023 18:48

Girl I went to school with growing up. Huge wedding, her second marriage, she had two young kids, his first marriage. 28 days after the wedding he walked out, she was apparently completely blindsided. He said he wanted to end things before the wedding but was too cowardly to do so with all the wedding planning involved. Because leaving less than a month after was such a great idea. 🙄

Lopoem · 11/03/2023 19:30

These are shocking and some very sad. The shortest I knew was a couple I worked with. The marriage lasted less than a year. One of them wanted kids and the other didn't (I was never told which way round). I always wondered why they hadn't had that conversation before they got married. Or maybe they had and one changed their mind or the one that wanted children hoped they could persuade the other?

Pinkbananas01 · 11/03/2023 19:58

6 weeks, my DB married young older lady with kids... after the honeymoon she realised his wage wouldn't cover her loss of benefits, thought she was onto a good thing cos our DF had a bit of money ditched him quick when he made it clear they could manage without DPs financial help. Sad as he'd really invested with the kids , as had our DP & wider family. Funny she didn't return any of the very generous wedding presents given from our family & as soon as final DV papers came through she married a very rich chap then ditched him & took him for all she could get. Lucky escape for DB really .
Happily he has finally met a lovely new partner although will not marry again & too old now (both) to have kids.

Plunger · 11/03/2023 20:18

A few hours! Bridegroom disappeared with one of the bridesmaids during the reception.

Oigetoffmylawn · 11/03/2023 20:19

Plunger · 11/03/2023 20:18

A few hours! Bridegroom disappeared with one of the bridesmaids during the reception.

As in walked out? Or as in was found in the bathroom shagging them? Because I've experienced the latter!

sunnysanah · 11/03/2023 21:07

I once went to an Asian wedding in Scotland. The wedding ceremony happened, at the reception, the grooms mother was feeding the bride some cake which is happens and Asian weddings and dropped a bit on her dress, the bride said “look what you didn’t to stupid bitch” the groom kicked off and told her to apologise to his mum, when she refused, the groom went home with his family and the bride with hers, divorce followed

CountingMareep · 11/03/2023 21:20

sunnysanah · 11/03/2023 21:07

I once went to an Asian wedding in Scotland. The wedding ceremony happened, at the reception, the grooms mother was feeding the bride some cake which is happens and Asian weddings and dropped a bit on her dress, the bride said “look what you didn’t to stupid bitch” the groom kicked off and told her to apologise to his mum, when she refused, the groom went home with his family and the bride with hers, divorce followed

Definitely some backstory there, makes zero sense otherwise. Confused

Hoppinggreen · 11/03/2023 21:32

A colleague got married, huge Asian arranged marriage. Our whole team attended
They went on honeymoon and when they arrived back at the airport her family were waiting and said there was an emergency and rushed her off, leaving the groom to make his own way home.
When he got there it was stripped bare, her family had taken everything, all wedding presents and money as well as all the furniture and the next time he heard from her was via a solicitor asking for a divorce.
She had refused to have sex with him on the honeymoon apparently and spent most of it on the phone. He just thought she was a bit shy as they hadn’t actually met until the wedding day.
He was off work for ages and we were told by our manager (with his permission) so we wouldn’t ask about the honeymoon etc.
He was a really sweet man, her family were basically rip off artists, it caused a huge scandal in the community as a matchmaker was involved too.
He later married someone from outside his community and last I heard they were very happy

HMTheQueenMuffin · 11/03/2023 21:35

DH's first marriage. Separated on the honeymoon. never lived together.

5 years of bitter bitter divorce.

I met him 3 years into the divorce but the ex still says he ran off with me. Fucking joke.

DoraSpenlow · 11/03/2023 22:02

I know of a couple who had actually split up prior to the wedding. Trouble was they had persuaded family and friends to attend a destination wedding a long haul flight away and were too embarrased about everyone losing their money by cancelling last minute. So they went through with it and just went their separate ways when they got back to the UK and got the marriage annulled.

Lemony5 · 12/03/2023 01:12

What is OM?

