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I need a reality check from other FReepers about what might be a reasonable amount to spend for a wedding. The cost seems outrageous to me so I would like to hear from parents who have recently paid for one. How much did you spend?

It was supposed to be a quick bathroom break at the local Tim Hortons before the bride-to-be walked down the aisle. But Nancy Rose knew her big day was about to turn ugly when she spotted an enraged woman in a tube top racing toward her, a can of spray-paint in her hand. As members of the wedding party watched in disbelief, her sister-in-law began dousing the young bride with black paint, soiling her beaded gown and veil with sooty stains. “I was blown away – I think I went into shock for a few minutes,” Ms. Rose, who didn't...

Video: Pole Dancer Ruins The Wedding Watch the video.

Tampa - Tasha Johnson and Markeith's fairy tale themed wedding featured a horse and carriage. During the reception one guest became upset when the groom started tossing money onto the dance floor for the children to scoop up. Tempers flared and some pushing and shoving took place. Some of the wedding guests chose sides and that led to an all out brawl that spilled out into the parking lot. Investigators say nearly 40 people were involved. One of the first officers to respond was hit several times while trying to break up the fights. A manager, at The Rusty Pelican...

Carole Bigwood sewed the white wedding dress, baked the wedding cake, and beamed as her little baby girl walked down the aisle to meet her tuxedoed groom as "Here Comes the Bride" strained through the speakers. So what made this wedding different from your average nuptials? It was her two dogs getting hitched — all in the name of fun! Dog nuptials – as silly as they might seem — are growing in popularity, as owners look for ways to create lasting memories with the animals they consider part of the family. "People do these events because they’re joyful," pet...

ADD to post no. 105: http://www2.lasvegasnow.com/docs/terror_complaint.pdf http://www2.lasvegasnow.com/docs/terror_indict.pdf LAS VEGAS, NV — SNIPPET: “The real end, however, came in a Minnesota Federal Court. Two weeks ago, the FBI arrested Abdow Munye Abdow for two counts of making false statements to a federal official. The FBI believes Abdow lied about his trip to Las Vegas, and a passenger he was with who was on the terrorism watch list. The Nevada Highway Patrol pulled over Abdow and four other people on October 6, 2009 for speeding. Trooper Alan Davidson, a spokesperson for NHP, said the officer on the scene began asking questions.” SNIPPET:...

PLAINS TWP. – A newlywed and two others were cited by township police after a brawl at a bar inside the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs early Saturday morning. Police said the fight erupted after Raymond Roberts, 28, of Pittston, bent down and lifted the wedding gown of a bride at Breakers Bar at about 12:30 a.m. The bride’s husband, Ira Smith, confronted Roberts and knocked him unconscious, police said. Police said the brawl was captured by the casino’s surveillance system. According to a police news release: Marianne Reilly, of Tunkhannock, and her new husband, Smith, arrived at Breakers Bar...

An ideal groom in this dusty farming village is a vegetarian, does not drink, has good prospects for a stable job and promises his bride-to-be an amenity in high demand: a toilet. In rural India, many young women are refusing to marry unless the suitor furnishes their future home with a bathroom, freeing them from the inconvenience and embarrassment of using community toilets or squatting in fields. About 665 million people in India -- about half the population -- lack access to latrines. But since a "No Toilet, No Bride" campaign started about two years ago, 1.4 million toilets have...

A bride and ghoul have vowed to love each other and haunt and howl at the moon together at a Halloween-themed wedding. The Chronicle-Telegram reports that 61-year-old Jack Holsinger and 44-year-old Connie Spitznagel were both made up as pale-faced vampires for their ceremony Saturday night at a haunted house near Cleveland, Ohio. They chose the location because it's operated by the same people who own a campground where the couple met.

YORK, Neb. — The bride wore dark lavender, the groom black jeans. Flowers were everywhere. The York Walmart Supercenter hosted its first wedding Saturday when Crystal Newsome and Robert “Vick” Vickrey exchanged vows amid hanging baskets and seasonal foliage in the lawn and garden department. “We had our first kiss at Walmart,” Crystal recalled. Advertising Robert has been with Walmart for 12 years and is the grocery department manager. With five years behind her at the company, Crystal is the deli manager. Friendship blossomed into romance about two years ago. Robert has three grown children and four grandchildren. Crystal has...

