A local radio station, the Edge have arranged for two complete strangers to marry.
Canadian school teacher, Chantelle Swanson who has worked in New Zealand for the last three year married Paul Court, a Christchurch horsetrainer on 27 September. The pair met only minutes before Tim Shadbolt, the mayor of Invercargill married the pair.
Here is a link to the story plus some photos of the couple’s happy day.
Initially there were ten prospective grooms. These were narrowed down to five by Chantelle after she listened to the men on the radio. Her friends interviewed the five prospective grooms and finally chose two out of the five. The two men had five days to woo Chantelle and she made her choice on the day.
This is the third time the Edge have run this contest. The promotion, 3 Strangers and a Wedding, follows similar stranger pairings the station undertook in 1999 and 2003.
After eight years Paula and Zane Nicholl are happily married with two children. Steve and Kersha Veix, married for four years, have one child with their second on the way.
Of course arranged marriages are common throughout history and are still normal for some groups of our society. I’m not sure whether I could do the arranged marriage thing, but I think these couples go into marriage with different expectations. They’re not starry-eyed and perhaps can see potential problems more clearly.
What do you think about arranged marriages? Would you marry a stranger?
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by Shelley Munro Blog » Blog Archive » Dynamic Trio October 8th, 2007 at 2:03 pmIt’s interesting that the other arranged marriages have been successful - in looking at the photographs, you’d never guess the newest bride and groom didn’t know each other for ages.
For myself, I barely even went on dates, as far as the true nature of that goes. All of my boyfriends I knew for awhile before we started going out. My husband was my platonic friend for two years before we became a romantic item. I’m the Least Likely to Make an Arranged Marriage candidate you could hope to find.
by julia October 8th, 2007 at 10:15 pmI remember when the radio station did the first contest. There was a lot of discussion about the right and wrongs of it but they did horoscopes, friends helped with their input etc so the couple actually have a lot in common.
Like you, I was very cautious. I went out with hubby for two years before we talked marriage. It’s worked for us since we’ve been married for 25 years now.
I thought the photos were lovely.
by Shelley Munro October 8th, 2007 at 11:44 pmI met my husband when I was 14 and we dated for years. I don’t know if I could handle an arranged marriage, but I know lots of people have been successful with them. In today’s society, I think it’s whatever makes you happy…go for it!
by Christine d'Abo October 9th, 2007 at 6:04 amThey did something similar in the US. There was this show in which the man got to choose from all the brides which one he’d marry. And what a (huge) fiasco that turned out to be. Personally there’s no way I’d marry a stranger. That might turn out okay in books, after all fiction is fiction. But in real life, well, let’s face it, there are so many things that could go wrong.
by Tempest Knight October 9th, 2007 at 6:05 amChristine - wow! Since age 14? That’s great.
Tempest - I would have scoffed but the other two arranged marriages have endured and the couples both have kids. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
by Shelley Munro October 9th, 2007 at 2:50 pmOoooh *tj frowning* I don’t think I would. There are so many nutballs out there these days. I must admit that there’s no guarantee that anything will work out even if you date someone forever - considering I was married to a genuinely nice guy who kept and continues to keep some seriously ‘wrong’ secrets, you just never know what you’ll end up with…
by TJ Michaels October 9th, 2007 at 8:36 pm