Getting married at Disneyland is the dream of many people. You don’t have to be a “Disney Adult” to appreciate the beauty of the theme park and to want it as a backdrop for your special day. Getting married at a Disney park isn’t ever going to be a cheap wedding (I checked), but if you have the money, you can even get married in front of its iconic castle.
And if there’s one castle in all of the Disney Parks that might be the most beautiful one to get married in front of, it may be Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, aka Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Park at Disneyland Paris. Unfortunately, the location has a rough history. It has been the home of failed proposals before, and now a recent wedding planned at the park went in an absolutely wild direction after what looked to be something potentially disturbing has possibly turned out to be some sort of social media stunt, and not the fun Mr. Beast renting Disneyland kind of stunt.
At Least Four People Were Arrested Following Disneyland Paris “Wedding”
BMFTV (via The New York Post) reports that $150,000 was spent on a lavish wedding at Disneyland Paris that was set to be held early on Saturday morning, before the park opened for normal business. 300 guests were in attendance, and a string quartet was on hand to provide music. It all looked to be a very standard, if very expensive, wedding.
However, alarm bells went off after Disneyland Paris security discovered that while the groom was a 22-year-old British man, the bride was a nine-year-old Ukrainian girl who reportedly looked “scared and confused” just before the ceremony was set to begin. Disneyland called French authorities, and at least four people were arrested in the aftermath.
The Whole Thing Now Appears To Have Been A Stunt
However, what initially looked like it may have been some sort of crime, and the weirdest thing to happen at Disneyland Paris since somebody got naked and high, is now looking slightly less creepy, though no less bizarre. It appears the entire wedding, which, again, cost somebody $150,000 they’re probably not getting back, was some sort of social media stunt.
Days before the “wedding,” an online ad had been placed looking for extras, and 200 adults and 100 children responded and arrived at the park for the event. Based on the statement of at least one of them, they had no idea what they were going to be part of until they arrived.
In fact, it was one of the people recruited for the stunt, a 55-year-old Latvian national who had been hired to play the bride’s father, who initially alerted Disneyland Paris’ security once he realized what was going on. He and the woman hired to play the girl’s sister were two of those arrested, alongside the man who was the “groom” and the mother of the nine-year-old girl. The “groom” and the “sister” are both reportedly still in custody and have been charged with “fraud and breach of trust.”
Disneyland Paris has been widely praised for the way staffers handled things once they knew what was going on. Needless to say, this entire story is wild, and there’s sure to be more details that haven’t been revealed yet as we begin to understand just why all this happened, and just what the punishment for it all will be.