SEYMOUR, Ind. — Police in southern Indiana are looking for a wedding crasher who took off with a wire bird cage that held cards for the couple filled with cash, checks and gift cards. Witnesses say a man wearing a T-shirt and ball cap showed up Saturday night at the wedding reception for Aaron and Margaret Thompson Brown at the American Legion in Seymour.

Terror Suspect's Computer Said to Show Sports Stadiums, Fashion Sites Officials Report Denver Man Sent Texts Suggesting Attack Coming; 'Wedding Cake' Is Ready By RICHARD ESPOSITO, BRIAN ROSS and CLAYTON SANDELL Sept. 19, 2009— --snip-- A computer belonging to alleged al Qaeda suspect Najibullah Zazi showed he had researched baseball and football stadiums and sites used in the recent Fashion Week event in New York City, law enforcement officials tell ABCNews.com. Zazi, 24, had been scheduled to spend a fourth day today being questioned by the FBI but his lawyer, Arthur Folsom, canceled the session. "He has taken the day...

BULLETIN -- NEW YORK POLICE AND FBI RAID HOMES IN QUEENS IN TERRORISM INVESTIGATION.6 minutes ago from BNO Headquarters

SNIPPET: "The ties between Najibullah Zazi and al-Qaida are growing. A source who gets high-level intelligence briefings told CBS 2 HD that law enforcement officials have recorded a number of conversations between Zazi and a known al-Qaida operative in Pakistan. The key parts of the conversation? The operative told Zazi what to say if stopped by police, and there is also a reference to a "wedding," which American agents believe is a code word for an attack. Sources said the formula for the explosive TATP was found in Zazi's computer when they seized his car, and with President Barack Obama...

Karen Taylor, 29, announced to more than 100 guests that her fiancee Christopher Raynor, 28, had been killed after he was thrown from the back seat of the best man's car when another driver slammed into them. Another car then ran over Mr Raynor, who died at the scene just four hours before he was due to walk down the aisle. He was on his way to the wedding breakfast in Raleigh when the accident happened. His bride-to-be was told about the accident before leaving for the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Church, where they were due to be married....

SNIPPET: "Two Pakistani students arrested over an alleged terror plot have returned to Pakistan after deciding to leave the UK voluntarily, the Home Office has said. Abdul Khan, 26, and Shoaib Khan, 27, were among 12 people held by police after raids in north-west England in April, but the pair were never charged. The Home Office tried to deport them, saying they remained a security threat. It is understood the men decided to leave after being denied bail while appealing against deportation." SNIPPET: "Twelve students were arrested in the terror raids in Manchester and Liverpool as part of Operation Pathway,...

“God Will Bless the Road Ahead” (Isaiah 43:19)Dear friends and family of David and Shawna, dear friends in Christ. Today, David and Shawna, you asked to have played a song that is very special to you, “Bless the Broken Road.” The refrain of that song says, “God blessed the broken road that led me straight to you.” Today I want to talk about not only how God did indeed bless that broken road, I also want you to see, as you two embark on a new journey together, how “God Will Bless the Road Ahead.” “God blessed the broken road.”...

The ex-wife of the groom at a Kuwait wedding where a raging fire killed 43 women and children has confessed to starting the blaze as an act of revenge, local newspapers reported on Monday. Al-Qabas newspaper said the 23-year-old woman had told police she used petrol to torch a wedding tent packed with women and children to avenge her ex-husband's "bad treatment" of her before their divorce. Interior ministry spokesman Colonel Mohammad al-Saber told state-run Kuwait Television that Saturday's fire -- which engulfed the tent in just minutes and triggered a panicked stampede -- was an act of arson. "We...

Ex-wife 'admits starting' Kuwait wedding party blaze that killed 43 Many of those who died were killed in the stampede for the exit of the tent, in which 180 women and children were celebrating James Hider, Middle East Correspondent A fire in a wedding party tent that killed 43 women and children in Kuwait was started deliberately by the ex-wife of the bridegroom, a Kuwaiti newspaper said today. Al-Qabbas said that the 23-year-old former wife had admitted pouring petrol on the cotton tent and setting it on fire, furious at what she called her “bad treatment” by her former partner...

Hilarious spoof of the couple that danced down the aisle.