T1Dmama · 12/03/2023 01:47

My poor cousin married and divorced 3 months later when she found out he’d got someone else pregnant prior to their wedding. He had the cheek to blame her because she didn’t want to start a family straight away’ Je also tried to say he’d be entitled to half of her house… he didn’t get a penny thankfully!

GarlicGrace · 12/03/2023 02:26

Mischance · 07/03/2023 22:18

I asked my brother when he knew his marriage was a mistake and he said it was at the wedding reception. I asked my sister the same and she said the same.

I was the only one who stayed married till death did us part.

I knew at the reception, too. He was quite unpleasant to me on the day, so I guess he wasn't too sure either though he insisted he was. I was strongly inclined to ask my parents to take me home with them but didn't want to spoil everybody's day 🙄 Thought I may as well give it a go after that, but it never really worked. We lasted 18 months.

GarlicGrace · 12/03/2023 02:30

Wow, @Hoppinggreen, that's wild! I'm glad he's happy now.

Mothership4two · 12/03/2023 05:04

To the speeches. Not me. My friend's BIL told me about the friend's wedding he went to in Australia where the groom announced during his speech that his bride had been having an affair with one of his friends (who was there) and he had photographic evidence to prove it on him if anyone wanted to check. Apparently someone had tipped him off a couple of weeks before and he had set up a camera to catch them. He decided that this way would be the ultimate revenge and he would have a party paid for by the bride's parents (typical Aussie!).

Mothership4two · 12/03/2023 05:26

A family member (Mary*) didn’t even make it to the wedding initially! She was set to marry her childhood sweetheart at 19 when they (unintentionally) became pregnant. A few days before the wedding his sister came round and accused her of trapping him and insinuating that it might not be his. Due to her bruised pride and mainly because she was young, Mary said "well I won't marry him then!". He then spent months begging her to change her mind which she did eventually and they tied the knot when the baby was a few months old. Two children later (three in total) they have just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

*not real name

Mothership4two · 12/03/2023 05:32

Someone I went to school with was jilted (literally turned up at the church and he wasn't there) and was obviously devastated and apparently took years to get over it, as you would. Poor woman

TenacityWins · 12/03/2023 07:33

We once took bets on how long a young colleague's impending marriage would last.

She once stood looking at the mirrors in the women's toilets and declared, " I'm happy with my breasts".

Mistymoonsinastarrysky · 12/03/2023 07:42

I knew someone who’s marriage lasted a few hours. Her DH was killed within an hour of leaving the wedding reception- they were having a motorbike touring honeymoon, crashed and she was terribly badly injured.
Absolutely dreadful.
Another was a neighbour’s DD, after the registry office wedding the groom and all his mates disappeared to the pub on the way to the reception. He got paralytically drunk. No photos, he didn’t make it to the reception. She went back to her parents after everyone had their meal.
That was that.

Lindy2 · 12/03/2023 08:01

9 months.

Got married (the dynamics were already a bit strange at that point), she got pregnant on honeymoon, she kept him around until baby was born and then finished the relationship.

I think she just wanted the baby. I'm not sure why she bothered with the marriage at all because she could have had a baby without the need to go through all the wedding stuff.

prh47bridge · 12/03/2023 08:38

Lemony5 · 12/03/2023 01:12

What is OM?

OM = Other Man
OW = Other Woman

LouandNala · 12/03/2023 09:53

6 months. A previous friend of mine. She was 40 and he was in his early 40s. They met in a pub then he moved into her house within 2 months with his entire life belongings filling a hold-all.
They married 3 months later, he had 2 guests at the wedding, his sister and her husband.
He asked someone from our friendship group to be best man, who thought it was weird the groom didn't have any friends but agreed as didn't want to upset the bride who he'd been friends with for years.
The groom wasn't abusive or anything like that, just a bit of a loser and it took the bride a few months of marriage to realise.

SparkyBlue · 12/03/2023 11:53

About 5 weeks. It turns out herself and one of her best friends were actually in a relationship with each other. He found out straight after the honeymoon. And this was relatively recently and not years and years ago where you could understand that maybe she felt she couldn't come out as a lesbian. It was awful he was absolutely devastated and heartbroken.