An Australian judge has annulled the marriage of a Melbourne couple after the bride told the court she participated in the wedding ceremony believing it was a social media “prank.”
According to documents released by the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, the woman in her 20s met the man in his 30s on a dating platform in September 2023. They met in person the next day and began dating.
They cannot be named as the identities of those involved in family law proceedings in Australia are protected.
The woman told the family court they began planning a trip to Sydney in October that year, as the man said he wanted to take her there in December.
She said the man proposed to her in late December and she accepted. Two days later they married in a ceremony in Sydney, but the woman believed the wedding was “all an act.”
The woman said that the boyfriend had told her to attend a place in a white dress because there would be a “white party” – a party where all the guests wear white – and, since the trip had been pre-planned and they had When he attended a white party in Queensland, he “never suspected anything suspicious.”
She stressed that the dress she was wearing was not a wedding dress, according to court documents.
When he arrived at the scene, he said, he didn’t see anyone else dressed in white.
When she asked the man what was going on, he “took me aside and told me that he is organizing a joke wedding for his social network, specifically Instagram, because he wants to boost his content and he wants to start monetizing his account.” Instagram page,” the court heard.
She said the boyfriend was a social media influencer, a claim he denied, but admitted to having more than 17,000 followers on Instagram.
The woman said she thought marriages were only legal if they were performed in court and that she called a friend for advice about what was happening.
Her friend told her she could not legally marry without filing a notice of intent to marry, according to court documents. Reassured, the woman continued with the ceremony.
She told the court she was happy to “play along” because the boyfriend told her he could have used anyone for the video but he wanted to use her so she wouldn’t feel jealous.
According to court documents, none of the bride’s family or friends were present; the only people present were a photographer and a friend of the photographer.
The woman told the court she was “furious” when she discovered in February 2024 that the marriage was real and that it occurred because the man was seeking asylum.
She said she had a quick process to apply for permanent residency as a health professional and, when she was about to apply, he asked her to put him as a dependent, something she believed was not possible, because he thought they were not married. .
The man questioned in court that the marriage was not regular and said that they had lived together before getting engaged. The woman denied it, according to court documents.
The groom told the court he had started making plans for the wedding in November.
A notice of intended marriage dated Nov. 20, 2023, a month before the man proposed, had two signatures. However, the girlfriend denied seeing it or signing it, according to court documents.
In his ruling, Judge Joshua Wilson said, “It is incredible that a couple would get engaged at the end of December and marry two days later.” While the judge acknowledged that impulsive marriages can take place, he noted the fact that “a wedding celebrant had been hired more than a month before” the man proposed to the woman.
As the man had told the court that he knew the woman was religious, the judge also commented: “Precisely why she would participate in a civil marriage and not a church marriage ceremony was left unexplored. It didn’t make sense to me to do it.”
He concluded that the woman participated in the wedding ceremony believing it was a social media stunt and ruled that it was not a legally valid marriage.