Well, the couple who launched this terrific wedding video are speaking out about their exuberant nuptial boogie. They popped up a couple days ago on TODAY: Most couples wait until the reception before breaking out into the Funky Chicken on their wedding day, but Kevin Heinz and Jill Peterson figured, why wait to unleash their unbridled joy? The 28-year-olds floored their wedding guests by having their whole bridal party — including seven bridesmaids, five groomsmen and four ushers — boogie down the aisle in a choreographed dance more at home in a Broadway musical than in a somber church. Groomsmen...

With their squeezed-tight knees and vigorously swinging backsides, the ushers do Usher one better. This Story Dance: Going to the Chapel & We're Gonna Get Jiggy YouTube: Wedding Entrance Dance Wearing pink dresses and dark glasses, the bridesmaids swivel and high-step down the aisle with deadpan gyrations, like voguers from the House of Honeymoon. The groom turns a somersault and coolly spins off to the altar, adjusting his tie.

My daughter, Jackie, was married today to a man, John, who she's known for many years. Her mother and I are very happy. John and Jackie knew each other from church for 13 years. They used to really not stand each other when they were in the early teens. Jackie used to come home from youth group steaming, "That John..." It's amazing how the Good Lord has a sense of humor. I had been praying for a Christian husband for her, and one was under my eyes all this time. They work hard, plan to go to college at night,...

A bride's father has refuted claims that a bunch of American soldiers in army fatigues ‘gatecrashed' his daughter's wedding. Wedding guests complained at the wedding of Amelia Walsh and Sean O'Neill tied in Co Clare last week that the troops had wandered "uninvited" into the young couple’s reception. However, the bride’s father Eamon Walsh, from Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co Clare, said yesterday that the pair were "proud" to have the soldiers there on their big day. He said the newlyweds had actually invited the troops to come in and have photos with them earlier on in the day. Nearly 300 troops were...

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) - The bride wore white—and a face mask. A Chicago couple married in surgical masks and latex gloves Sunday after learning less than 48 hours before that they both had swine flu. Ilana Jackson and Jeremy Fierstien went ahead with the ceremony after doctors assured them guests wouldn't be at serious risk. But to be sure, the 26-year-olds kept a 10-foot distance from family and friends at all times, even walking around the gathering instead of down the aisle at a Highland Park synagogue. Jackson says they'd joked about swine flu after both experienced vomiting, achy...

Haylie Hocking, 27, only found out that strapping 30-year-old fitness fanatic Jason Brake made adult films just weeks before the big day. A friend organising her hen night searched online for a male stripper and spotted Jason with a woman in a porn movie.

Woman cancels wedding after finding fiance was porn star A woman has cancelled her church wedding and country house reception after discovering her fiance is a secret porn star. 16 Jun 2009 Haylie Hocking cancelled her church wedding and lavish country house reception after discovering her fiance, Jason Brake, is a secret porn star Haylie Hocking, 27, only found out that strapping 30-year-old fitness fanatic Jason Brake made adult films just weeks before the big day. A friend organising her hen night searched online for a male stripper and spotted Jason with a woman in a porn movie. Now Haylie...

The singer Kylie Mingue, who is 40 years old, has decided to marry the young Spanish model Andreas Valencoso, who she has been in a relationship with since November last year. As sources claim, she wants a dream Catholic wedding. The couple will marry for the first time in the Spanish castle Parador de Cardona, which was built in the 9th Century, and is on Costa Brava. The second ritual will be held in Melbourne, in intimate surroundings. The couple will marry for the first time in the Spanish castle Parador de Cardona, which was built in the 9th Century,...

Their love is simply out of this world. A Brooklyn couple will become the first on the planet to say "I do" in zero gravity when they tie the knot later this month. Self-confessed sci-fi addicts Noah Fulmore, 31, and Erin Finnegan, 30, will travel to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., to exchange their vows while literally walking on air. "We would really prefer to do it in space or on Mars but living in the time that we do, this was the closest we could get to zero gravity," Fulmore said. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/0/03/2009-06-03_so_in_love_they_could_float_away_bklyn_couple_to_wed_in_zero_gravity.html#ixzz0HOdnyIMV&B

TAIPEI (Reuters) – A Taiwanese groom died on his wedding day after having too much wine and beer to drink, police and local media said Monday. The man, 35, an insurance company worker surnamed Wu passed out at home after drinking too much Saturday at a high-end restaurant in Taipei among more than 100 wedding guests, the Liberty Times reported.

