By now, most of you have probably heard that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg married longtime lady love Priscilla Chan yesterday. As always, I hope you will join with me in wishing them a long, happy marriage.

But there’s one aspect of this wedding you might not have heard about yet: it was a surprise to the entire guest list.

Chan had graduated from medical school during the week, and she and Zuckerberg sent out invitations to a graduation party. But when guests arrived, well, Chan was wearing a white gown and veil and the next thing guests knew, they were witnessing the start of a new marriage.

While this approach certainly isn’t for everybody, I have to say I like the concept. It’s low key, so it’s easier to avoid jitters. Nobody is expecting a wedding, so they don’t worry about shelling out money they can’t afford on new clothes and gifts. You don’t have to corral your nearest girlfriends into the bridal salon to argue over which available dress they hate least as a group. Nobody can accuse you of boring them to death with wedding details. Nobody has a chance to object to the aspect of the wedding that means the most to you.

In short, all you need to do is organize a party in a place you like, invite the people you’re closest to, nab yourself an officiant, get a license, and give everyone there the surprise of their lives! It’s up to you whether to plan for months or do it on a couple days’ notice, whether to include traditional trappings or drop every wedding convention except the vows.

I took a long time to plan my wedding to Mr. Twistie. I enjoyed the entire process. I loved sharing my plans with others. But there’s definitely something to be said for keeping an exciting secret, too.

So how about you? Would you ever consider a surprise wedding?

Meet Sandra Parker, Andrew Keith, and Sandra’s two daughters, Miriam and Lauren.

Yes, this is Sandra and Andrew’s wedding. Yes, everyone is covered in mud.

Sandra and Andrew’s first date was a morning run, and they’ve shared a love of running ever since. Last year, a friend of Sandra’s ran the Gladiator Rock’n Run in a wedding gown as a runaway bride. So when Andrew and Sandra decided to tie the knot, they thought it would be fun to have the wedding party run the same race.

Sandra bought her $8 wedding gown and the $8 bridesmaid’s dresses at a local thrift store, and the couple sent out tongue-in-cheek invitations that read:

“Some say it’s fast, we say it’s slow/Our love has grown — they just don’t know/And so we continue at our own pace/Off to get married in a Mud Run Race.”

No word on how they finished in the race, but I think it’s safe to say that everyone is well satisfied with their performance.

Hearty congratulations to the new family! I think it’s great when couples have weddings that are good, clean fun… even if they wind up a little muddy.

This is an image from the wedding album of Thomas and Anneka Geary. No, it was not taken by a drunken wedding guest. It was taken by professionals.

The Gearys engaged the photographic team of Ian McCloskey and Nikki Carter to photograph their wedding at a price of seven hundred fifty pounds sterling.

Lest you think that first photo is a complete fluke, here’s another example of McCloskey and Carter’s Work:
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There are few truly unique places to get married left in the world. People have used McDonald’s, KFC, dollar stores, fish tanks, hot air balloons, IKEA, and goodness alone knows what else in the search for new and unique wedding sites.

Well, Norwegian explorer Borge Ousland and his bride, Helga, found one place that hadn’t yet been used: the North Pole.

The couple gathered the wedding party together on the Russian Barneo ice base, and then took a helicopter to the pole, where the actual wedding took place. The bride wore a white silk wedding gown and the groom traditional Norwegian wedding attire. There was a cross of skis, candles, champagne, and fireworks, all of which were scheduled. What was not scheduled was the appearance of British explorer Mark Wood.

Wood was skiing to the North Pole to bring awareness to climate change, but wound up adding another layer of normalcy to the Ousland wedding: a wedding crasher.

The happy couple seems to have taken things in good stride. They invited Wood to join in the champagne and stay to watch the fireworks.

My very best wishes to the happy couple! May they take all future surprises equally well.

This is Jessica Vega on her wedding day.

Her story was a sad one. A young mother with terminal leukemia dreamed of a fairy tale wedding to the father of her child. It was the one thing she wished for.

Everybody wanted to help, and help they did with a twelve hundred dollar wedding gown, a honeymoon in Aruba, rings, flowers, and all the trimmings.

That was in 2010.

This is Vega now, upon being arraigned in New York on charges of grand larceny and scheming to defraud. She has been extradited to California to face those charges.

You see, the one problem with Vega’s funding of her dream wedding is that it was based on a lie. She is not now and has never been dying of cancer.

The scheme was exposed when husband Michael O’Connell contacted Vega’s doctor to ask some questions about her treatment, only to learn that the doctor was not treating her at all. O’Connell left Vega and broke the story to the Times-Herald Record. He filed for divorce.

Strangely enough, though, the couple has since reunited and had a second child. Why? Because O’Connell wants his kids to grow up with their mother.

We’ll see how that works out for them.

Oh, and Mr. O’Connell? You might want to start any wedding funds now so history doesn’t repeat itself.

When most women dream of their wedding day transportation, they think of limos, party busses, horse-drawn carriages, classic convertibles, or even helicopters. Jenny Klochko, however, hails originally from the Ukraine where it’s something of a tradition for brides to walk to the church so that everyone can see her and enjoy the festivities vicariously.

And so it was that she chose to take a city bus part of the way to her wedding at the Sutton Register Office in London. She and her bridesmaids walked the rest of the way.

The one downside to her choice? Says the bride:

‘I think they thought it must be a practical joke. No one even offered me their seat.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2125534/Bride-Jenny-Klochko-takes-BUS-to-church-Sutton-south-London.html#ixzz1rSuVpman

After the wedding the entire wedding party climbed aboard a party bus chartered for the occasion to take them to the reception in Wimbledon.

I don’t know about any of you, but I rather like the simplicity, practicality, and charm of a bride sharing the joy on public transportation… not that there’s anything at all wrong with a carriage or a limo. But life is a little more whimsical when at any moment a bride and her attendants might join you on a bus ride. I’m in favor of more whimsey in the world.

All the same, I think the groom was right in advising Jenny to give herself two hours’ leeway in case of snafus. You just never know with public transportation in some areas.

(Illustration via The World’s Best Ever)
In light of a recent incident at a wedding in Ohio, where one guest wound up in jail for assault and intoxicated disorderly conduct, it might be a good idea to discuss the etiquette of dancing at weddings.
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