The fake marriage was real. In Australia, a woman had her marriage annulled, believing it to be a simple social media setup, but it turned out to be official, according to a decision published online this Thursday, January 9, and discovered by The Guardian.
The case was heard in a Melbourne court in October. The couple, from a country other than Australia (which was not revealed in the ruling) met on a dating request in September 2023.
They met several times and, according to the woman’s testimony, decided to take a trip to Sydney in December 2023. The man suggested she go there to a “white party” and told her to bring a white dress for it. But when she arrived at the venue, she was surprised to discover that he had “planned a wedding” for them, complete with photographer, officiant and wedding rings.
A “fake marriage” for Instagram
According to her, she had accepted a marriage proposal from him a few days earlier, but “didn’t believe she would get married the next day.” She claims he told her it was “just a joke”: he thought she was “playing” the bride to allow her partner to “use the video as part of his job as a social media influencer.”
“He told me that he was organizing a fake wedding for his social networks, specifically for Instagram, because he wanted to boost his content, and he wanted to start monetizing his Instagram page,” on which he has 17,000 subscribers, he said. . The young woman thought that the officiant was also “fake” and believed that it was only possible to get married in court anyway, as is the case in her country of origin.
The girlfriend doesn’t really consent
Therefore, they carried out this marriage with a classic ceremony: vows, exchange of rings, kiss at the end… All of this filmed in a video broadcast during the October hearing. In retrospect, the young woman believes she wanted to get married to gain a longer-lasting status in Australia by taking advantage of her permanent resident status.
For his part, the groom opposed the annulment of the marriage, stating that it was authentic and denying any setup. The judge, however, believed his wife’s version, pointing out that the marriage proposal had taken place only two days before, that no one close to the bride was present during the ceremony and that this very religious woman would have preferred to celebrate a religious marriage. . Believing that she was not truly consenting during this ceremony, he called off the marriage.
Source: BFM TV