It's been more worse than better for the Wielechowskis since they exchanged wedding vows a year ago. "This whole thing is ridiculous and I'm sorry," Christa Wielechowski, 26, told a judge Tuesday during a hearing on a wedding night brawl in a Ross hotel. "I was in jail in my wedding gown after being beaten and humiliated. I'm all over the world in the news. I think that is punishment enough." Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge John A. Zottola apparently didn't think so. He sentenced her to 180 days of house arrest and fined her $600 for her no-contest pleas...

DIYARBAKIR, TURKEY -- Gunmen armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked a wedding party in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey, killing at least 45 people, authorities said. The attack on Monday was one of the worst involving civilians in European Union candidate Turkey's recent history. Interior Minister Besir Atalay said initial evidence did not point to terrorism, suggesting he was ruling out involvement of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Television broadcasters said there had been a blood feud in the village in recent years. .... Local media said the families of both the bride and the groom included members of...

A couple's obsession with Star Wars inspired them to theme their wedding on the blockbuster films – with the groom playing Han Solo and the bride Princess Leia.Duncan Thomson, 41, and Sammi Gardiner, 39, got married in an unusual ceremony surrounded by friends and family all dressed as characters from the sci-fi movies. In a pun on the films' famous phrase, "may the force be with you", they chose Monday as the date for the service, so they could bill it as "May the 4th be with you". The couple, from the Isle of Wight, even invited the movie's director...

Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton may get married in Kennedy country this summer. Martha's Vineyard is abuzz with rumors that the daughter of ex-president Bill and current Secretary of State Hillary is set to walk down the aisle with longtime beau Marc Mezvinsky, the Boston Globe reported Saturday. Clinton, 29, was introduced to the Goldman Sachs investment banker through her parents. Mezvinsky, 31, is the son of onetime Pennsylvania Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky and former Iowa Congressman Edward Mezvinsky. Both the potential bride and her groom attended Stanford University.

Megan McAllister’s fairytale wedding on the New Jersey seashore has been cancelled, less than 12 hours after her first jailhouse visit with her fiance, who has been dubbed the Craigslist killer. Plans for the Aug. 14 nuptials and dance on the Jersey Shore are being dismantled, McAllister’s attorney, Robert Honecker Jr., told WBZ-TV this morning. “That wedding will not occur,” Honecker also told ABC’s “Good Morning America” this morning. McAllister visited fiance Phillip Markoff yesterday at the Nashua Street Jail in Boston for the first time since his arrest April 20 on robbery and murder charges. And though she had...

More Fitna in Cyberspace: Mihdar vs al-Maqdisi Brynjar Lia February 7th, 2009 | AQ in Iraq, Jihadi media Is another chapter in the history of cyber-jihadi infighting about to be written these days? The latest controversy is a series of attacks by the webforum Madad al-Suyuf on Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, perhaps the most influential salafi-jihadi clerics alive. That the cyber-Jihadis quarrel with one another should come as no surprise. Despite calls for unity and brotherly counseling, jihadi writers frequently fight it out in the open. In fact, inter-jihadi quarrels seem to have become more common and less ‘brotherly’ in tone...

SNIPPET: "Is Tsedkon that I told you there was a large wedding ... and soon .."

Cheney warns of new attacks Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration’s policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed. In an interview Tuesday with Politico, Cheney unyieldingly defended the Bush administration’s support for the Guantanamo Bay prison and coercive interrogation of terrorism suspects. And he asserted that President Obama will either backtrack on his stated intentions to end those policies or put the country at risk in ways more severe than...

The bodies of a poverty-ridden Indian man and eight members of his family were found shot, beheaded and floating in a river after an alleged revenge killing for his having married a wealthy woman, Reuters reported. Police from Bihar, in eastern India, said they have charged 15 people, most of whom are from the bride's family, with the murders. The killings took place over the weekend after 21-year-old Ratan Mandal eloped with 18-year-old Kanchan Kumari, fearing their families would not approve if they did not keep the wedding a secret.

Note: Photos included. A Jordanian Wedding Turns into a Massive Show of Support for Al-Qaeda; Al-Zarqawi's Circle Identified TO VIEW THIS CLIP AND OTHERS YOU MUST LOG IN/REGISTER FOR MEMRI TV, AT http://subscriptions.memri.org/content/en/member_registr_tv.htm. REGISTRATION IS FREE OF CHARGE. To view this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1988.htm.

