The Wrong Way to Call Off a Wedding
By Never teh Bride
In last week’s discussion of cold feet, we talked about some of the ways one can cope with pre-wedding jitters and what happens when the wedding is called off. The presumption was that if one calls off a wedding, one does so as gracefully and as tactfully as possible. None of this runaway bride business, in other words.
But I guess that’s just us — we are rational and level-headed people, after all. Some people choose to operate on the other side of the spectrum, like the Japanese man who recently set fire to his wedding venue to avoid having to go through with the ceremony. In Tatsuhiko Kawata’s case, it wasn’t cold feet that wetted his ardour, but rather the fact that he already had a wife!
Kawata, 39, decided to burn down the Risonare resort hotel rather than get hitched in front of 80 guests. He reportedly told police: “I thought if I set a fire I wouldn’t have to go through with the wedding.”
Luckily, no one was hurt…physically, anyway. I’m sure that the bride-to-be and her family experienced some emotional distress upon learning that the groom-to-be would rather risk arson charges than say “I do.” Then there’s the whole ‘other wife’ thing. That probably stung a little, too.
Like I said, there’s a right way and a wrong way to tell your intended and your family that you want to call off the wedding. Kawata definitely chose the latter.
(Photo via)
October 29th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Talk about the surest way to draw attention to not wanting to get married.
October 29th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Hmmm…maybe it’s true that nothing says ‘I don’t’ like trying to burn down the place where you were supposed to say ‘I do.’
Still, I think a private talk with one’s formerly intended would be a much classier – not to mentione legally less complicated – way to handle the whole not wanting to commit bigamy thing.
Of course, that could just be me.
October 29th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
blablover5: Indeed. There’s really no chance for ambiguity there.
Twistie: It’s not just you! I think that Kawata must have been somewhat red in the face after his little stint as an arsonist. One does wonder how desperate he must have been to try to burn down a hotel, though.
October 29th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
So the best way to avoid bigamy is arson? Mmkay. Good to know.
October 29th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I think we all learned something new today, Melissa B.!