I found this article and was stunned silent. How this is happening nowadays is beyond me. Surely this farce is being denounced. No amount of money or prizes can replace marrying for love. I can imagine the Suffergites, feminists and every vicar, minister and priest are having a field day about this situation. Read the article and give an opinion. As soon as I see the results of this radio promotion, I'll update the situation.
I Do Day: Monday Bride makes her big decision
Robin Summerfield
For The Calgary Herald
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The Canadian divorce rate hovers at about 40 per cent. It's important to keep that in mind when considering the following story.
This morning at 8, two strangers -- a 34-year-old bride and her 24-year-old groom -- are set to sign on the dotted line as part of a month-long promotion by a Calgary radio station.
They will be introduced at the altar and may or may not decide to get married.
And if that weren't odd enough, a former live-in boyfriend wants the bride back. The 40-year-old launched a website (iheartmondaybride.ca), put up a billboard declaring his love, and hopes she chooses him.
They all have cute nicknames: Monday's Bride, Monday's Groom, or Manday, and Forever Groom, the ex. (Their real identities have been a closely guarded secret.)
It seems the stuff of a bad romantic comedy but it's very real for the three people in the triangle.
"In some ways it will be a certain way of getting closure on the issue," the ex says of this morning's wedding, which he will be attending. "I'm still kind of hoping she pulls me out of the crowd and marries me on the spot."
In late September, Energy 101.5 launched Two Strangers and a Wedding. Billed as a social experiment to test the love-is-blind theory, the station picked one bride from 52 applicants. A field of 35 grooms was whittled to five. Everyone went through extensive background checks and tests.
On Monday, the bride picked her groom, a 24-year-old former professional athlete, but also admitted she is torn about her ex. They are still very close and he initially encouraged her to enter the contest, she says.
Yet, that night, the radio-matched pair got their marriage licence in a well-orchestrated "first date" at the registry office. Both wore blindfolds and their conversation was taped for the station.
"This is a very unique situation. It should be every girl's dream, but it's gruelling, it's agonizing. You don't want to hurt anybody and you don't want to get hurt yourself," says the bride, a case worker in Calgary.
"There's really no way to make everyone happy," says the groom. "I think it's important that we don't get caught up in the hype but look at the big picture. I honestly believe this may work."
After meeting all three people in this triangle in person (at different times), it's impossible not to root for them all. They're all sane, rational and nice people who just want to find love. And that's what we all want, I guess.
Yes, this arranged-marriage-plus-ex-boyfriend-plus-radio-contest triangle is a real-life soap opera -- and human nature makes it difficult to turn away. It's all silly fun, after all. But in all this hype, it's easy to forget these are real people with real feelings and all three have real lives to resume once hype dies down.
This morning, the veil of anonymity will be dropped, a decision will be made and whatever happens, three people's lives will be changed.
And then the rest of us, all the looky-loos, will have to find somebody else's drama to tune into.
Or better yet, we could all get our own lives.
rsummerfield@theherald.canwest.com
© The Calgary Herald 2008