Note: Photo included. January 25, 2009 SNIPPET: "The latest form of jihad: Jihad al-Ziwaj, or "Marriage-Jihad"" GAZA CITY: There was no party, no celebrations when 22-year-old Aida al-Qaddumi finally got married this week. There were no regrets either -- she said she was marrying to raise "fighters" and asked only that she might die as a "martyr" in Israel.

FRIENDS, family, fine wine, a $30,000 investment and a year and a half of planning: it should have been the perfect Hunter Valley wedding. But Sydney couple Steve and Leigh Buttel claim unwanted guests - including maggots in their wedding bed and bedroom invasions by bats - turned their wedding into a bride's worst nightmare.

WAITER DISRUPTS JEWISH WEDDING WITH ARABIC CHANT By LORENA MONGELLI and ERIN CALABRESE January 10, 2009 -- Long Island waiter rebelling against his pastor father terrorized guests at a Jewish wedding reception, blasting a recording of a pro-Palestinian rally that included Arabic chants through the DJ's microphone, authorities said today. Stephen Buttafuoco, 23, was charged with a aggravated harassment as a hate crime for allegedly blaring "Allahu akbar," Arabic for "God is great" - scaring the over 700 wedding guests who were wrapping up the party at the Woodbury Jewish Center around 1 a.m. Jan. 4., Nassau cops said. Buttafuoco,...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Dec. 12) - Gov. Charlie Crist became the first sitting Florida governor to wed in nearly 42 years, exchanging vows Friday at a ceremony attended by some 200 relatives, friends and celebrities. The 52-year-old governor wed his 39-year-old bride, New York socialite Carole Rome, at First United Methodist Church, a short walk from Crist's rented condo in St. Petersburg. They had met at a dinner in New York City in September 2007 and Crist proposed less than 10 months later with a sapphire engagement ring.

A couple in Greater Manchester had a wedding with a difference when the rings were flown in by a special guest. Fudge the barn owl flew onto the arm of groom Craig Wilson as he and Sian Davies made their vows at The White Hart in Lydgate near Oldham.

What may have been the first-ever Hasidic Jewish wedding in Birmingham was held Tuesday at the Wynfrey Hotel for Chanie Posner of Mountain Brook and Laibel Berkowitz of Southfield, Mich. “It is rare,” said Rabbi Yossi Posner of the Chabad House on Overton Road, the father of the bride. Hasidism is a traditional Jewish movement steeped in mysticism that originated in Eastern Europe in the 18th century. It’s characterized by its emphasis on exceptional piety and joyful expression. Hasidic men are easily recognized by their untrimmed beards and ever-present head coverings, commonly including hats in the old Eastern European style....

Iraqi wedding video

MAX MUTCHNICK has “shpilkes.” Mr. Mutchnick, who used the Yiddish word to describe his restless energy, didn’t become a creator and executive producer of the sitcom “Will & Grace” by being a blushing wallflower. “I’m a big personality,” said the impulsive Mr. Mutchnick, 42, who melds borscht belt shtick and urbane wit in his writing and his life. So it was unusual for him to be intimidated by Erik Hyman, an entertainment law associate at the Los Angeles firm Loeb & Loeb. “He’s out of my league,” was Mr. Mutchnick’s initial impression. “I’m Mel Brooks, and he is Anne Bancroft....

THE Muslim wedding of a seven-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl has been raided by police. Cops arrested the Muslim cleric conducting the sick ceremony and the children’s parents in Pakistan’s largest city. The cleric had not yet begun the ceremony of Mohammad Waseem, seven, and his bride Nishain Karachi, five – which was attended by 100 guests. Pakistan law forbids marriage below the age of 18 – but some Muslim scholars say it is permissible if the bride and groom have reached puberty. TV footage showed both children in traditional wedding clothes in the laps of policemen after the...

Malin Alexandersson and Leif Lundgren celebrated 08-08-08 day by climbing on to the roof of the Stockholm Globe arena to tie the knot. The happy couple had to climb to the top of the 80 metre higher Stockholm landmark with the help of safety harnesses while their guests instead followed the wedding ceremony from a nearby balcony. The heavy rain that hit Stockholm on Friday was close to throwing a spanner in the works - but the rain ceased just prior to the beginning of the ceremony. The couple won the right to matrimony on the Globe's roof in a...