Disneyland employees bravely stop wedding due to bride's age
No matter where on earth you visit Disneyland, it's supposed to be the happiest place on earth. It's a slogan the park works hard to keep true for their guests who tend to return multiple times during their lifetime. There's nothing like seeing Mickey, Minnie, Goofy or the Disney princesses up close and personal while walking to your next amusement park ride. But recently at Disneyland Paris, there was a scene no one was prepared to witness.
The park was reserved during the wee hours of the morning for a beautifully elaborate wedding, complete with a wedding cake shaped like Aurora's castle. Weddings are not unusual at the Disney parks due to the promise of magic on your special day complete with a princess castle in the background. Except, it became clear to Disney employees that this wedding wasn't typical as the guests began to settle and the bride and groom were visible. The groom was what you'd expect, a man in his 20s awaiting his blushing bride, but instead of a 20-something bride, it was a nine-year-old girl.
Enchanting castle under dramatic skies.Photo credit: Canva
Yes, to the horror of the Disneyland employees, the bride was a young child doing the wedding march towards a grown man. Instead of continuing with their duties at the park, the employees immediately jumped into action to interrupt the wedding and call authorities. The Disneyland employees weren't sure if this was supposed to be real or an expensive, elaborate joke, and they didn't waste time trying to figure it out.
Several people involved in the planning of the wedding were arrested including the child's 41-year-old mother, according to several outlets. Disneyland employees believed the booking was for a real wedding but when they saw the child in a wedding dress with high heels taped to her feet, they knew intervention was needed. The police arrived to conduct interviews and take those responsible into custody, which is when they found out the child and her mother recently flew to France from Ukraine.
The girl's mother informed the police that the $130,000 wedding was only to make her daughter "feel like a princess" according to France 24. But the "groom" who is a 22-year-old British man tellsThe Times that the mock wedding was to make a video for social media. It seems that none of the more than 100 guests were aware that the "wedding" was for a child to marry an adult man. They were paid to attend a rehearsal for a Disneyland Paris wedding according to France 24.
The Times reveals that the guests were recruited online with an ad seeking 100 adults and 100 children aged five to 15 to play guests at a rehearsal for a wedding.
Smiling girl in a white dress with floral crown and veil.Photo credit: Canva
Alexandre Verney, assistant prosecutor for the Seine-et-Marne département tells The Times, "Four people were arrested and questioned: the groom, who was believed to be the organizer of the event and is presumed to be British and aged 22; the mother of the child, a 41-year-old Ukrainian woman; and two Latvian nationals aged 55 and 24. It wasn’t a wedding but a staged wedding that was to be filmed with a hundred extras. They privatized Disneyland, claiming that it was a real marriage.”
In the end, the girl was deemed unharmed by a medical doctor which allowed for her mother and the 55-year-old man playing the child's father to be released. The "groom" and the 24-year-old woman who was acting as the child's sister are still in custody over possible money laundering and fraud charges.
There's no way to know what would've happened if the Disneyland employees didn't intervene, but thanks to their quick action, none of the shocked "guests" had to find out.